1907 - A Persistent Rumor

[NW Mailing List]

Roanoke Times - October 18, 1907

A PERSISTENT RUMOR

That the Southern Will Run Fast Train Through Roanoke

  Some days ago The Times published an interview with one of the 
Norfolk and Western officials, in which the rumor that the Southern 
would run its limited Washington and New Orleans fast trains over the 
Norfolk and Western lines from Lynchburg to Bristol, was flatly denied.
   However, if brent of rumor has power of prophecy, those trains 
will shortly be flying through Southwest Virginia. The following is 
taken from one of the Southwest papers:
   "Reports have been published in the South to the effect that the 
Southern railway will shortly change the route of its fast limited 
trains from Washington to New Orleans by leaving the main line at 
Lynchburg and crossing the mountains from that point to Chattanooga 
by way of Bristol. Thus far there had been no definite statement from 
the company to justify these rumors. Several newspapers have 
attributed the change to the laws recently enacted in North Carolina, 
Georgia and Alabama. South of Washington and the best line extends 
direct to Atlanta, and over this the largest volume of traffic is 
handled. The running time from Washington to Atlanta via Bristol and 
Chattanooga is so much greater than by way of Charlotte that the 
reported change would be out the question. In these days, however, 
railroad rumors come thick and fast, and they seldom amount to more 
than idle talk."

-----------------------------------

- Ron Davis, Roger Link