Crewe, Va - It's Origin as a Terminal ?

Tue Jun 10 12:48:39 EDT 2025

Abe

I think this from the annual report of 1888 explains:

From 1888 Annual Report

The Board of Directors herewith submits its Report of the operations of the Company for the year ending December 31st, 1888 :
PROPERTY.
The high standard to which your property had been brought was maintained throughout the year, and the improvements made were more extensive and important than in any previous year, and were necessitated by the continuous and rapid growth of your Company's traffic and by the increased length of its road. Your railroad originally consisted of about 408 miles of main track and 20 miles of branches, and was conveniently operated in 2 divisions (the Eastern and Western) of 214 miles each, with Lynchburg as the dividing point. All of the extensions to your line have penetrated the mineral territory lying north and south of your Western Division, and were, therefore, incorporated in that division. Until 1888 the operation by divisions east and west of Lynchburg was continued, and as one branch after another was constructed into the coal and ore fields, and the volume of traffic increased, the Western Division became too large for economical or efficient operation. To meet the immediate needs of your business, and to provide for its future growth, the operated portion of your line was in 1888 rearranged into four operating divisions of nearly equal mileage, with Crewe, Roanoke, Radford, and Bluefield as divisional points. The improvements made during 1888, therefore, include yards, engine-houses, repair-shops, and storehouses at Crewe and Bluefield, and enlargements of the yard at Roanoke and at Radford. The yard track thus added, together with the additional sidings provided at many points, aggregate 43.20 miles of track. An engine-house was also built at Bristol, and there were erected 8 new station buildings, 3 division offices, 5 coaling stations, 27 water-tanks, 24 houses for employees, and numerous minor structures, together with 22 large and important iron bridges, and many other permanent improvements. The cost of this work was $943,784.51.

According to an advertisment in the Norfolk, Virginian Pilot, Dated June 22, 1888:
“On or about July 1st, 1888, the Norfolk and Western Railroad will transfer to CREWE. 325 shop, train and other railroad employees for whom provisions must be made.Dwellings, stores, boarding houses, etc. are necessary for the accommodation of a population that will number 1500 before the close of the year."

The earliest employee timetable I can find is System Combined Timetable No. 2, effective 12, 1888 lists Crewe as a terminal.  

Best
Ken Miller

> On Jun 9, 2025, at 9:52 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> So now the question becomes:  What could have been the catalyst for
> re-jiggering the engine and crew districts by establishing a terminal at
> Crewe, Va ?  And, WHEN was this done ?
> 
> One good index to this process would be dates for the acquisition of real
> estate parcels incident to the construction of Crewe Yard, as indicated in
> the Real Estate Index on the Valuation Maps sheets.  But before I go
> through that menagerie-of-a-search, perhaps one of the Old Wise Men can
> throw this Young WhipperSnapper a bone, and just tell him why and when
> Crewe was established as a terminal for engines and crews.  For which I
> would be plentifully grateful.  :-)
> 
> -- abram burnett
> 
> Abe,
> 
> The "re-jiggering" of the engine and crew districts was initiated and recommended by President F. J. Kimball in a Nov. 16, 1887, nine-page letter to Vice-President C. G. Eddy and the Executive Committee. His "re-divisioning" proposal was presented to the Board of Directors at their November 30th meeting "in order that early action may be taken and the work undertaken without delay so that it may be completed as early next spring as possible."
> 
> When the N&W RR was formed in 1881 it operated two divisions. The Eastern Division was Norfolk to Lynchburg (approx. 214 miles), with shops at Petersburg and Lynchburg. The Western Division was Lynchburg to Bristol (approx. 214 miles), with shops at Radford and service facilities at Bristol.
> 
> By 1887 the mileage of the Eastern Division had grown only slightly while the Western Division had grown to 356 miles with an additional 115 miles to be added in 1888 with the completion of the Clinch Valley line.
> 
> Due to this expansion of the Western Division and "the retched facilities now afforded to passenger travel at Lynchburg, which are not only inconvenient but extremely dangerous" and "the only location at Lynchburg suitable for the erection of a union station is upon the ground now occupied by the present round house and machine shop", Kimball proposed the road be divided into five divisions which "will necessitate the construction at both Crewe and Bluefields, of an engine house, turn table, small repair shops, store house, office building, houses for employees, yards and sidings for the handling and making up of trains."
> 
> "In anticipation of this necessary work, your management has for the past year been quietly securing the necessary real estate at the points designated, and in doing so has acquired lands at very low prices."
> 
> His letter/proposal list many details regarding cost, acreages to be acquired, structures and bridges to be built, and other general improvements. His plan was visionary and served the N&W well for the next 75 years.
> 
> And now you know the rest of the story.
> 
> John Garner, Newport VA
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