The Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (S&R RR) was incorporated in 1846 and originated in Suffolk, VA and terminated in Weldon, NC. It passed over the Blackwater River in Franklin, VA.[1] [2].
The Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad was originally organized in 1833 as the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad to extend from the area of the rapids of the Roanoke River at its fall line near Weldon, North Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia, across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk on the harbor of Hampton Roads.
The Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad was also known initially as the Portsmouth and Weldon Railroad. Track was built from Portsmouth southwest, with the line reaching Suffolk in 1834. The line was completed to Weldon, North Carolina in 1837.
The new 80-mile (130 km) line, built in 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm)[1] gauge was first completed in 1835. Some of the intermediate points in Virginia were Boykins, Franklin, Carrsville, and Suffolk. Lumber was the largest commodity originating along the line, and the facilities of the Camp Company's lumber and paper mill operations in Franklin were located there due to the new railroad.
Notably, the Seaboard and Roanoke was the first railroad to reach the Norfolk area, beating the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (a predecessor of the Norfolk and Western Railway built by Southampton native William Mahone) by more than 20 years.
On 11 August 1837, the first head-on railroad collision to result in passenger fatalities in the United States occurred near Suffolk when an eastbound lumber train from Franklin coming down a grade at speed rounded a sharp curve and smacked into the morning passenger train from Portsmouth, Virginia. The first three of thirteen stagecoach-style cars were smashed, killing three daughters of the prominent Ely family (of Franklin) and injuring dozens of the 200 on board. They were returning from a steamboat cruise when the accident happened. An engraving depicting the moment of impact was published in Howland's "Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents" in 1840.
On 12 December 1837, an eastbound engine of the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad pulling 3 passenger cars and 9 lumber cars loaded with cotton struck an upturned end of a split metal rail 2 miles west of the Nottoway River near the present day village of Handsom in Southampton County. The resulting derailment killed a Miss Blow and a Miss Rochelle from Southampton and injured several others including Capt. James D. Bryant (whose legs were broken), Col. Nathaniel Rochelle, a Mr. Blow and Miss King and Miss Simmons also of Southampton. Senator William C. Preston of South Carolina who was on board escaped injury.
