the Norfolk and Western Railway acquired the New River Plateau Railroad and built the Cripple Creek Extension to Fries and Galax
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
the Norfolk and Western Railway acquired the New River Plateau Railroad and built the Cripple Creek Extension to Fries and Galax
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
In 1882, the Norfolk and Western Railroad was busy expanding up the New River to the north to reach the coal fields in Virginia and West Virginia. It lacked the capacity to manage construction of another line through the Blue Ridge to reach the mineralized lands in Wythe and Carroll counties , where there was iron, lead, and zinc ore. The Speedwell Furnace, on a tributary of the New River called Cripple Creek, was transporting iron by wagon to the Norfolk and Western line and sending it to customers in Baltimore, Wilmington, Cincinnati and St. Louis.
With the support of the Norfolk and Western Railroad, the New River Plateau Railroad Company raised the capital to build a connection south to the Speedwell Furnace.
Construction started at Martin's Tank, a small stop on the Norfolk and Western Railroad, and headed upstream along the New River. The track reached the charcoal-fueled iron furnace at Foster Falls in 1886. Freight traffic increased even more after the railroad got to the lead/zinc mines at Austinville and the iron furnace at Ivanhoe, with a branch up Cripple Creek to the Raven Cliff and Speedwell furnaces. In 1887 the Pulaski Iron Company opened a major furnace at Martin's Tank using local ore, coal, and limestone, and the community was renamed Pulaski City.
Cripple Creek flows into the New River between Austinville and Ivanhoe
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
In 1889 the railroad proposed an expansion across the Blue Ridge to Mount Airy, North Carolina. That same year, the Norfolk and Western took full control, renaming it the Cripple Creek Extension. The line was extended further to the textile mill at Fries in 1901, and up Chestnut Creek to Galax in 1906. The North Carolina Extension, across the Blue Ridge, was never built.
Instead, the Norfolk and Western Railway acquired the Roanoke & Southern Railway, which connected Roanoke to Winston Salem, in 1896. That line had been completed in 1891. It provided a less-costly route to the North Carolina Piedmont, compared to constructing the North Carolina Extension through the mountains from Galax (or Fries) to Mount Airy. The Cripple Creek Extension was not extended further.
Once the Norfolk and Western controlled both sets of railroad tracks extending south through the Blue Ridge in Southwest Virginia, competition was blocked. The Virginia and Kentucky Railroad had been chartered in 1884 to link the iron ore lands in the Blue Ridge with the coal in Kentucky, crossing the New River. Once the Norfolk and Western Railway gained access to most furnaces in Carroll and Wythe counties, there was no market left for a competitor.
The last of the lead, zinc, and iron ore mines at Austinville closed in 1981. That cut the traffic on the 50-mile stretch of rail between Pulaski-Galax from 2,000 cars/year to 300 cars/year.
Due to the reduced business, the Norfolk and Western Railway abandoned the Cripple Creek Extension in 1985. The president of Webb Furniture in Galax complained that the closure would affect potential economic development in the area, but he admitted that his factory was shipping by truck and not using the railroad.
In 1986, the railroad donated the trackbed to the State of Virginia.1
the Norfolk and Western Railway used the Roanoke & Southern Railway to reach the Carolina Piedmont, rather than build south from Galax
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Much of the New River Plateau Railroad/Cripple Creek Extension is now a popular state park, the New River Trail. It offers a 57-mile section of former roadbed for hiking, biking, and equestrian use. Recreational users can pass through the Gambetta Tunnel along Chestnut Creek near Galax, and the Austinville Tunnel on the New River between Austinville and Shot Tower State Park. The New River Plateau Railroad Company carved those two tunnels so trains could avoid curves and steep grades.2
after a rails-to-trails conversion, the Cripple Creek Extension is now New River Trail State Park
Source: Virginia State Parks, New River Trail State Park
Austinville Tunnel, constructed downstream of Austinville by the New River Plateau Railroad Company
Source: Virginia State Parks, New River Trail and Shot Tower State Parks
in 1890, boosters of Ivanhoe hyped a proposed extension of the railroad into North Carolina
Source: Virginia Chronicle, Library of Virginia, Roanoke Times (July 16, 1890