The original goal of the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad was to provide a link for shipments of goods originating on the Roanoke River and its canal system from points west to reach port facilities in the Norfolk area on the harbor of Hampton Roads.
For such traffic, Norfolk and Portsmouth were fiercely competitive with Petersburg, which had access to the navigable portion of the James River at City Point via about 8 miles of the Appomattox River below its fall line, and was also planning rail service from its south and west.