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BER 6,1910.NO. 80VIRGINIAN RAILWAY TO ENTER BECKLEYBY RALEIGH SOUTHWESTERN AND FINEY RIVER ROUTEProbability That Trains Will-Soon Be—Running-Under New Arrangement, Giving Beckley Increased Passenger Facilities As Well As Competitive Transportation Rates.The Messenger is today in position to ^announce upon vvliiit. it deems reliable authority, that there is no longer any doubt as . to the entrance of the Virginian Kaihvay .into this city at a very early date. An arrangement has been consummated whereby the Virginian has tin ned over to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway the Jenny’s Gap tunnel, now used by the Virginian, and which has been the cause of considerable expensive litigation between the two railroads.Under the, arrangement which is to become e Ifeefci v e w i I h i n a fcw (jays,. the Chesapeake and Ohio is to complete the second Jenny’s Gap tunnel, work on which wiis suspended when the courts finally decreet) that the present tunnel should be turned oVer to the Virginian, despite the fact that it liad been built by the Chesapeake and Ohio. The new tunnel, when completed, is: to be the property of die Virginian, w.hilestbe present nnn reverts to the OhesaiKiake and Ohio.In the deal, the Chesapeake.land Ohio secured trackage rights over the Virginian! from the tunnel to Mullens, where it will connect with tlie Guy an fiveFlJhmch, now Ixf' ing extended from Guyandotte to Mullens, not only tapping the Boone and Logan coal fields, but forming a short cut from the New River coal holds to the Ohio*river, without burdening the main line with this heavy traffic.In return, the Virginian secures trackage rights on the Raleigh and Southwestern, which extends from Raleigh to Pemberton, whEnr it intersects the Winding Gulf branch of tlie Virginian. A large force of men is already sit work on this road, laying heavy steel frails and ballasting'the road.to bring it up to the Virginian standard, so that it will be in condition to carry the heavy trains with which that road is equipped. TheFine.y Rivcraikl Paint Creek, better known locally as the Dixon road, has also passed into the hands of the Virginian, which has secured trackage rights over the Pinc.y River branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio between Raleigh and Beckley J unction, so that it will be but a matter of days, and not many of them at that, until the Virginian will be running its passenger and freight trains into the city of Beckley.While the details of the arrangement arc not yet ready for announcement, it is generally understood that there will be two passenger trains daily between Beckley and Mullens, each way, one of which will bo run by the Virginian and the other by the Ohcsa-. peakc and Ohio, thus giving the Gulf section frequent and prompt access to the county seat and business center of the county.It is also understood-tliat the taking1 oyer of the Dixon road by the Virginian means the completion of that road from its present terminus at Cranberry to a connection with the main line of the Vi tv ini,m, and to the opening of a i»‘w route through to a connection v illi oitlier the Glen Jean arid 1 eastern or the White .. Oak road, on Loup .Creek, and thence' to the main line of tlie Chesapeake and Ohio, at Thurmond, whereby a much shorter haul and better grade .'in be secured tor the enormous coal shipments from this section of the New River field than' is possible umler prcsent Conditions.The Chesapeake anti Ohio, it is also understood, will proceed to complete its road paralleling' the Virginian from Jcmiy’s Gap, up-, on which many thousands of tlall-a us we re spent in ' grad mg, but which was temporarily abandoned when the tunnel passed into the . hands of the Virginian.. \ :.V:Under the new arrangement, tiie Chesapeake and ()hio obtains access to the most extensive eoal .and timber devclopmehte^in ;:tiio: state ' and a direct do\vn grade hati 1 for most .of : its traffic developed in. this section, to both .eastern and western markets, while tlie Virgin-iinrsccnres^iTrifaradTnntftgesraTid— by the laying of a couple of miles of track, on which practically no grading is needed, as it will necessarily follow the course of the stream from Raleigh to Beckley Junction. Beckley will be in possession of competing railroad lines, with tlie inevitable reduction of the exorbitant freight rates which have handicapped our businessmen-CYcr-si nee-thiFcstnblishment—of the town and the entrance into this section of what has been until now our only means of rail communication with outside sources of supply—a fact of which the railroad company has not. failed to' take full advantage.Tlie now deal means that Beckley is now iirshapeTo takethe position for which nature and environment has destined her, as the business and social centre of the New River coal field, the wealth of which, even now, in the infancy of its development, is attracting the attention, wonder and admiration of the industrial world.GRADING FINISHED On Connection Between K.} G. ,J. E. and VirginianThe grading of the extension of the Kanawha. Glen Jean Eastern Railway, and likewise the tunnel, between Mount Mope and the junction with the Virginian Railway, was completed Friday, and the workmen discharged.The track is laid to the tunnel on the Mount Hope side of the mountain, and the work of completing the track will be pushed steadily forward. It is expected that the entire work will be-completed.-and trains will put on within the next sixty days.“Fayette Tribune.
Newspaper Details
Messenger
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Tue, Sep 06, 1910
Page 5
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USA 01 Feb 2025
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