Virginian in 1909--Through trains

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 9, 1909

THROUGH TRAINS FROM CHARLESTON TO NORFOLK
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Virginian Railway Will Begin to Operate on Regular Schedule First of March

    The Daily Telegraph learned yesterday through a reliable source that the Virginian Railway has at last completed traffic arrangements by which they will commence on the 1st of March to operate through trains between Charleston, W. Va., and Norfolk, Va.  The new railroad has made some rapid strides since the new management took charge of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad [sic] and the arrangement by which they will be able to operate through passenger trains over the Chesapeake and Ohio railway with their own cars from Charleston to Deepwater, was really a mighty business arrangement, as up to the present time the new railroad has been persistently fought by the Chesapeake and Ohio.  It is understood, according to the story, that commencing with the first of the month the Virginian Railway will run a passenger train from Charleston over the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to Deepwater, whence they will make the run to Norfolk over their own line.
    Mail contracts have been closed and every arrangement completed for the running of through trains.  Although every effort was made yesterday by the Daily Telegraph to learn further concerning the story nothing more definite than that conductors have been told that their runs will be from Charleston to Roanoke could be learned.  This of course means that the new line will operate its own trains and crews along the stretch of twenty-one miles from Charleston to Deepwater.  It would almost lead people to believe that Edwin Hawley and his partners bought the controlling interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio so as to secure privileges for H. H. Roger's new road, and this recalls the true story that John D. Rockefeller told a number of people publicly that if H. H. Rogers needed assistance he could get it from his friend, John D. Rockefeller.  It may also mean another link in the chain which Rockefeller, Whitney and Ramsey proposed building from the Atlantic to the Pacific but which was rudely interrupted when Harriman secured the control of the Gould lines by his assistance to George Gould's Pittsburg-Wabash terminal deal.
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[The mention of through service from Charleston to Norfolk ignores the change of trains required in Roanoke.]

Gordon Hamilton
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