N&W in 1910--Depot

[NW Mailing List]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
September 13, 1910

DEPOT INSPECTION DOES NOT MEAN A NEW ONE
------
But Railway Officials Probably Learned Whether Agent Carries Too Much or Too Little Ink
    Yesterday the Norfolk and Western held its annual inspection of the Bluefield passenger depot.
    No, gentle stranger, this does not mean that there is going to be a depot erected here commensurate with the size and importance of this city.  It merely means that the Norfolk and Western now knows whether the station agent carries too much or too little ink and whether the janitor cleaned up the building Sunday night.
    From Bluefield the party moved on to other villages and towns.  They inspected the telegraph keys, etc., at Graham and went on to Coopers where they found the stairway leading to the second floor has a turn in it just before one reaches the telegraph office.  The excellent contrivance built at Bluestone Junction so people can watch the snow fall was also admired.  They found at Northfork that the bulletin service says trains are due at any old hour, whereas it should say expected as they are always due.  At Welch they looked over the spacious depot and found that the freight house carries merchandise neatly packed on the inside of boxes which were not internally inspected.  The place called Tug Fork Junction on the folders was also found to be on the map although the station at that point was passed by, as there is none.  At Hallsville the magnificent edifice is good enough, except that the carbon paper wears out when it is used on typewriters.  Unfortunately Iaeger has the same trouble.  It's too bad the party could not visit Tazewell and see the station at that point, which could easily house what is left of the "noble six hundred."*  Instead of a report on the depot the officials will read an interesting report on what indelible lead pencils costs by the gross.  Other stations along the line will also receive mention.
    Architecturally the Bluefield depot is a marvel of beauty.  It looks so much like those pictures of Italian villas which were built 3,000 years ago.  The lighting system makes one feel sad for the blame that has been laid on John D's shoulders, for everyone knows that kerosene oil lamps give better light than the electric lights in the local passenger station.  Then there is the sanitation which is in a class by itself.  That east wing of the depot doesn't need such a thing as ventilation.  What it needs is retirement and that would be almost too good for it.  The only real good feature of the local passenger station is the ideal stairways used to get passengers away from the depot and to the trains.  They house such an excellent line of trunks, bags and noisy porters that people are always glad to be able to stumble over them, even at the cost of a few occasional cuss words.
    The depot is pointed out to all strangers as one the first buildings erected in this city and it certainly looks the part.  It could be seen in Ireland one would first ask where the sty was, but on further investigation this would not be necessary, as it tells its own tale.
------
[*From the poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade."  I don't believe this reporter was a fan of the N&W.  Where is Hallsville?.]

Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20100220/4e959d73/attachment.html>