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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Tunga>Bluefield Daily Telegraph<BR>July 1,
1910</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=4>PUSHING WORK ON TUNNEL CONTRACTS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=center><STRONG>Pocahontas Division Fast Becoming One of Best and
Busiest Places of Road in the Country</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left> The work on the various tunnel contracts in
the field along the Pocahontas division of the Norfolk and Western is being
pushed. In every case the rock has been exposed and passengers going
through the section where the work is being done have a chance to see the amount
of track which will be cut out and the distances which will be saved as well as
the curves which will be cut out. In a few years the Pocahontas division
will well earn the name of the tunnel division, but this name it can afford to
carry as from an operation standpoint the road will be almost perfect. The
expense of hauling coal trains over long curves will be done away with and the
addition of new and larger engine equipment, such as is seen in the Mallet
engines, will make the division the best division in the country when the amount
of freight originating on it and the cost of assembling and movement is taken
into consideration. At the present time there is perhaps more freight
originated along the lines of the Pocahontas division than along the same amount
of any railroad in the world. The cost of moving it is not comparatively
large but this cost will be reduced until a minimum is reached and if
electrification ever takes the place of steam the absence of curves will give
the road a big advantage.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> There is only one thing lacking to make the
road an even bigger revenue producer. If a trolley line could be built
from Bluefield to Welch to take care of the short passenger traffic, the road
could get away from the delays and waits caused by the running of passenger
trains with the result that freight could be moved even more economically.
In addition to this the through traffic of the road would be bettered by
bringing to the section people who would take much more pleasure in making their
trips through the field by electricity as they could make them quicker.
That result would be they would make the trips to this section more frequently
and the few long hauls would more than pay for the many short hauls.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> The trolley line would benefit every village
it went through and the Norfolk and Western being the only railroad to pass
through the section could not help but reap more of the benefits which the
smaller towns would receive.</DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=6 face=Script>Gordon
Hamilton</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>