Coaldale or Flat Top?

[NW Mailing List]

One clue might lie in the N&W Ry. Annual Reports, which are available on a CD from the N&WHS Commissary.  The Reports for 1898 thru 1902 refer to "Flat Top Mountain" and/or "Flat Top Tunnel."

Certain Annual Reports 1900 thru 1925 refer to Coaldale only as the settlement and railroad location at the west end of what  the Bluefield Daily Telegraph newspaper and some employees frequently called "Coaldale Tunnel." (My grandfather was an engineer on the Pocahontas Division who died when I was young, but I remember my grandmother speaking of "Coaldale Tunnel.")

Annual Reports 1901 thru 1903, 1911 and 1947 thru 1952 refer to "Elkhorn Tunnel."

The 1952 Annual Report refers to the "...grade over Elkhorn Mountain...."

The 1953 Annual Report lists "Elkhorn" as one of the mountain ranges that the N&W crosses.

So, the N&W terms for the mountain and the tunnel varied.

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 11:20 PM
  Subject: Coaldale or Flat Top?


  I am seeking clarification about the mountain through which Coaldale Tunnel (or is it Flat Top Tunnel?) was built.  Just about every historical document I've read refers to Flat Top Mountain and Tunnel.  However all modern verbage identifies both the mountain and tunnel as Coaldale.  

  Jeff Hawkins

  www.railsinvirginia.com
  www.railfirephotography.com




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