Virginia & Tennessee RR - 1874 Map

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On Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 2:36 AM John wrote:

> Thanks for the reply Charlie. Do we know which road owned/constructed
> the west end bridge (i.e. where exactly did the two properties meet)?


Granted this is a story by a non-railroad person, but he is pretty accurate
with his descriptions of their travels. See
https://nwhistory.info/articles/SWVA.php for the whole series. In the first
article, Cowardin, owner and editor of the *Daily Dispatch*, says:

When I last visited Lynchburg the Southside Road was not completed. I was
much interested with the work, near Lynchburg, which crosses the James
twice and encounters some considerable difficulties. Its location in this
part of it is highly creditable to the Engineer, Mr. Sanford, and it
appears to be very well built. It passes along the centre of the fertile
island, known as Percival’s, and striking the Southern bank, not far below
the depot of the Tennessee Road, continues up the river until it forms a
junction with that road.


This would seem to indicate that the V&T mile 0 was at or near the station
somewhere around today's 9th Street.

For more info about the beginnings of the V&T in Lynchburg, see this about
the tunnel in Lynchburg, the railroad in general, and a description of
Lynchburg in 1851: https://nwhistory.info/articles/V&T-Lynchburg.php  What
is interesting in that article is the mention of extending the railroad
from "the Summit in Montgomery county" to "the mouth of Greenbrier river"
and from there to the mouth of Big Sandy and eventually the Ohio River.

Bruce in Blacksburg
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