Pocahontas (train)
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The ''Pocahontas'' (or the ''Pokey'' for short) was a named overnight
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...
, operated by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in the
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. It made its inaugural operation on November 21, 1926, with two trains; Nos. 3 and 4, which both ran daily at night on the N&W mainline between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio, with a through-connection to and from
Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. The ''Pocahontas'' replaced an earlier passenger train called the ''Norfolk-Chicago Express'', which bears the same train numbers.


History

During the
Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western world, Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultura ...
, passenger intercity
ridership In public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There i ...
on all railroads, including the Norfolk and Western (N&W), started to decline as more people started to buy and drive the
automobiles A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
to travel.. On November 21, 1926, N&W management, determined to maintain their ridership, launched their brand-new ''Pocahontas'' train service, which ran on N&W's mainline daily at night between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio. The train was named after the
Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...
woman,
Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...
, who rescued English explorer John Smith.. Additionally, the train's name was received by city ticket agent E.V. Perdew of
Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in Scioto County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, Ohio, Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky and just east of the mouth of th ...
, who won the $25 first prize in an N&W naming contest. It has two trains: Nos. 3 and 4. The former left Norfolk at 2:40 p.m. and arrived at Cincinnati at 7:35 a.m., while the latter left Cincinnati at 11:25 p.m. and arrived back at Norfolk at 5:10 p.m. A connection was made in Portsmouth, with the Columbus District passenger trains 33 and 34. The train carried two 10-roomette-6-double-bedroom sleeping cars from Norfolk to Cincinnati, one of which went through to Chicago on train 71 of the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...
. ''Pocahontas'' also handled a
Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina and the 91st-most populous city in the Uni ...
to Columbus 10-6 sleeping car that was carried in train 12 from Winston-Salem to Roanoke, train 3 from Roanoke to Portsmouth, and train 33 from Portsmouth to Columbus. All those trains had counterparts operating in the opposite directions. The most famous engines to power the ''Pocahontas'' were the class J steam locomotives. They were the pride of the N&W, pulling crack passenger trains such as the ''
Cavalier The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of England and his son Charles II of England, Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum (England), Int ...
'', the ''
Powhatan Arrow The ''Powhatan Arrow'' (or the ''Arrow'' for short) was a Lists of named passenger trains, named flagship passenger train operated by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in the United States. Debuting on April 28, 1946, the daily westbound No. ...
'', and the ''Pocahontas'', as well as ferrying the Southern Railway's '' Tennessean'' between
Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...
, and
Bristol, Virginia Bristol is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,219. It is the Twin cities (geographical proxi ...
. One test proved that a class J could pull 15 cars at 100 m.p.h. along one section of flat, straight track in eastern Virginia. The only surviving unit of the J class is No. 611. In April 1946 the N&W ordered sufficient passenger cars to re-equip the ''Pocohontas'' partially and the ''Powhatan Arrow'' completely. The new cars for the ''Pocahontas'' included ten 56-seat coaches (P3 class #531–540), two 36-seat dining cars (D1 class, #493 '' General William Mahone'' and #494 ''
Frederick J. Kimball Frederick James Kimball (March 6, 1844 – July 27, 1903) was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia. Railroad career At 18 ...
''), three 10-roomette-6-double bedroom cars from
Pullman-Standard The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...
(S2 class), and 20 similar cars from Budd (S1 class). Some of the P3 and two more D1 cars (#491–492) were for the ''Powhatan Arrow'', and the sleeping cars, which were all named after colleges and counties in Virginia, were used on all N&W sleeping-car trains. The cars were delivered in 1949. They were smooth-sided and were delivered in Tuscan Red and Black; even the stainless-steel Budd cars were painted, and they lacked the usual fluted sides. Of the ten P3 cars, eight may still be in operation. Several of those cars were used in the Norfolk Southern Steam Program. The N&W streamlined/lightweight trains were originally painted as follows: sides, ends, and skirts ("Tuscan Red"), roofs ("Dark Brown"), with Trucks ("Pullman Green") and lettering/striping ("Gold Leaf"). Around the early 1950s the lettering/striping was changed to imitation gold. The roofs, when repainted in the '50s, changed to black, as were the trucks. The heavyweights were painted the same but did not carry train-name logos or striping. N&W adopted blue at the end of 1965, but the repaints were not all done right away. May 1, 1971, marked the final run for N&W train 4, the eastbound ''Pocahontas''; it was also N&W's last regularly scheduled passenger train.This Month in History; May(NRHS Rivanna Chapter)
/ref>


Major stops

*
Norfolk Terminal Station Norfolk Terminal Station was a railroad union station located in Norfolk, Virginia, which served passenger trains and provided offices for the Norfolk and Western Railway, the original Norfolk Southern Railway (1942–1982), Norfolk Southern Ra ...
*
Petersburg Union Station Petersburg Union Station is a former train station in Petersburg, Virginia, United States. It was built in 1909–1910 for the Norfolk and Western Railway and was later used by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Amtrak. History The Petersb ...
*Lynchburg *
Roanoke Roanoke may refer to: Places *Roanoke Colony, a former English colony that mysteriously disappeared *Roanoke Island, the location of the Roanoke colony in present-day North Carolina *Roanoke River, flowing through Virginia and North Carolina and ...
* Christiansburg station *Bluefield, West Virginia *Portsmouth, Ohio *
Cincinnati Union Terminal Cincinnati Union Terminal is an intercity train station and museum center in the Queensgate, Cincinnati, Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Commonly abbreviated as CUT, or by its Amtrak station code, CIN, the Railroad terminal, termin ...
*Branch service from Petersburg to Richmond; branch service from Portsmouth to Columbus, Ohio


Derailments

* On January 23, 1956, class J No. 611 derailed along the
Tug River The Tug Fork is a tributary of the Big Sandy River (Ohio River), Big Sandy River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 13, 2011 in southwestern West Virginia, South ...
near
Cedar, Mingo County, West Virginia Cedar is an unincorporated community located in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States. Its post office is closed. In early 1956, a Norfolk and Western passenger train derailed at that location. Geography Cedar is located in the Appalac ...
while pulling the ''Pocahontas''. It was determined that the engineer ran the engine at an excessive speed around a curve and its high
center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For ...
caused it to flip on its side. No. 611 was repaired and continued revenue passenger service. It was retired in 1959 and purchased by the
Virginia Museum of Transportation The Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) is a museum in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, that is devoted to the topic of transportation. History The Virginia Museum of Transportation began in 1963 as the Roanoke Transportation Museum in Wasena ...
, which restored it to operational condition in 2015.


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pocahontas (Train) Passenger trains of the Norfolk and Western Railway Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1941 1971 disestablishments in the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Virginia Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C. Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Railway services discontinued in 1971