The Pocahontas was one of the named passenger trains

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

 of the Norfolk and Western Railway

Norfolk and Western Railway

The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....

. Its route ran from Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 to Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

.

Westbound train 3 left Norfolk Terminal Station

Norfolk Terminal Station

Norfolk Terminal Station was a union railroad station located in Norfolk, Virginia which served passenger trains and provided offices for the Norfolk and Western Railway, the original Norfolk Southern Railway and the Virginian...

 at 1:30 pm, and arrived in Cincinnati Union Terminal at 7:05 am. In the eastbound direction, train 4 left Cincinnati at 11:20 pm, and arrived in Norfolk at 5:05 pm. A connection was made in Portsmouth, Ohio

Portsmouth, Ohio

Portsmouth is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Scioto County. The municipality is located on the northern banks of the Ohio River and east of the Scioto River in Southern Ohio. The population was 20,226 at the 2010 census.-Foundation:...

 with the Columbus District passenger train 33 and 34.

The train carried two 10-roomette 6-double bedroom sleeping cars from Norfolk to Cincinnati, one of which went though to Chicago on Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 Train 71. The train also handled a Winston-Salem to Columbus 10-6 sleeping car line that was carried in train 12 from Winston Salem to Roanoke, train 3 from Roanoke to Portsmouth, and train 33 from Portsmouth to Columbus. All these lines had counterparts operating in the opposite direction.

The most famous power of the N&W were the "J"s. They were the pride of the N&W, pulling crack passenger trains such as The Cavalier, The Powhatan Arrow

Powhatan Arrow

The Powhatan Arrow was one of the named passenger trains of the Norfolk and Western Railway. Its route ran from Norfolk, Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio....

, and The Pocahontas, as well as ferrying the Southern Railway's

Southern Railway (US)

The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...

 Tennessean

Tennessean (passenger train)

The Tennessean was a named passenger train jointly-operated by the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Southern Railway . Inaugurated on May 17, 1941, its route ran from Washington, DC to Lynchburg, Virginia on the SR, then on to Bristol, Tennessee on the N&W, terminating at Memphis Union Station...

between Lynchburg, Virginia

Lynchburg, Virginia

Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...

 and Bristol, Virginia

Bristol, Virginia

Bristol is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Washington County, Virginia, Bristol, Tennessee, and Sullivan County, Tennessee....

. One test proved that a "J" could pull fifteen cars at 100 mph along one section of flat, straight track in eastern Virginia. The only unit left of this class is Norfolk & Western 611.

In April, 1946, the N&W ordered sufficient passenger cars to re-equip The Pocohontas partially and The Powhattan Arrow completely. The new cars for The Pocahontas included ten 56-seat coaches (P3 class #531–540), two 36-seat dining cars (D1 class, #493 General William Mahone

William Mahone

William Mahone was a civil engineer, teacher, soldier, railroad executive, and a member of the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress. Small of stature, he was nicknamed "Little Billy"....

and #494 Frederick J. Kimball

Frederick J. Kimball

Frederick James Kimball was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia....

), three 10-roomette 6-double bedroom cars from Pullman-Standard (S2 class), and twenty similar cars from Budd

Budd Company

The Budd Company is a metal fabricator and major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and was formerly a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars during the 20th century....

(S1 class). Some of the P3 and two more D1 cars (#491–492) were for the The Powhatan Arrow; and the sleeping cars, which were all named after colleges and counties in Virginia, were used on all N&W sleeping car lines.

The cars were delivered in 1949. They were smooth-sided and delivered in Tuscan Red & Black; even the stainless steel Budd cars were painted and they lacked the usual fluted sides. Of the ten P3 cars, 8 may still be in some type of operation. Several of these cars were used in the Norfolk Southern Steam Program. The N&W streamlined/lightweight trains were originally painted as follows: sides, ends and skirts ("Tuscan Red"), roofs ("Dark Brown"), with Trucks ("Pullman Green") and lettering/striping ("Gold Leaf").

Around the early 1950s the lettering/striping was changed to imitation gold. The roofs when repainted in the '50s changed to black as were the trucks. The heavyweights were painted the same but did not carry train name logos or striping. N&W "officially" adopted blue at the end of 1965. The repaints were not all done right away.

May 1, 1971, marked the final run for N&W train No. 4, the Pocahontas; it was also N&W's last regularly scheduled-passenger train.