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Inquest Into the Crash of the Norfolk and Ocean View Railroad
(For more Norfolk geography tidbits, click here.)
The reporting on the inquest into the accident involving the Norfolk and Ocean View Railway, begun August 15, 1895, provides numerous tidbits of historical insights into the railroad and its workings.
Mr. A.L. Johnson, a native of Richmond, who “had constructed the first electric railroads  established in Richmond, New Orleans, Washington, and Philadelphia,” and whose “plans for the Norfolk and Ocean View railroad were prepared under his direction,” testified as an expert witness. The Landmark stated that “[H]e considers the construction of the Norfolk and Ocean View railroad equal, if not superior to that of any electric railroad operation in this country. He doubts if there is another electric road in this country that has the rails of the same weight as this road, viz: seventy pounds to the yard. He said that the curves on the Ocean View railroad are not unusually sharp, and for an electric railway they would be considered moderate; that there is not a curve on the road that is not safe for the heaviest locomotive to pass over safely….” (Landmark, Aug. 17)
Mr. Robert P. King, resident engineer of railroad, said that “there were no changes made in the curves on the road when gauge was widened,” and that “the road has been practically rebuilt, as all new material was used when the road was prepared for electric cars.” (Landmark, Aug. 17)
Captain M.B. Colonna, who had been in the employ of the railroad about seven years, testified “that the road bed has been recently thoroughly overhauled and made new, and the gauge had been widened to the standard, the weight of the rails being changed from thirty to seventy pounds.”
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