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    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited
    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited
    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited
    Ebook187 pages1 hour

    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited

    By David A. Guillaudeu and Paul E. McCray

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    About this ebook

    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad covered the
    railroad's corporate history, construction, and operation. This
    second volume expands the coverage with a geographic focus on four
    locations: Rosslyn, Great Falls, Leesburg, and Purcellville. The images
    within offer a look at the railroad's feed and grain business, railfan-type
    views of equipment, and a visual record of methods used to maintain
    the right-of-way and place equipment back on the tracks. Additionally,
    this work offers a history of the conversion of the right-of-way into the
    very popular Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park.
    Learn about the history of mills and their place in the local economy.
    See how the Burro crane was a jack of all trades. Look under the hood
    and inside the cab to imagine what it was like to be an engineer on
    one of the railroad's Baldwin-Westinghouse electric freight locomotives.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 17, 2016
    ISBN9781439656976
    Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited
    Author

    David A. Guillaudeu

    David A. Guillaudeu has taken photographs of the railroad and its industries, interviewed former employees, and collected old photographs for over 45 years. Paul E. McCray served as the park manager of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park. Today, he is an unofficial Washington & Old Dominion Railroad historian, participating at speaking engagements for local history and rail enthusiasts.

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      Book preview

      Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited - David A. Guillaudeu

      references.

      INTRODUCTION

      Early Virginia colonial landowners bought their lands for shillings per acre. The way to make money was to then develop the land and sell it for hundreds of pounds per acre. As the country was new, the landowners needed a reason for entrepreneurs to develop the land. Trading was one such means—purchasing farm products and selling them to city dwellers and exporting them. In early colonial times, tobacco was the cash crop. As the soil wore out, wheat became one of the main products, along with flour. The same early landowners also had their sights set on the Ohio River valley. To promote trade and look to the future, they needed a port location that was as close to the sources of products to be exported as possible, as well as a location from which the Ohio River valley could be easily reached. Several locations were considered, but in the end, the Alexandria area was chosen for its natural port on the Potomac River that could handle oceangoing vessels. The headwaters of the Potomac were a short portage trip from the Ohio River. On the way to the Ohio, the Potomac River met up with the Shenandoah River, where products from the valley’s rich agricultural fields could be shipped.

      To support traffic through the port, the Little River Turnpike and the Alexandria-Leesburg Pike were built as pathways of commerce into Virginia’s interior. Meanwhile, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was built from Washington toward Cumberland, Maryland. The Alexandria Canal, completed in December 1843, connected Alexandria to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal at Georgetown, District of Columbia. It was operated from 1843 until the Civil War. Its main commerce was in coal mined in western Maryland.

      After its retrocession to Virginia from the District of Columbia in 1846, Alexandria undertook the construction of several railroads. Chief among these early railroads was the Orange & Alexandria Railroad and the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad. The Orange & Alexandria Railroad tapped the fertile farm fields of central Virginia, bringing in flour and grain.

      Lewis McKenzie, an Alexandria businessman, had projected that sales of coal might reach 15 million tons. He realized that the Alexandria Canal was not efficient enough to carry this much coal and that the only transportation available that could do so was a railroad. He gathered some friends and petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for a charter to build a railroad to the coalfields of Hampshire County, Virginia, near Paddytown (now Keyser, West Virginia). After the Civil War, the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad realigned its sights on the Ohio River and the coal mines in the area. It renamed itself the Washington & Ohio Railroad.

      Briefly, the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad began construction in 1857, ran its first paying train service to Vienna in 1859, and began scheduled operations to Leesburg on March 4, 1860. The Civil War stopped new construction and saw the destruction of much railroad property. It took the railroad until 1867 to resume service to Leesburg. Then, the railroad, broadening its horizons and intending to reach the Ohio River, renamed itself the Washington & Western Railroad. By this time, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had reached Harpers Ferry and connected with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad, which served Shenandoah Valley farmers. Construction halted at Round Hill in 1874 until the Snickersville citizens were able to successfully petition the Southern Railway, which then owned the tracks, to extend the railroad four more miles to their town. Southern Railway agreed on the condition that the town be renamed, and Bluemont was selected. The Southern Railway began operations to Bluemont on July 4, 1900.

      Meanwhile, other investors had obtained a charter for the Great Falls & Old Dominion Railroad (GF&OD) in 1900. In 1901, John R. McLean and Stephen B. Elkins purchased the GF&OD and completed its construction to the Great Falls of the Potomac River. Construction was completed on July 3, 1906, and service began the next day, on the Fourth of July. McLean and Elkins created a scenic resort at Great Falls that became a great success. They decided to expand their operations in Northern Virginia and took out a lease on the Southern Railway’s Bluemont Branch. They connected the branch with the Great Falls line via four short miles of double track called the Spout Run Division. In 1912, the combined trackage was placed under a new corporate name, Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railway, which became the W&OD Railroad in 1935. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the W&OD Railroad in 1956, anticipating the construction of a coal-fired power plant north of the community of Cascades north of Ashburn in Loudoun County. The C&O sought abandonment after the power plant was sited in Maryland and the C&O could not obtain favorable zoning in Fairfax County for additional railroad customers.

      Images of Rail: Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Revisited was written to provide more details on a cross-section of railroad topics. Many previous articles and books have provided overviews of the history, the different pieces of equipment, and the operations of the railroad. The intent with this volume is to take a more detailed look at several different topics and not to try to cover a full range of topics. Time has passed on, and the industrial areas of the towns the railroad served have been irrevocably changed such that it is difficult to envision where the railroad ran or what the town was like during its railroad days. By presenting pictures from one end to the other of Rosslyn, Leesburg, and Purcellville, the authors capture the past essence of these places. Feed and grain mills were present in many of the towns the railroad served. They received grain and fertilizer and shipped other grain and feed out. In looking at the mills and a few other line-side industries, the effects of the railroad on the local economy can be seen.

      The first volume covered the passenger equipment and the Evans Auto-Railer in some detail, with a passing mention of other pieces of equipment. This volume provides details on three more pieces of equipment: the Forney steam

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