Farmers used the railroads and the Mississippi to ship the large annual harvest to markets.

The railroad shipped freight for local companies and interchanged with CSX Transportation at Carlisle Junction in Mount Holly Springs.

The railroad shipped mostly timber products and some perlite from the mine and mill near Lakeview.

Besides finished lumber, the railroad also shipped tanbark to Port Royal, to be used by the Oak Extract Company in nearby Newport.

Some companies that use the railroads to ship their products said that they did not think that the new regulations were strong enough to correct imbalances in the current system.

When the renamed Virginian Railway (VGN) was completed in 1909, no fewer than three railroads were shipping ever-increasing volumes of coal to export from Hampton Roads.

The railroad also shipped limestone for the furnaces from quarries along the line (one of which it owned), and coal, probably to fuel the stationary steam engines at the mines.

The railroad would not ship ore for less than 30 cents per ton, which Phil Collins considered too high to operate the furnace profitably.

As the people here tried to stay neutral, rebel fighters took positions in the town to try to stop the Russians from using the railroads to ship arms.

Nothwithstanding the competitive fears of the C&O and N&W, soon, all three railroads were shipping ever-increasing volumes of coal to export from Hampton Roads.