N&W in 1911--Graham, Va.

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
March 28, 1911

THE GRAHAM DAILY NEWS
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NEW STATION NEEDED
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Norfolk and Western Should be Asked to Co-operate in Town Improvements
    Now that the town of Graham expects to spend something like $80,000 for improvements during the next twelve months, why not invite the Norfolk and Western to co-operate with the municipality by improving its property and beautifying the railroad front in Graham.  It has always been the policy of the road to show a spirit of co-operation and assistance to those towns and communities that evince a spirit of progressiveness and manifest local pride sufficient to attract the attention of the stranger.  Where once stood a beautiful passenger station in Graham, surrounded with flower beds, now stands a pile of junk consisting of castings and broken and twisted iron used for repair work on the pipe line and water tanks of the road.  The place is equally as unsightly as the street that leads by it.  The street will be improved by the town and we believe the railroad company will be willing to rectify the other if their attention is called and needs it badly [sic].  Other towns of considerably less population and of less importance generally have been provided with nice passenger deports located separate from the freight depots.  Graham's arrangement is a combination of both.  It is true that when the question was being agitated here for a new passenger station some three years ago certain citizens of the town got together and opposed it, but notwithstanding this handicap, it is believed that with the present progressive movement in Graham the railroad company would be glad to fall in line and provide such improvements here as are badly needed if the matter is taken up and handled in the proper way.  Nobody expects the Norfolk and Western railroad to spend a lot of money wastefully in Graham, but the improvement of its property and providing the public with the convenience of commodious passenger stations is only a part of the railroad's business and the Norfolk and Western has shown that it is always in the market for business.
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OVERHEAD CROSSING
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Railroad Willing to Share Expense of Needed Improvement
    We have learned that steps are under way for an overhead crossing to be put in over the railroad track near the Mitchell Ice Factory.  It is understood that the railroad company's engineer has expressed a willingness on the part of the railroad to bear at least one half of the cost of providing the crossing, and they would possibly do a little better than this if requested by the proper authorities.  The present crossing is situated on a sharp curve and has always been regarded as rather dangerous, and the town has frequently considered the question of taking steps to protect the place in some manner but nothing definitely was ever done.  At least one-half of the children attending the public school are compelled to use the railroad at this point, and the same condition would exist in the event it is decided to locate the new school building west of Bluestone river, as the children residing east of Bluestone would have to cross the railroad the same as those now living on the other side.  This fact is a good argument in favor of putting in the crossing and it should be provided in any event.
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Gordon Hamilton
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