moving circa 1920

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

In the early 1950's, N&W was still using boxcars to move their officials 
furniture. John Tabor's father was moved from Bluefield to Portsmouth 
about that time, and John said the company gave them a boxcar to pack 
stuff in.   Jim Nichols

nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:


>I thought that I would pass along a little story about

>how the railroad played an important role in folks lives

>in the 1920s.  Also, it is something that I haven't

>heard discussed very often.

>

>My grandfather was born near Eggleston on the Virginian

>side of the New River in Giles County.  Circa 1920 his family

>moved to Vinton.  A few months before my grandfather passed

>away it crossed my mind that his family probably didn't move

>using a moving van.  When I asked him about this he said that

>his father contacted the railroad and they set off a boxcar

>at a nearby siding for them.  He could not remember where it

>was set off nor on which side of the river.  My grandfather,

>his dad, and his brothers then used their horses and wagons to

>haul all their belongings to the boxcar and loaded them up

>themselves.  I don't know if this was a full car load or not.

>Once packed the railroad moved the boxcar to Roanoke and on to

>Vinton.  My grandfather gave all indications that it was

>set off on an N&W siding near downtown Vinton.  So it

>is quite possible an interchange between the Virginian and the

>N&W was involved.  The whole family rode one of the passenger

>trains to Vinton and from his recollections arrived at roughly

>the same time as the boxcar.  His family then unloaded the boxcar

>and moved into their new house.  Once empty they notified the

>railroad and the boxcar was sent off on its next assignment.

>

>Toney Minter

>

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