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 (a regional carrier in Virginia and North Carolina which became part of and later lent its name to the much larger company known as Norfolk Southern in the 1980s) and the Virginian Railway. The N&W, Norfolk Southern, and Virginian's Norfolk terminal location stood in contrast to competitor railroads, such as the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Southern Railway, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad which operated out of Cape Charles (Virginia), Newport News and Portsmouth, terminals outside of Norfolk.^[1] Customers took ferries or, later in the 20th century, buses from Norfolk to reach those other terminals.^[2] The terminal was located at 1200 East Main Street in Norfolk,^[3] near today's Harbor Park baseball stadium.

Norfolk Terminal Station
Photo of the station c. 1914
General information
Coordinates	36°50′37″N 76°16′34″W / 36.843475°N 76.276117°W / 36.843475; -76.276117
Line(s)	Norfolk and Western Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, Virginian Railway
History
Opened	1912
Closed	1962
Key dates
1963	demolished
Former services
Preceding station Norfolk and Western Railway Following station Suffolk toward Cincinnati Main Line Terminus Preceding station Virginian Railway Following station Sunray toward Deepwater Main Line Terminus

History

 

Norfolk terminal Waiting room

Norfolk Terminal Station was built following destruction by fire of the large wooden N&W passenger station^[4] on October 13, 1909. After a sharing agreement was reached and a terminal operating company were formed, the new brick building was opened in 1912. Offices of all three tenant railroads occupied the upper floors, with passenger facilities at the ground level. The General Offices of the Virginian Railway occupied the top three floors whereas N&W General Offices were located in Roanoke, Virginia.

With the decline of passenger rail travel, and the merger of the Virginian Railway into the Norfolk and Western in 1959, the station closed in 1962^[5] and was demolished in 1963.^[6] A contract for the demolition was awarded to ABC Demolition, of Arlington, Virginia, for an undisclosed price.^[7] Passenger service moved to Lambert's Point. In 2012 Amtrak opened a new Norfolk station in the vicinity of the former Norfolk Terminal Station.^[6]

Trains and destinations in station's heyday

Major Norfolk & Western trains and destinations in station's mid-20th Century prime:

• Cavalier - Cincinnati, via Petersburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke
• Pocahontas - Cincinnati, via Petersburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke
• Powhatan Arrow - Cincinnati, via Petersburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke

References

1. Official Guide of the Railways, 1949 edition index
2. "1916 New City Map of Norfolk, Portsmouth and Vicinity, Virginia". smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
3. "Norfolk Terminal Railway Building, 1931 - Norfolk, Virginia". smcdigital.norfolkpubliclibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
4. Turin, F.E.; Squires, W.H.T.; Bennett, M.E. (1936). Through the Years in Norfolk (PDF). Portsmouth, VA: Norfolk Advertising Board/Printcraft Press. p. 135.
5. Virginian-Pilot, The. "As train use faded, so did Norfolk station". pilotonline.com. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
6. Norfolk, VA - Great American Stations
7. "Demolition Project". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Vol. 86, no. 57. Associated Press. January 31, 1963. p. B-3.