I WAS WONDERING, IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE WHO IS A RAILFAN OF THE ATLANTIC & DANVILLE RAILWAY? OR AM I THE ONLY ONE?
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DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS A HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THE A & D?
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THANX
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MARK
I WAS WONDERING, IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE WHO IS A RAILFAN OF THE ATLANTIC & DANVILLE RAILWAY? OR AM I THE ONLY ONE?
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DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS A HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THE A & D?
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THANX
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MARK
Nobody???
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Well a few months ago I went to the James River Junction part of it, just west of Emporia and followed the Clairmont narrow gauge Branch right-of-way all the way to Clairmont. In many a place you can still see the right-of-way and even after 80 plus years of there are still four of the stations still standing in their original locations in good condition. Also, at Clairmont, you can still see where the roundhouse and turntable stood along with the very steep and winding path going down to the banks of the James River where you can still see the wooden footings for the piers, all this and much more, even after the Southern Railway abandond the branch 80 plus years ago.
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That is why I was asking if anyone else was interested in the A & D. I know it’s not a class one railway, or a good sized short-line, but at roughly 250 miles long, having both standard, narrow and duel gauges, one would think that more people would be interested in it.
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Mark.
With it having been abandoned over 80 years ago, it is highly likely only the locals (and the very old ones at that) can even recall it’s existence.
If you ever get the opportunity to trace the lineage of one of today’s Class I’s you will see, many, many railroads you have never heard of as they lost their identity way back when as they were assimilated by the larger carrier. To have been taken over by a larger company and then abandoned back in the days of the “Roaring 20’s” must mean that this line had very little economic reason for existing and without that, very little sense of loss among the populace about it’s passing.
The only information I know that I have on the Atlantic and Danville is in old issues of the Guide, old Southern timetables, and Railroad Names, by William D. Edson.
From Railroad Names, we learn that the railroad existed (with no predecessor shown) from 9/1883 to 9/1899. When the fifty year lease expired (Whoops! I forgot I had this information, which is from a 1949 issue of Trains) 8/1949, the Southern let the road go, and it became active again as the Atlantic and Danville. In 11/1962, it became the Norfolk, Franklin and Danville. Since then, it has been drastically reduced as section after section was abandoned.
The June 1893 issue of the Guide shows a round trip passenger train from Belfield (now Emporia) to Claremont Wharf and back over the 3’ gauge line. This line is still shown in the June 15, 1931 Southern timetable, with a mixed train using almost the same schedu
Mark,
This is a good book by William Griffin on the Atlantic & Danville. Do a Google search on Atlantic & Danville and you will probably find it still available from Amazon, Barns & Noble and other book dealers. If modeling interests you Atlas has an HO scale A&D Alco RS-36. Also if you do a search for National Railway Historical Society website you will find a listing for the Tidewater chapter located in Norfolk area. I believe this group may have one of the A&D Alcos and I am sure you will find someone with interest in the A&D.
Charlie
Your right. When I had ask a younger (mid 30’s) about the old railway station at Spring Grove, he just gave me that “what are you talking about” look. So I asked the elderly man who ran/owned the general store and he told me about it.
The narrow gauge part was only used for lumber, one lumber mill, cotton and peanut farms
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Yea, kinda like Walmart (class ones) taking over and putting the mom & pop shops (smaller railroads) out of business.
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Mark
Wait a minute…
I remember the Atlantic & Danville being taken over by the Norfolk & Western and renamed the Norfolk, Franklin & Danville. I even remember seeing NF&D box cars. That was in the 1960s and 70s, hardly 80 years ago!
Yes, I already have that book. Also, if you go to the Clairmont library and talk to the librarian, she will show you a history book on the town, which includeds more information that the book doesn’t have in it.
Thanks. I will check them out.
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Mark.
That was/is the standard gauge portion of the railway, which is now a branch line of Norfolk Southern. The NF & D box cars that you saw were NEVER part of the original narrow gauge line.
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Mark
By the time the A & D became active again, the Southern Railway had already abandoned the narrow gauge portion of it.
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Mark.
Your right. I was thinking that if you wanted to model the other styles of locomotives, rolling stock, ect. or in another scale, one could use a undecorated version and paint it themselves. Thanx.
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Mark.
So, I guess the answer to my original question is – nobody but me. [sigh]
Mark
well, this is my first post, and I couldn’t find something better to start off with better than this.
…right here, I am ALL about the old NF&D/Atlantic and Danville RR. My house sits right beside the old ROW and I can recall walking on the old grade when I was younger with my grandfather. so… no, you’re not alone there, I find most abandoned line interesting, however this one seems to hold a special place in me.
have a good one
I finally just saw this post thanks to the last reply. I enjoy the history of all the local railroads in this area (Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina). At the recent Greenberg show in Virginia Beach I was running my A&D RS-36’s on my module group’s layout and there were lots of comments and inquiries from folks at the show about them. What’s interesting is that even though they finally came out with a factory painted A&D locomotive, the prototype RS-36’s weren’t delivered until after it was bought by N&W and renamed Norfolk, Franklin, and Danville.
These days see a lot of new activity on the east end of the railroad with a new intermodal port terminal being served by the short line Commonwealth Railway. A new right of way is being constructed along route 164 and I-664 to replace about six miles of the old A&D that runs through the Churchland area of Portsmouth, VA.
This address was listed 8 years ago. I don’t know if it’s current.
Atlantic & Danville Railway Historical Society
P.O. Box 26
Evington, VA 24550
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns1227.jpeg
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns1274.jpeg
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns1275.jpeg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/AD.jpg Danville Map
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/AD2.jpg Emporia
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/AD3.jpg West Norfolk
Main Line, West Norfolk to Danville, 203.46
James River Division, Belfield to Claremont, 51
Portsmouth Branch, Portsmouth to Shoulder’s Hill, 10.64
Hitchcock Branch, Belfield to Hitchcock’s Mill, 8.33
Savidge Branch, Savidge to Alcott’s Mill, 5
Buffalo Springs Branch, Buffalo junction to Buffalo Springs, 3.89
Richmond & Danville Railroad, Jeffress to Clarksville, 1.50
283.82 miles of track in 1892
Mike
Mark,
I am a big fan of the A&D. I plan on modeling the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line, which connects with the A&D/NFD, depending on the year I end up modeling. My interests are mainly Delmarva railroads, and I grew up on the Delaware Coast Lines track in Coolspring, Delaware. DCLR’s Alco RS36 # 2 is none other than “the Deuce” (or Queen as she is called in Tidewater Triangle) from the A&D. She’s a bit scabby, but last time I talked to the line’s manager, she was a good running (and riding) engine. Somewhere she picked up paint similar to her original A&D scheme. Check out the link on below.
Regards,
Dave
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29794546@N07/3708930848/in/set-72157621181294647/
Years ago – how many? let’s say around 1965 – there was a guy in Massachusetts named Adolph W. Arnold who liked to exchange model railroad passes with other modelers (a hobby within a hobby that seems to have largely disappeared), and his big interest was for some reason, the A&D. He started to publish a little newsletter with information about the railroad, and you could get it free! This was irresistable for a teenager. This started a strange little craze in the Atlantic & Danville back at that time.
It was then that AHM issued its HO scale 40’ boxcar in an A&D paint scheme, I am sure in response to the interest Adolph W Arnold was generating in so many of us about the A&D. I still have the boxcar – but I have a sinking feeling the various newsletters are long since tossed. Perhaps some one on these forums has a set they could copy for you (I am sure Arnold himself must be long since deceased)?
I have only the vaguest recollections of the A&D newsletters but I suspect the Griffin book referenced above has all that info and more. Note also the magazine index on this website has four entries for the A&D.
So one short answer to your question – there was a little flury of interest in the A&D back in the mid 1960s due entirely to the quirky advocacy of one guy.
Dave Nelson
Railroad come and railroads go. It’s amazing how ‘over-built’ some areas of the east were.
When living in Millbrook, NY, I become interested in the railroad than once ran through the town. As it progressed northward, it ran through Pine Plains, NY, and two other railroads served Pine Plains, TOO! Unbelieveable, three railroads in dinky little town like Pine Plains. One of them went west over the Poughkeepsie Bridge.
They all went through name changes, all became part of the NYNH&H, and all were abandoned. None of their trackage exits except a bit in Poughkeepsie, NY. And unremembered by most.
Art
I’m wondering what will happen to the A&D line now since the International paper mill in Franklin, VA closed last month. Over a thousand people that worked there lost their jobs and the railway no longer serves the plant. I think that the only industry left on-line is the Vulcan rock quarry, which only sees about two to three short trains a week. Other than that, nothing is left to keep the line open. The railway already tore down the Holland, VA historic passenger station and also the old peanut sidings in Suffolk, VA have recently been torn up. I bet it won’t be long before they abandon the entire line and turn it into a “rails to trails” project.
In going through my railroadiana in preparation for an upcoming show, I discovered that I have an Alco-GE builder’s plate from Atlantic & Danville S-2 No. 103. The plate has Alco serial number 77426, dated October 1949. This must be one of the locomotives that A&D purchased after they began to operate independently. I would prefer it go to someone with a great interest in the A&D.