Engine coal question

[NW Mailing List]

In regards to the question about where the N&W got coal prior to the
opening of the Pocahontas coal field and the suggestion that the coal came
from somewhere along its origninal route in southwestern Virginia where
coal was being produced:

Coal mining was done (to a limited extent) in Montgomery and Pulaski
counties prior to the Civil War (1861-1865) and shipments of coal were made
by the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad (a predecessor line to the N&W) during
the war. Coal was hauled from the mine site by wagon to train stations were
it was hand-loaded into railroad cars. Local tradition claims that some or
perhaps all of coal used to fuel the Confederate ironclad "Merrimack" came
a mine near present-day Merrimac, VA, not far from the V&T.

At least two industries along the route of the V&T also began using locally
mined coal during the period after the war. In 1878 a 8-mile long
narrow-gauge railroad called  "Altoona" (I believe that was actually the
name of the mine) was built between a mine opening and the Bertha Zinc
Works and the salt furnaces at Saltville, Virginia.

The coal from Montgomery and Pulaski counties was apparently good quality
steam-coal. But whether or not the local production of coal (likely being
hauled by wagon) would have been great enough in quantity to meet the needs
of the N&W is a question I cannot answer. Perhaps someone else can.

Meanwhile, during the same period, not far from the N&W, in West Virginia:
The New River and Kanawha coal fields were opened in 1873 with the
completion of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and several mines were in
operation offering very high-quality steam coal on the open market. For
example, the C&O's coal agency began selling good quantities of coal to the
New Haven Railroad for use in its locomotives in 1874.

How difficult it would have been for coal from the Kanawha-New River fields
to be shipped via the C&O to the N&W during that time frame I cannot say.
 If I remember correctly, the N&W and C&O were using tracks of slightly
different gauge during that early period.
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