New-York tribune., 1910-01-09
REM4RK4BLE COAL HAUL.
Hoe I@ Tons of anthracite Drezo
9,I2O Tons 124 Miles

A worlds record in railroading was made tho
other day when a coal train more than mile IN
length was hauled by a single engine on tho
Virginian Railway from Victoria, Va. 10 Sew
ellis Point near Norfolk. At an average speed
of about fifteen miles an hour omlttlnS stops
40 coupled Virginia gondOla cars travelled l24S
miles in hours and minutes, and showed to
the railroad interests of the world ne" eco
nomic possibilities in low grade coal road
The train was in charge OF w. H. Wells engi-
neer; ]. L. Rollins, fireman and ]. H. Bailey
conductor and had three brakemen. Bearing
6 600 net tons of COAL valued, all told, at SIo'-
80 the train left Victoria at $50 o'clock IN the
morning and arrived at Sewels Point at the
mouth of the James River at l o'clock the same
date.
To make possible this achievement which Is
remarkable one in railroad history, the late
Henry Huddleston Rogers of the Standard On
Company, is declared to have sacrificed much OF
his great wealth, and possibly TO have brought
about his death. The story of the hnan-
cier's devotion to the stupendous engineering
plan of the Deepwater-T Underwater coal road
later the Virginian Railway discOses unusual
enterprise and perseverance. and the sacrifices
of Mr. Rogers are probably best appreciated in
the light of the present accomplishment.
When the first five miles of the coal route from
deep water laid out. in 1894, there was
little thought OF line connecting tLe FOct-
hontas coal fields with the a total Of
442 miles of track. At the most it was con-
jectured that the line would eventually extend
through the coal regions between deep water
and Princeton, and act a spur tributary to
the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, connecting
with the lumber district at Robson
H. II. Rogers controlling factor IN the road
understood however, the advantages Of a
through route to Tidewater "a point the
present eastern terminus) which would open up
two million acres of bituminuOus coal lands
He undertook, therefore, a complete survey from
deepwater to tidewater distance equal to the
railroad mileage from New York to Buffalo.
owing to the generally rough character of the
country it was obvious that a low grade line
would be exceedingly costly, but the engineers
Che two terminals being given) were told to
connect them by the best route the country af-
forded, allowing maximum grade of twO-tenths
Of l per cent From the mountains of West
Virginia Roanoke was the only point where the
line had to touch and the main idea to consider
was the low cost of coang facilities. AS soon
any particular plan was hit upon by the
engineers a standard was to be developed which
would be used over the entire route. These
standards covered large range of items, such
as stations. viaducts, pipe culverts and cross
ings
TIL expense Of conducting this survey across
the state of Virginia greatly in excess OF
what II would have been had a definite route
been marked out. PrecipItOus mountain ridges
gonuire sierras with tooth profile. mar
row, tortuous valleys and rapid mountain
streams which vary in dimensions with the sea-
sons, offered difficulties which seemed at times
inSurmOuntable
In spi-e Of many GiscOuragements, because OF
the irregular country and the lack Of good bot