N&W in 1904 -- Passenger Service

[NW Mailing List]

DISSATISFACTION WITH THE NEW SCHEDULE

People are Clamoring for the Restoration of Train No. 11
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Persons living along the line of the Pocahontas division of the Norfolk and Western railway, especially in the territory west of Welch, are very much dissatisfied with the train service as now furnished by the road, and it is an open secret that Bluefield business men are far from pleased with the new schedule.  The fact that No. 11 has been taken off, and that there is no train west through the coal field before the [St Louis] World's Fair special, which is almost invariably late, is causing dissatisfaction in all quarters.  True, No. 7 leaves this city for Welch at 6:15 every morning, but it carries no mail or express, and it does not benefit the large territory west of Welch in the slightest.  The people of Wayne and Mingo counties are clamoring for the restoration of No. 11, and Welch and intermediate points are expected to make a kick for an early westbound train that carries mail.  Bluefield is ready to join Welch in any move she [woman's lib in 1904?] may contemplate in this direction, and it is not improbable that an effort will be made in the near future to have the schedule changed so as to better suit the needs of the public at both ends of the line.  It is hinted that the officials themselves are not satisfied with the workings of the new schedule, and we learn from a semi official source that a change in the time of the arrival and departure of trains on the Pocahontas division is likely to be announced within the fortnight.  No hint is given as to what trains will be affected by this change, but it is to be hoped that we will have earlier mail service through the coal field.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
June 7, 1904

[The reporter who wrote the above article was not one to mince words]

Gordon Hamilton
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