New Book Offers Closer Look at Stations and Depots of the Norfolk & Western Railway

Jan. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- The tracks of the Norfolk and Western Railway snaked through Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and the coalfields of West Virginia.  At each stop was the depot or station; some stations were large, architecturally ornate structures that represented the muscular energy and romantic era of this great steam railway with its famed J-class engines.  In other places there were small wooden depots that depicted the hard-scrabble life of the mining communities, tucked amid steep mountain valleys that were indelibly shaped by the railway’s presence.

Today some of those structures remain while many disappeared when the railway ceased passenger or other service. The Norfolk and Western eventually merged with the Southern Railway and though the trains of the Norfolk Southern still run along those same lines, they simply pass by where they used to stop many years ago.

In a new pictorial history book by local author and rail enthusiast C. Nelson Harris, over 200 vintage photographs commemorate the freight, passengers and economic vitality that the Norfolk and Western brought to large cities and rural mining towns for nearly 100 years.

The author hopes his book “will preserve in print many of the images of the old depots and stations that are inaccessible for many and bring to memory buildings and structures long gone.”

Highlights of Norfolk and Western Railway Stations and Depots:
• Images from the 1910-1920 period from the photographic archives of the N&W Railway at Virginia Tech
• Stations in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina
• The railroad’s role in the development and history of Roanoke

Author C. Nelson Harris has carefully selected archival images from the renowned historical Norfolk and Western photograph collection housed at Virginia Tech. These images, many never before published, date back nearly a century and convey the storied past of life along the rails.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at 888.313.2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.  

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.

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With more than 6,000 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.