BLUEFIELD, WV (LOOTPRESS) – For decades, Consolidated Bus Lines kept southern West Virginia’s coalfields moving.
Consolidated Bus Lines, a transportation stalwart with roots in Bluefield, played a key role in connecting the coalfields of southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia during the mid-20th century.
Consolidated Bus Lines, as their motto stated, served “West Virginia’s Billion Dollar Coalfields.”
According to the West Virginia Encyclopedia, established in January 1934 by James Elliott “Jack” Craft, a Kentucky native, the company began as a modest Welch taxi service with a single Model-T Ford.
Craft’s entrepreneurial spirit drove the expansion of services to include bus routes connecting significant cities and towns.
Those cities included Charleston, Logan, Welch (its busiest hub), Mullens, Princeton, Williamson, East Rainelle, Beckley, Pineville, Grundy, Richlands (Virginia), and Pikeville (Kentucky).
By 1953, Consolidated Bus Lines boasted a workforce of 337 individuals operating around 100 buses, covering a vast 1,200-mile system from Huntington to Roanoke, Virginia.
In 1956, Craft made the strategic decision to sell his successful venture to Virginia Stage Lines, a Trailways affiliate, marking the end of an era.
Despite its eventual discontinuation by the early 1970s, Consolidated Bus Lines most certainly made its mark in southern Appalachia, along with Mr. James “Jack” Craft.
