Train service for Elizabeth City is about to be reduced to one train a day. The following order promulgated by the Norfolk Southern Railroad this week has been only temporarily cancelled by order of the Corporation Commission. The Corporation Commission will give Elizabeth City, Hertford, Edenton and other towns an opportunity to protest, and then the Corporation Commission will let the railroad have its way. Here is the order:
Norfolk, Va., July 4th, 1922
To All Agents:-
In order to conserve power and fuel so that we will be in a position to give necessary service to our patrons, we will, effective Thursday, July 6th, until further notice, discontinue the operation of trains No. 3 and 4 between Norfolk and Raleigh, and trains 15 and 16 between Goldsboro and Marsden, and trains 55 and 56 Oriental Branch.
We will also discontinue operation of trains 17 and 18 between Belhaven and Washington same date.
Agents will make known to the public this curtailment in service and the reasons therefor.
J.M.S.
The news of the proposed taking off of the most important trains serving these Northeastern North Carolina towns astonished everybody. Prompt action upon the part of the Elizabeth City Chamber of Commerce, co-operating with the Chambers of Commerce of Hertford and Edenton secured a temporary order from the State Corporation Commission restraining the railroad from carrying out the order as relates to Trains No. 3 and 4. But the railroad insists that the coal shortage and the threatening railway strike makes it absolutely necessary for the present service to be reduced, if the railroad is to conserve its fuel and resources for the service in more trying times ahead.
The Corporation Commission will in all probability let the railroad have its way. But it will not have it without a fight, declares the entire directorate of the Elizabeth City Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce is organizing its forces and insists that if Trains 3 and 4 are taken off, the Norfolk Southern shall restore its former local train service between Edenton and Norfolk, the local train to operate on something like the present schedule of the train that is to be discontinued.
If the compromise can be made Elizabeth City, Hertford and Edenton can get along for a while without Trains 3 and 4. But if the railroad will not make the concession, then Elizabeth City and other points on the Norfolk will e in a dilemma from which there will be no immediate recovery.
Incidentally, Elizabeth City may ascertain the real value of a Chamber of Commerce.
From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., July 7, 1922
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