Operations on the A&Y: Passenger Time Tables
This page will be devoted to the A&Y's passenger service.
The A&Y provided passenger service for all lines from it's beginning until the 1930's. When service was operated as a part of the Southern Railway prior to 1917, any Southern Railway passenger locomotive might have been used. Once the Southern decided to let the A&Y operate independently in 1917, the main passenger power for the A&Y passenger trains was leased from the Southern. The 4-6-0 #950 was photographed pulling A&Y passenger trains in and out of Mount Airy.
Cars and trucks, as well as the Depression, ate into the A&Y's share of the passenger travel market. The A&Y began petitioning the ICC to halt passenger service in the early 1930's. The vocal actions of citizens along the route stalled the management's plans until 1939. Passenger service halted that year and the train, nicknamed "The Shoofly," disappeared for good. If the citizens could have delayed discontinuance for another year or so, perhaps the increasing traffic generated by World War II might have extended "The Shoofly's" life another half decade. Possibilities aside, passenger trains were history and the A&Y was freight only after 1939.
Passenger Time Table
This is a scan of the January, 1939 Southern Railway Public Timetable of Passenger Service containing it's subsidiary's information as well. Since the A&Y ceased passenger service in 1939, this is likely to be a description of the last possible service offered to passengers by the A&Y. Note how service continued (actually began) on the ACL's portion of the old CF&YV? Table 72 covers the main line and Table 71 below shows the Ramseur Branch's train schedule.
