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Murph: The N&W had coveted the VGN's easy grades over Alleghany Mountain (0.6% compared with N&W's 1.0%) and its skirting of Blue Ridge Mountain by following the Roanoke River (VGN's grade was 0.2% up to Abilene, Va., compared to Blue Ridge's 1.2%). An unsuccessful attempt was made to merge during the '20's. By 1959 the merger climate in the US showed signs of becoming more favorable, and VGN's stockholders (by then their majority stockholder was Koppers Co., I believe) were worried about their coal reserves running out. So the merger was effected, and the combined company immediately built connections at strategic locations and began to reap operating savings because of the easier grades. The next five years showed a perceived need to diversify N&W's traffic base and get more merchandise traffic. In 1964 N&W merged with the NKP, leased the WAB for 99 years (I believe) and absorbed the P&WV and the AC&Y. N&W bought PRR's Columbus-Sandusky line for $111 million to connect the former N&W properties with the NKP at Bellevue. The combined system was more profitable, and the wisdom of the action was proven when the coal business went to heck in the 80s (it shows signs of rebounding now). The N&W-SOU merger of 1982 came about because of the necessity to survive in a world with a monstrous CSX in it. The 1982 merger took the name of the old regional carrier Norfolk Southern. As a sidelight, N&W and ATSF held merger talks around 1980, and a good friend of mine who worked for the Santa Fe (when it was disclosed that the N&W would be the dominant corporate entity) griped that it would be like "the tail wagging the dog". I told him that the N&W had a billion or so in the bank, and if it was a tail it could wag not only the ATSF but a lot of third world countries . . . Old Timer
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