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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tunga>Bluefield Daily Telegraph<BR>March 6,
1910</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=4>NORFOLK AND WESTERN ACQUIRES COLUMBUS, SANDUSKY
AND HOCKING</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=center><STRONG>Announcement of Deal Will be Made Within Two
Weeks--Securing of Lake Outlet Will Please Coal Operators</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left> According to what appears to be reliable
information the Daily Telegraph is able to state that announcement will be made
within the next two weeks, from the main offices of the Norfolk and Western or
from the Philadelphia offices, that the road has acquired the Columbus, Sandusky
and Hocking Railroad, which runs between Columbus, Ohio and Sandusky on Lake
Erie. Final arrangements for the transfer of the road are in course of
completion and by the first of April the Norfolk and Western will have acquired
the line.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> The above deal has been reported as under
consideration for some time in the Daily Telegraph, and the reports have caused
a great deal of satisfaction in the coal field, where the shippers have for a
long time wanted to see the Norfolk and Western acquire a lake outlet which
would prevent the holding of cars at Columbus until other roads were able to
take care of them. The acquirement of the Columbus, Sandusky and Hocking
will also help the Norfolk and Western car question by enabling the road to
handle its cars over its own tracks and in this way prevent their being diverted
to other lines, thereby preventing them from being returned to the field as soon
as would like.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> What connection the arrangement has with the
statements which have been published that the Pennsylvania has secured control
of the Norfolk and Western is not known, and as long as it does not affect the
broad policy of the Norfolk and Western the local operators do not care.
As has been reported the Norfolk and Western has secured right-of-way at
Columbus, near the Franklin county buildings, which gives the road plenty of
yard space and by the moving of the Norfolk and Western tracks about forty feet
the road will be able to send its own trains on to Sandusky. It is also
likely that in a short time contracts for shops and other improvements on the
Norfolk and Western property near Columbus will be let. Instead of
Columbus, Cincinnati, Norfolk, Shenandoah, Winston-Salem, Bristol and Norton
being the main terminals of the local road Columbus will in the future have to
be left out and Sandusky added to the list.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>[<EM>This reporter was prescient by about 54 years.</EM>]</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=6 face=Script>Gordon
Hamilton</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>