Trains – October 2019

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1884 and 1953, the Norfolk & Western’s
East End Shops built around 450 steam
locomotives and built and maintained
thousands of freight cars. At its peak in the
1930s, 6,000 people worked in the shops. In
the 1950s, the shops made the transition to
working on diesels, and Norfolk Southern
continues to use many of the buildings for
servicing and overhauling locomotives.
Both of the N&W’s historic headquar-
ters buildings still face the tracks down-
town, one converted into apartments, the
other into classrooms and offices. The
neighboring Hotel Roanoke welcomes
guests in restored splendor, and the former
passenger station across Shenandoah Street
has become the O. Winston Link Museum.
Morgan wrote of the latter building in the
1950s, “one of the nicest civic attractions
about Roanoke is its N&W passenger
station ... restyled by Raymond Loewy into
that sort of ageless modern motif that he
originally brought to railroading in the
classic mold of Pennsy’s GG1 electric.” Like
Morgan, a present-day visitor will likely
find it “as new and inviting as ever.” Nearby,
a new high-level station platform now sees
daily Amtrak service.
North of Roanoke, U.S. 220 winds
through the Ridge and Valley Appala-
chians. At Eagle Rock, it meets the James
River, and for the next 13 miles parallels
both the river and CSX Transportation’s
former Chesapeake & Ohio James River
Subdivision. Now 260 miles from Rock-
ingham, we reach Clifton Forge. Although
not as large as facilities at Huntington,
W.Va., Clifton Forge’s backshop also
repaired and rebuilt steam locomotives,
and the railroad employed 2,000 people in
town in 1949. Most of the railroad jobs
have long since disappeared as coal traffic
has declined, and the empty locomotive
shop only shelters pigeons. However, an
old concrete coal dock still stands in the
nearby weeds, and Amtrak’s triweekly
Cardinal calls at the former C&O station.
Next door, the C&O Railway Heritage
Center displays rolling stock, including
4-8-4 No. 614; a restored brick freight
house; and a relocated interlocking cabin.
The railroad and the highway follow the
Jackson River upstream through a gap in
the mountains, and in a few miles we reach
Covington, where the Chessie depot and

the older adjacent freight house have

survived, nicely kept by the city and rented

out for events. At Main Street Park, recent-

ly refurbished C&O 2-8-0 No. 701 gleams

under a brand-new pavilion; she has home-

town roots, becoming known as “the Merry

Widow” during her solitary years hauling

the mixed trains on the nearby Hot Springs

Branch, which headed northerly 25 miles

to its eponymous resort town.

WEST VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND

North of Covington, we miss Cass,

W.Va., and its collection of geared steam

locomotives by 15 air miles — but about 33

miles by twisting mountain roads. Fifteen

miles farther on, we cross into wild, won-

derful West Virginia. Driving northeasterly

through the valleys between the ridges, one

gets to wondering: Why does U.S. 220 go

where it goes? Says historian Hankey, “One

can question the necessity of an interior

highway from North Carolina to Pennsylva-

nia.” Planned as a spur to coast-to-coast

U.S. 20, U.S. 220 has never connected with

its parent road.

In the first era of American history, the

Appalachians presented a barrier to west-

44 OCTOBER 2019

5 Norfolk Southern train No. 134 rolls
through downtown Roanoke, Va., while a
steam excursion loads at the O. Winston Link
Museum. 6 The railroad proudly marks its
Roanoke shops. Two photos, Jonathan McCoy

7 Seaboard Air Line’s famous L-shaped
station still stands at Hamlet, N.C. Alex Mayes
8 Two NS AC44C6Ms lead a coal train south
on the Winston-Salem District along U.S. 220
at Price, N.C., on Jan. 31, 2016. Scott Ridenhour