1908 - Work on Virginian Railway

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Roanoke Times - Februray 9, 1908

Work on Virginian Railway

   Mr. H. Fernstrom, the chief engineer of the Virginian Railway Co., 
which is the Tidewater, is reported as saying that at no point on the 
road has work been entirely suspended, and at places where it is 
checked, that has been only the result of winter conditions. Now that 
the Alleghany tunnel is completed, the company will rapidly push 
completion of the western ends of the line. Until the tunnel was 
bored through, neither steel work for the viaducts nor rails for the 
tracks on that end of the road could be moved. There are five large 
viaducts to be erected and the track to be laid. This work is to be 
taken up immediately, grading having been completed on the line from 
Roanoke to Deepwater, 172 miles. It will be several months before 
trains will reach Roanoke from the west.
   The last section of the line to be completed will be that between 
Roanoke and Victoria, Va. in the direction of Norfolk, trains now 
being in operation between Norfolk and Victoria. There are some heavy 
cuts on this uncompleted middle section, and about six steel bridges 
will have to be erected. The material for these is already manufactured.
   In conclusion, Mr. Fernstrom is quoted as saying that this year, 
1908, will find the Virginian railway in operation all the way from 
Norfolk to the coal fields. The construction of the yards and the 
approaches to the coal pier at Sewell's Point, near Norfolk, will be 
taken up again in time to be finished simultaneously with the road, 
and some forces are still being employed on the construction of the pier.

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link