Norfolk and Western Railroad Records

Chartered in 1881, the Norfolk and Western Railroad was created and organized when Clarence H. Clark and his associates purchased the property and franchises belonging to the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad Company.  The combined length owned by Clark and associates, after the rights had been bought in a public sale, was just over 400 miles.  By the year 1900 another 1,100 miles had been added including a branch as far north as Columbus, Ohio.  Growth was limited for the railroad until after the close of World War II.  In 1959 Norfolk and Western acquired another 600 miles of track, used primarily for coal transport, from the then defunct Virginia Railway. In 1964 N&W added another 2,100 miles to its already large network of tracks by buying up the franchise rights of the Nickel Plate Railroad.  Finally, six years later in 1970 N&W took over full control of the Wabash Railroad which added yet another 2,400 miles.  This stretched its lines to over 7,600 miles and included such cities as Norfolk, Buffalo and Detroit, and as far west as Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha and Kansas City.  By 1970 the Norfolk and Western Railway Company had assets totaling over two billion dollars.  Although it had much mileage in both Virginia and West Virginia more than two thirds of N&W track lay north and west of the Ohio River.