Virginia & Southwestern Railway
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- Cities: Bristol TN/VA
- Related Lines: Embreeville Branch | Johnson City & Carolina | Johnson City Southern
- Notable People: Dr. Samuel B. Cunningham | Samuel Spencer | W. Graham Claytor, Jr.
- Today: Norfolk Southern
- Railfan Guides: Virginia & Southwestern
- Resources & Sources: Books | Scholars-Authors | Museums | Associations | Website Editor | Site Map
- Related Websites: Rails Across the Appalachians | Clinchfield.org
Virginia & Southwestern Railway
V&SW Stats
- Founded: 1899
- Operated: 1899 – 1906
- Abbreviation: V&SW
- Predecessor: Virginia & Kentucky Railroad, Bristol Coal & Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad, South Atlantic & Ohio
- Initial Route: Bristol/Abingdon VA to Big Stone Gap VA
- Final Length: 128 Miles, Mountain City TN to Appalachia VA
- Noteworthy: ‘The Natural Tunnel Route’
- Headquarters: Bristol
- Cities: Bristol, Hiltons, Mendota, Gate City, Big Stone Gap, Appalachia VA, Bluff City, Elizabethton, Mountain City TN
- Key Individuals: George L. Carter
- Successor: Southern Railway
- Today: Norfolk Southern Railway. The segment from Bristol to Moccasin Gap was abandoned. The eastern segment from Bristol to Mendota is now the Mendota Trail (Rails-to-Trails).
V&SW History
In 1899, George L. Carter bought the South Atlantic & Ohio Railway (Bristol to Appalachia VA via Moccasin Gap and Natural Tunnel) and the Bristol Elizabethton & North Carolina Railroad (Bristol to Butler and Maymead TN). The new name for the combined railroad was the Virginia & Southwestern Railway. The northern segment was focused on coal, the southern segment on timber.
The Railway’s Headquarters, Yard, and Shops were in Bristol, Tennessee, and provided a key interchange for the Norfolk & Western Railway there. There was also a yard in Appalchia VA.
Over the few years that Carter owned the railroad, he acquired a few spur railroads. He also extended the line to Mountain City TN.
Southern Railway
The V&SW was eventually sold to the Southern Railway in 1906, during the period when Carter started making plans to build the Clinchfield Railroad. The V&SW was initially part of his business plan to haul coal southward from Virginia, but eventually it was clear he needed a shorter, more direct and easy to operate line across the mountains to the Carolinas.
One of the related rail lines the Southern Railway purchased was the Holston River Railroad in 1908. The line, which was under construction, connected the Virginia and Southwestern Railroad at Moccasin Gap with the Southern Railway at Bulls Gap TN. This allowed the railroads a much easier route for westbound or southbound coal, through either Knoxville TN or Asheville NC. It also increased railroad competition in the the coalfields, especially with the L&N.
For a decade the V&SW operated as a independent railroad, but in 1916 it became an operating division of the Southern Railway.
Virginia & Southwestern Railway Railfan Guide
Click here for a complete Railfan Guide for the V&SW Railway, including an interactive map and pictures.
Links for Additional Information
NY Times article announcing sale of V&S to Southern Railway for a rumored $10M
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/08/30/101795496.html?pageNumber=8
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/rail/vasouthwestern.html
Southern-Railroads.org Sources and Resources
- Personal Maps, Timetables & Memorabilia – Documents, maps and track charts that I have from the SOU and predecessor railroads
- Book – Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi: The Southern Railway
- Book – Graybeal: The Railroads of Johnson City
- Book – Harshaw: ‘Trains Trestles & Tunnels, Railroads of the Southern Appalachians’
- Book – Lindsey: ‘Norfolk Southern 1995 Review’
- Book – Scales: Natural Tunnel, Nature’s Marvel in Stone’
- Book – Stout: ‘Southern Railway: Through Passenger Service’
- Book – Ward: ‘Southern Railway Varnish 1964-1979’
- Book – Webb: ‘The Southern Railway System: An Illustrated History’
- Book – Wiley & Wallace: ‘The Southern Railway Handbook’
- Book – Withers & Sink: ‘Southern: A Motive Power Pictorial’
- Book – Wolfe: Southern Railway Appalachia Division
- Magazine – ‘Trains‘
- Magazine – ‘Classic Trains‘
- Website – StateOfFranklin.net which hosts Johnson’s Depot
- Website – Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
- Website – Hawkinsrails.net
- Website – RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City
- Website – Norfolk Southern Track Charts at Multimodalways.org
- Website – TheDieselShop.us
- Website – SteamLocomotive.com
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3Cs Websites
Appalachian-Railroads.org | Clinchfield.org | Southern-Railroads.org