Williamson and the Railroad

Williamson and the Railroad. Williamson. , This city is named for Wallace J. Williamson, whose family owned vast tracts of undeveloped land along Tug Fork in what was originally southwestern Logan County, West Virginia. In 1888, following a visit to the area by a Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W, now Norfolk Southern Corporation) survey crew, Wallace Williamson formed the Williamson Mining and Manufacturing Company. With advance knowledge that the main line of the railroad would run through the area, he subdivided family-owned land surrounding a planned railroad depot near the West Virginia-Kentucky state line. In 1892 the new town of Williamson was surveyed, and lots were laid out and sold at auction. , The railroad reached Williamson the same year, assuring the town almost immediate prosperity. By 1894, four daily passenger trains serviced Williamson’s new frame depot. In 1895 a portion of western Logan County was split off and became Mingo County. Williamson, with barely 100 inhabitants, was chosen as the county seat, primarily due to the influence of the N&W. , By 1900 the N&W had established a divisional hub and built extensive rail yards at Williamson to service the booming southwestern West Virginia coal industry. The Williamson yards eventually rivaled those at Bluefield in importance, and grew larger in size, exceeded only by the company’s main yards at Roanoke, Virginia. , Williamson was incorporated as a city in 1905, and its population and economy boomed with the development of the local coal fields. From a population of 27 in 1893, Williamson peaked at an estimated 10,000 persons about 1925. , The East Williamson Rail Yard is one of the largest coal marshalling yards in the world. Over a billion dollars worth of coal has passed through the yard since the late 1800s, and large amounts of freight continue to pass through Williamson daily, in 1907 Railroad Gazette stated “The traffic passing through the yard now amounts to about 1,500 cars a day or 750 in each direction.” The repair yards engine service buildings, and machine shops at Williamson have kept engines and cars functioning safely and efficiently for the N&W and Norfolk Southern Corporation for over 100 years. A prominent feature of the yards is the Williamson Roundhouse and turntable, which is one of the few operating roundhouses left in the U.S. The roundhouse could accommodate up to 25 locomotives and is still used to service freight cars.