Page "Prince Edward County, Virginia" Paragraph 6

After the Civil War, under the leadership of former Confederate General William " Billy " Mahone, the Southside Railroad was rebuilt, and in 1870, was combined with the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad to form Mahone's Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad ( AM & O ), which stretched 400 miles across the southern tier of Virginia from Norfolk on Hampton Roads to Bristol.

After the Financial Panic of 1873, the AM & O fell into default on its debt, and was purchased in the early 1880s by new owners who renamed it the Norfolk and Western ( N & W ).

In 1982, it became part of the current Norfolk Southern Railway system.

Due to the high cost of maintaining the High Bridge over the Appomattox River, the line through Farmville was downgraded and eventually abandoned, in favor of the Farmville Belt Line, which had been built on a more direct line between Burkeville and Pamplin City as had originally been envisioned in the planning for the Southside Railroad.