Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992 TAG: 9203260390
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS WEST CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"It had become the target of extreme vandalism - frequent vandalism," said Don Piedmont, director of public relations for the Norfolk Southern Corp., which owns the property.
The old station, dating to the early years of this century, was a bit of the past that Louis M. Newton remembers well. It's sad to see it go, he said.
"But that's what often happens to old buildings once they are no longer being used," said Newton, a retired railroad man with 37 years of service.
After the merger of the old Norfolk and Western Railway and the Virginian in 1959, the NW moved its Salem freight operations into the Virginian station.
"The Virginian station was newer and in fairly good shape," Newton said of the the 22-by-125-foot structure that once was a passenger and freight station.
A companion station in Salem, the old Norfolk and Western passenger station, has been blessed with a brighter existence.
It is still a busy, bright and lively place - just as in days of old when throngs of people waited there for the Cavalier, the Pocahontas and other trains with colorful names.
But instead of expectant passengers, the station today is filled with excited and lively children. It is a child development center operated by Total Action Against Poverty.
Both stations are among hundreds that once dotted the landscape throughout the country at the height of railroad passenger service. The Roanoke Valley alone had almost two dozen stations, serving nearly every community. But of all the stations that once attracted travelers, only a few are still standing.
Newton, who retired in 1987 as the NW's assistant vice president for transportation planning, remembers them all.
"The railroad station was the center of activity in most towns," he said.
Today he can produce a collection of old passenger timetables, a common commodity in olden days.
The city of Salem now owns the station that houses the TAP child development center. Other depots now are owned by private companies and being used for businesses:
The old Virginian passenger station in Roanoke, on South Jefferson Street near Walnut Avenue, is now the Depot Feed & Seed store. That company has occupied the old station since 1988, but there were several other businesses that occupied it before then.
The Virginian station that formerly was at Ellett in Montgomery County now is on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.
The NW passenger station in Roanoke, once a mini-Grand Central Station, now is used for Norfolk Southern Co. offices.
The old Bedford depot is now a restaurant.
The station at Cloverdale in southern Botetourt County is still owned by Norfolk Southern but is vacant. It is on Virginia 654 close to the Cloverdale Post Office.
Newton said that in the heyday of passenger service, larger towns along the railroad had separate stations for passenger and freight. Smaller towns had combination stations and often were handled by a single agent. And that one agent was almost a jack of all railroad trades.
"He was the telegraph operator, sold tickets, handled less-than-carload freight, express and mail," Newton said. "In a one-man station, he was it."
He usually was a very highly respected man in the community, too, Newton said.
When railroad passenger trains were king, almost every community had a station and at least one agent.
Going east from Roanoke there were NW stations at Vinton, Bonsack, Blue Ridge, Montvale, Thaxton, Bedford, Lowry, Goode and Forest before getting to Lynchburg.
Moving west from Roanoke on the NW line, a train passed through Salem, Elliston, Shawsville, Christiansburg, Vicker, Radford and many other points beyond.
At one time there were eight passenger trains a day in each direction, Newton said.
Passengers on the Virginian line could catch a train at Altavista, Huddleston, Stone Mountain, Moneta, Goodview, Roanoke, Salem, Ellett, Merrimac and Whitethorne.
Until the early 1950s, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad ran a train from Clifton Forge to Eagle Rock and New Castle.
Newton said that was a "mixed train" that carried both freight and passengers. At one time it ran on Mondays and Thursdays, he said, and one of its chief reasons for being was the popularity of the Virginia Mineral Spring, a resort.
Newton said it was not generally known, but many of the small stations had another and more important role. In the daya before high tech communications, agents at small stations relayed messages to train conductors about the movement of other trains on the same line.
"This was really an important function on a single-track line," he said.
\ Some railroad lore:
The Norfolk and Western traces its beginnings back to the middle of the previous century.
The Virginian Railway began in 1909.
The Virginian opened its Salem station for passengers and freight on Christmas Eve in 1924.
The first Virginian electric locomotive ran through Salem on Sept. 1, 1926.
NW passenger service ended on April 30, 1971. A group of YWCA kindergarten children rode the Pocahontas from Salem to Christiansburg and back to Salem.
The Virginian ended passenger service on Jan. 29, 1956.
by CNB