Whistlestop at Company Shops

After the Civil War (1861-1865), service on the NCRR began to improve as officials upgraded track conditions and made improvements to rolling stock. Residents of Company Shops looked forward to a new era of prosperity and growth until 1870 when a group of capitalists revealed their plan to construct a new railroad from Richmond to Atlanta that required them to lease the NCRR or build a new track parallel to it.The NCRR could not afford competition from a parallel track and on January 11, 1871 the directors of the NCRR leased the road to the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company for a period of thirty years.
New management soon took over and the Shops and all offices were moved to the R&D headquarters in Manchester, Virginia. Company Shops threatened to become a ghost town as many talented people moved away in search of employment and business opportunities. In 1886, NCRR officials conducted a survey of company property that divided it into numbered lots and properly named streets.