Published: November 07, 2009 06:50 pm      

Visitors fill city for return of rail excursion from Roanoke

BLUEFIELD — The smiles were as warm as the beautiful November day as hundreds of visitors arrived in Bluefield shortly after 11 a.m., Saturday on the first excursion train to come to Bluefield in a dozen years. The city was ready.

“Every summer, my parents put me on the train in Northfork and I rode all the way to Norfolk, Va., by myself,” Shirley Ofsa said as she, along with scores of others, waited for the Amtrak excursion train. “I started traveling to visit my favorite cousin in Norfolk when I was 12 years old, and kept going back there every year until I got married. I waited all year long for those two weeks and the train ride came at the beginning and the end.”

The crowd of people waiting for the train included some who had made their living working on the railroad. James DeFriece, 76, of Princeton, retired from Norfolk Southern Railway in 1988. “I was a brakeman on that train right there,” he said as the Amtrak train came into view in Bluefield’s East End yard. “I worked it 118 straight days.”

“I worked as a hostler here for six years,” Jimmy Francis, also 76, of Bluefield said. “I moved locomotives from one side of the yard to another. When I was a kid during the war (World War II) I used to come down here when the troop trains were pulling through here, walk across the avenue to Pesto Lunch and get sandwiches for them. We had a lot of beer joints along in through here back then. A lot of beer joints.”

Jim and Jackie Wilkinson emerged from the rail passenger car they rode from Roanoke, Va., and alternated their glances between looking up at the welcoming banners and flags on the Princeton Avenue Parking Garage and the Bluefield Fire Department ladder truck, and looking down at the map of Bluefield they received when they boarded the train earlier in the morning.

“We are just trying to decide what we’re going to do,” Jim Wilkinson said.

“We had a smooth ride from Roanoke,” Jackie Wilkinson added. “The Norfolk Southern people on the car with us told us what community we were passing through along they way. They gave us a good narrative.”

The Wilkinsons are from Bluefield, of all places. They drove to Roanoke on Friday and spent the night with family there so they could ride the train to Bluefield and back.

“I’ve been a rail fan since I came to Roanoke in 1986 and took my first steam excursion train ride,” Sheila Dorr of Wynnewood, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb said. “I rode the excursion train from Roanoke to Bluefield in 1987.”

Dorr works for the Environmental Protection Agency drinking water program in Philadelphia. “I’t’s probably good I don’t work for the air quality agency. I have pictures of steam locomotives all around my desk,” Dorr said. Dorr is the membership chairperson for the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. She worked to promote the excursion on the Internet and at her chapter.

“I enjoy coming to this area,” Dorr said. “I find the people here to be very friendly. Ever since the Roanoke Chapter announced it would be hosting this excursion, I’ve been excited about it.”

The noonday sidewalks of Bluefield were packed with people as vendors collected in the vicinity of Chicory Square to display their wares, sell snack food or offer buffet meals, in the case of the Internet Cafe’. Visitors formed lines to get food from Slick & Slew’s BBQ, and to get a box lunch from David’s at the Club. Visitors happily stood in line at the Bohemian Bakery, Bluefield News and Brew and the Heritage Cafe’, but there was food and fun in every direction.

“It feels like it used to feel on the weekends in downtown Bluefield,” Bluefield Mayor Linda Whalen said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”

Sherry Arthur of Roanoke and her friends, Dick and Judy Kohl, of Glassport, Pa., stood on the sidewalk in front of the Elizabeth Kee Federal Building and gazed at the architecture surrounding them.

“I think it’s a nice area,” Arthur said.

“We noticed this train excursion on (trains.com) and figured we would come down here, visit our friend Sherry and take a trip on the excursion train,” Dick Kohl said. Glassport is in southwestern Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh.

Ben Smith, 9, of Blacksburg, said the first part of his train ride was a little boring until he discovered the observation car. “It’s pretty crazy,” Ben said. He was traveling with his parents, Larry and Janet Smith.

“It’s a very nice city,” Janet Smith said. “I’ve been outside Bluefield before, but this is the first time I’ve been downtown.”

Marie Blackwell, interim executive director of the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau was thrilled with the weather, the turnout and the way people in Bluefield embraced the train excursion visitors. “It’s a fantastic, wonderful day,” Blackwell said. “People are excited about being here and they’re having a wonderful time.” Blackwell said she was especially excited because of the area people who turned out to enjoy the activities.

Marc Meachum, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce said the crowded sidewalks reminded him of Bluefield of his youth. “When you came to town on a Friday or Saturday back then, if you didn’t get here before 8 a.m., you would spend 30-45 minutes driving around, looking for a place to park,” he said.

Richard Shell and Brian Crosier of Roanoke, both past presidents of the Roanoke Chapter, NRHS were impressed by the reception. “It’s a great trip, a perfect day and we had a full house — 750 passengers,” Shell said. “Bluefield always rolls out the red carpet for us. It’s a caring community. You really couldn’t ask for any better service.”

Crosier provided some particulars about the excursion. The 17-car train was pulled by three locomotives including one Powhatan Arrow passenger car that was in service in 1971. He said a “mixed crew” including NS and Amtrak engineers are working the excursion.

“People need something like this to get them working together,” Billie Woods said. “I stood on the Martin Luther King Jr., Bridge and watched the train come into town. I watched them unhook the locomotives, move them around, and I came over here. Seeing all these people like this makes you forget who you are and where you came from. It’s just fun.”

This year’s visit marked the first Roanoke to Bluefield excursion train since Oct. 25, 1997.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com