Powhatan Arrow

After the outbreak of World War II, the Norfolk and Western (N&W) built the first batch of five streamlined 4-8-4 class J steam locomotives, Nos. 600-604, at their Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virginia,[1] then ordered 15 streamlined Pm class coaches, Nos. 1720-1734, from the Pullman-Standard Company[2] to re-equipped their Pocahontas and Cavalier passenger trains.[3] The Pm class coaches were equipped with 60 reclining seats.[2] In 1943, the second batch of six class J locomotives, Nos. 605-610, were built without streamlined casings due to wartime restrictions, which classified them as the J1s.[4][5] A year later, the J1s were refitted with the casings and reclassified as Js.[6][7]

After World War II ended in 1945, passenger traffic on the N&W started to decrease, but the railroad's president, Robert Hall Smith was determined to keep the passengers riding the N&W passenger trains.[8] On April 28, 1946, Smith and the N&W officials launched their brand-new Powhatan Arrow, which was a luxurious passenger train that ran 676 miles (1,088 km) daily on the N&W mainline at daylight between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio.[8][9] The train's name was named after Chief Powahatan, the head of the Powhatan Tribe, and was chosen by former N&W employee Leonard A. Scott of Dry Branch, Virginia, who won the $500 first prize in an N&W naming contest.[10][11] The consist includes a class J locomotive serving as the main motive power and pulling five Pm class coaches along with a re-equipped De class dining car in a total of six cars.[9][12] The cars were all painted in a Tuscan red with golden yellow stripes and letterings.[9][13]

On November 24, 1946, the Powhatan Arrow services were suspended due to the Office of Defense Transportation ordered to eliminate 25% of all railroads' steam locomotives, including the N&W, due to a severe shortage of coal occasioned by a massive coal miners strike.[14] On December 7, the order was lifted and the Powhatan Arrow services resumed operations.[14] In June 1947, the three Pm class coaches Nos. 1720, 1721, and 1722 were rebuilt into tavern-lounge cars to provide more space for the Powhatan Arrow train.[10] The tavern-lounge cars were all equipped with ashtrays, which were made from casting at the Roanoke Shops' foundry, and its mahogany furniture were all home-built.[15] The tavern-lounge counter tops and tables were all made from formica materials.[15]

The Powhatan Arrow had two trains: Nos. 25 and 26.[9] No. 25 departed westbound from Norfolk Terminal Station in the early morning with station stops in Virginia at Petersburg and Roanoke along with West Virginia at Bluefield and Williamson.[16] Afterwards, it arrived at Cincinnati Union Terminal in the evening.[16] No. 26 ran in the opposite direction, where it departed eastbound from Cincinnati in the morning and arrived at Norfolk in the evening.[16] Both trains ran 15 hours and 45 minutes per day.[9][11] The Powhatan Arrow was proclaimed as one of America's first new postwar streamliners, despite its equipment not being new.[9] The overall transit time of the Powhatan Arrow is approximately 44.9 mph (72 km/h).[17]

N&W P3 class straight coach No. 539, one of the passenger cars used on the new 1949 Powhatan Arrow train

On November 22, 1949, N&W ordered new passenger cars from Pullman-Standard to re-equip the Powhatan Arrow completely.[8][18] They received two P1 class locker coaches Nos. 501-502,[19] two P2 class divided coaches Nos. 511-512,[20] ten P3 class straight coaches Nos. 531–540,[21] two D1 class dining cars Nos. 491–492,[22] and two D4 class lounge-tavern-observation cars Nos. 581 and 582.[18][23][lower-alpha 1] There were originally plans to build two dome cars for the Powhatan Arrow consist, but this was cancelled due to concerns of the dome cars' top section interfering with the overhead lines on the N&W's electrified lines.[24][25]

The P1 coaches had 48 seats and accommodates the locker and smoking lounge room areas for the dining car crew and the passengers, respectively.[19] The P2 coaches had 66 seats with two divided room sections; the front accommodated 24 black passengers, while the rear accommodated 42 white passengers.[20] This was made under the Jim Crow laws at the time.[26] The P3 straight coaches had 58 seats with two spacious restroom sections; one for the male passengers and the other for the female passengers.[21] The D1 dining cars had 36 seats with a kitchen equipped with modern appliances such as an electric dishwasher and garbage disposal unit.[22] The D4 lounge-tavern-observation cars had 52 seats and two sections.[23] All of the cars had the Powhatan Arrow logo inscribed on both of their sides.[18]

On November 30, 1949, the newly re-equipped Powhatan Arrow, began its public media tour at various station stops between Roanoke and Bluefield.[27][28] On December 4–11 that same year, the train does an exhibition tour at various station stops along the N&W mainline route.[28][29] Afterwards, the re-equipped Powhatan Arrow's first revenue runs took place on December 12.[26][28] In the summer of 1950, N&W built three more class J locomotives, Nos. 611-613, which were the last mainline passenger steam locomotives built in the United States.[30][31] The new 1949 Powhatan Arrow consist had one P1 locker coach, one P2 divided coach, three P3 straight coaches, one D1 diner, and a D4 lounge-tavern-observation car in a total of seven cars.[19]

In 1953, the westbound Powhatan Arrow earned its title as the third fastest American long distance run, maintaining an average speed of 65.4 mph (105 km/h) on the N&W mainline, running 58.9 miles (94.8 km) between Suffolk and Petersburg, Virginia, nosed out the New York Central's (NYC) James Whitcomb Riley train.[28]

In 1955, all of the Powhatan Arrow cars have their bottom skirtings removed for easier maintenance.[32] At the same time, the Powhatan Arrow consist was downgraded to just five cars with two P3 class coaches removed and a BPd class combine car added to replace the P1 locker coaches as well as handling a small amount of mail business.[32][33] In early 1958, the consist was drastically changed with a storage mail car and a railway post office (RPO) car added due to the mail business started to increase.[32][33] The D1 dining cars were converted into diner-lounge types, while the D4 observation cars were removed from the consist in a further attempt to cut down costs.[32][33]

In mid-1958, N&W's new president, Stuart T. Saunders retired all of the class J steam locomotives from pulling the Powhatan Arrow trains and reassigned them to haul freight trains.[34][35] J class No. 610 hauled the last steam-powered Powhatan Arrow train on July 17, 1958.[36] As part of Saunders' plan to dieselize the entire N&W system, he leased an EMD E6A and four EMD E7 units from the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) along with four EMD E8 units from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) for use in pulling the Powhatan Arrow trains.[35][37] However, the ACL E-units were called back to their railroad to handle heavy winter traffic in Florida and some of the class J locomotives briefly returned to passenger service, including the Powhatan Arrow.[34][35]

By the end of 1958, N&W's new passenger GP9s arrived as the main motive powers of the Powhatan Arrow trains and the class J locomotives returned to freight service until they were all retired and scrapped around 1959, excluding No. 611, which survived into preservation and was currently owned by the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) in Roanoke.[8][34] Both P1 locker coaches were rebuilt into straight coaches with 68 seats.[33] In 1960, both of the two D4 observation cars were sold off to Saudi Arabia until they were both eventually scrapped around 1994.[33][38]

In August 1966, the Powhatan Arrow consist was finally given dome cars, which were originally used on the former Wabash Railroad's (WAB) Blue Bird trains.[39][40] However, passenger traffic on the N&W started to decrease due to the populations of airlines and automobiles.[39] As a result, the Powhatan Arrow made its last run on May 23, 1969, just two years before the end of all N&W passenger train service.[39][41]