N&W in 1903 -- New Rail

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RIDING MADE EASY
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How 85-Pound Rails Have Changed a Piece of N. & W. Road.
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    The Norfolk & Western recently commenced taking up the rails on their line between Roanoke and Hagerstown on the Shenandoah Valley Division, and gangs of workmen have been busily engaged replacing the old fifty-six pound rails with the heavy eighty-five pound rails.  The entire line between the points named, about 200 miles, is to be similarly improved and the massive rails, which are now laid out as far as Hollins, have resulted in an easy, smooth running of the coaches that makes an old-time Norfolk and Western traveler marvel at the increased comfort obtained.  Whether this remarkable improvement in the line means a radical change in its ??? [blurred] to part of the Norfolk & Western trunk system to the North is not known, but the work is being rushed daily by a large force of hands.  The entire road bed is also being thoroughly overhauled.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
April 23, 1903

[By contrast with the "massive" 85-pound rails in 1903, the NS currently uses predominantly 136-pound rail and even some 141-pound rail.  Also, I do not understand what is mean by the "Norfolk & Western trunk system to the North."]
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