 The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (V&T) came to Big Lick, linking Lynchburg to Bristol and transforming the region.A system was developed to link three railroads across the southern tier of Virginia to form the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad (AM&O).When the Shenandoah Valley Railroad linked Hagerstown, Maryland to the AM&O in Roanoke in 1882, it became the Norfolk & Western Railway.