Published: October 31, 2009 06:37 pm      

Excursion train visit harkens back to glory days in Bluefield

BLUEFIELD — In 1882, when the Norfolk & Western Railway (now Norfolk Southern) pushed through the sparsely settled southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia countryside, there were few people living in the region to greet them.

“I guess it would have been my great granddaddy Joseph Davidson there at the time because my daddy wasn’t born until 1892,” Joe Davidson, 91, said. In 1767, King George III of England granted John Goolman Davidson the deed to the land where the N&W would eventually locate its westernmost car repair shops and round house.

The city of Bluefield will play host to a group of about 850 visitors who will be arriving at 11:30 a.m., on the Roanoke, Va., to Bluefield Amtrak excursion train. The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society is sponsoring the excursion. It has been 12 years since the city has welcomed a rail excursion, many local groups are rolling out the red carpet of welcome to the visitors. Several downtown restaurants and art galleries have special events planned for the day, and the Craft Memorial Library will have an exhibit of rare documents and photographs related to Bluefield and the N&W Railway’s intertwined history.

“Bluefield was built to serve the N&W Railroad,” Dr. C. Stuart McGehee said. McGehee is a noted coalfield historian and director of the Eastern Regional Coal Archives located in Bluefield’s Craft Memorial Library. “Very few people lived at Higginbotham’s Summit when the railroad came through. When the engineers determined that the place they called Higginbotham’s Summit was the highest point on the railroad from Norfolk to Cincinnati, the railroad decided to locate its shops here.

“This visit harkens back to the glory days of passenger service into Bluefield,” McGehee said. “At one time, about a dozen passenger trains arrived in Bluefield each day. Bluefield was also the home to many companies that supplied the needs of 100 or so coal mines operating in the region.

“Having the Pocahontas Division headquarters located here in Bluefield continues to mean a great deal to the city,” McGehee said. “NS deserves a a great deal of credit for making this excursion possible. You can imagine what a challenge this must be.”

McGehee said the library on Commerce Street will be open for its traditional hours on Saturday afternoon. The Eastern Regional Coal Archives will have an incredible display of rare photographs and documents for the visitors to see,” he said.

Joe Davidson still lives in Bluefield. He said that his Great Grandfather Davidson’s cabin was located on Bluefield’s North side. That cabin was dismantled and later reassembled and restored in the Bluefield City Park complex. Davidson said that the Andrew Davidson cabin was where the N&W built its round house. “Andrew Davidson’s wife and two daughters were captured by Indians. The Indians killed the two daughters, but Andrew went all the way to Canada where found her and brought her back home,” he said.

When the N&W Railway came to Bluefield in 1882, three families — the Davidsons, Higginbothams and the Baileys — had farms that were located in what is now the footprint of the city. By Nov. 20, 1889 when Bluefield was incorporated as a city, the population of the city had grown to more than 5,000 people. The Mercer County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the city of Bluefield and other groups have worked to organize activities in the city that include music, food, vendors, face painting and family fun so the visitors traveling on the rail excursion will have a lot to do during their two-hour layover.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com