Virginian Railway - End of Steam: Decline at Servicing Points

End of Steam: Decline At Servicing Points

Revenue freight traffic, in millions of net ton-miles
Year Traffic
1925 2771
1933 1943
1944 4058
1956 5358
Source:ICC annual reports

Beginning in 1903 Page, West Virginia, named for Col. William Page, was the site of a switching yard, roundhouse, and station on the Deepwater Railway and later the Virginian Railway (VGN). After the railroad eliminated steam locomotives in 1957 and the area's coal mines were largely depleted, the facilities at Page were unneeded. Mullens and Princeton in West Virginia, and Roanoke, Victoria and Sewell's Point in Virginia were other locations where the extensive steam locomotive servicing facilities and roundhouses were also no longer needed after 1957. The pattern was the same across America as the steam locomotive era ended.

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