*1892 leased by Norfolk & Western Railroad, which acquired it outright in 1896.

David Houston, Henry Trout, Peyton Terry, and other native investors organized the Roanoke & Southern Railroad Company. The firm, which had a North Carolina counterpart, planned to construct a 122-mile line from Roanoke to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that would essentially complete the second half of the route originally proposed for the Clark firm’s Shenandoah Valley Railroad (SVRR).

The city’s editors applauded the idea, predicting the completed railroad would double the size of Roanoke and usher in the same kind of boom that accompanied the arrival of the SVRR. Local property owners, the only residents eligible to vote on civic financial issues, had previously rejected several small bonds for infrastructure improvements, but in April 1886, they almost unanimously approved issuing $100,000 in bonds to buy Roanoke & Southern stock.

In the years that followed, however, the railroad struggled to find other investors and construction of the line stalled. In 1889, local business leaders proposed issuing bonds to cover another $100,000 stock subscription. The road, one merchant explained, was crucial for Roanoke since it “would add millions to the wealth of the city” by opening up a southern trade.

The press urged freeholders to endorse the subscription, warning that Salem residents would “gladly give all and more than Roanoke is asked to subscribe” and had even come up with a new name for the line: “The Salem & Southern.” Roanoke’s property owners voted 540 to 11 to authorize the purchase but on the same ballot rejected far smaller bonds for a hospital and police headquarters.

Later in the year, Henry Trout, Peyton Terry, and other business leaders provided the final incentive for the line by purchasing its $75,000 right-of-way into the city. Construction ended in early 1892, and in January the first Roanoke & Southern train pulled into town. The line was leased to N&W on March 16, 1892. Then four years later, the N&W bought the Roanoke & Southern and turned the line into its Winston-Salem Division.

Towns on Route (in NC):

NC/VA State Line

Prices Store > Price (1891)

Stoneville

Mayodan (1896)

Madison

Pine Hall

Walnut Cove

Fulp (1892)

Salem Chapel

Walkertown

Daisy

Salem > Winston-Salem (1899)