Overview
The Northern Virginia railroad that ended it days in 1968 as the Washington and Old Dominion had a long and storied history of growth and failure by both hand-to-mouth organizations as well as well-heeled rail carriers. Today the remaining vestiges of that railroad constitute a major portion of the Northern Virginia Regional Parks W&OD Trail, but the trip to get there ended in the longest and most highly contested train off case ever faced by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Originally planned as a granger railroad running through some of the least populated environs around Washington, today the trail, and earlier the W&OD railroad itself traversed some of the most populated and congested suburbs of any major eastern city. This is the story of how that railroad got started and ends with the creation of the W&OD in 1912. To include the comprehensive history of the W&OD itself would require a treatise many times the length of this document. The best place to start this narrative is before the railroad itself existed as that will paint the picture of what led to the creation of this singular branch line.
Alexandria Virginia Before 1847
During Colonial times the Port of Alexandria Virginia was one of a few major shipping centers on the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard. Business was good and the prospects were promising.
Virginia had built a network of “turnpikes” fanning out from Alexandria into the Shenandoah Valley - agricultural heartland of the state. Products of that rich area moved to market over this network, of which the state was very proud and saw no need to consider alternative transportation modes such as canals and railroads.
However, many of these so-called turnpikes were little more than poorly maintained dirt roads that were impassable at certain times of the year due to weather conditions. No real thought had been given to bridging the larger rivers and streams, which meant that ferries and fords were a complicated part of the transportation equation to bring products out of the Valley.
Over time the Port of Baltimore began to grow exponentially, largely due to the access to the Ohio Valley brought on by the introduction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and this set the stage for everything that followed.
The State of Virginia had chartered the Winchester and Potomac Railroad (W&P) back in 1831 to build “up” the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester (an early major concentration point for valley commerce) from the rail and river heads at Harper’s Ferry (then in Virginia.). This very rudimentary railway was nevertheless able to capture a goodly share of the Valley commerce and move it towards to B&O and Baltimore to the detriment of Alexandria.
The W&P opened in 1836 and by 1837 began exchanging loadings with the B&O at Harper’s Ferry -- the Port of Baltimore being the obvious benefactor of this arrangement. It should be noted that after the Civil War the B&O acquired to W&P (often mis-stated as 1848) and by that time the operating obstacles that the lines had faced in the early years relative to bridges and alignments, gauge, rail type and trans-loadings were no longer a problem.
Eventually concerned Alexandria business leaders felt that something needed to be done to try and restore their commerce levels to what they had been in the early 19th century. But, acting with speed and being willing to invest heavily in the future was just not in their genes. Hence, it was not until the late 1840’s that Alexandria chose to take some modest steps toward improving its steadily-deteriorating commercial picture.
Alexandria and Harpers Ferry Railroad
(1847 - 1853)
The Alexandria and Harper's Ferry Railroad (A&HF) was incorporated in 1847 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly.
As previously stated the A&HF was organized by a group of Alexandria merchants and bankers trying secure an increased share of the business then accruing to the Port of Baltimore via the B&O through Harpers Ferry.
Certain that Harper’s Ferry would remain the ultimate key to success, the original route plan for the A&HF was to build across Fairfax and Loudoun Counties close to Leesburg and then turn north towards Harper’s Ferry using one of the wind gaps in the Blue Ridge mountain chain.
A&HF then planned to connect with the still independent Winchester and Potomac Railroad (W&P) at Harpers Ferry to take advantage of W&P’s route “up” the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester.
But in 1848 the B&O established a connection with the W&P at Harper’s Ferry before the A&HF had turned a shovel of dirt, thereby diverting much of the Shenandoah Valley commerce into Baltimore as opposed to Alexandria.
Due in part to the negligible legislative impact that Alexandria had versus that of Baltimore and the B&O, public support of the A&HF proved difficult to arouse and promotion languished in lieu of other profitable railroad investments in the area (Orange & Alexandria Railroad and the Manassas Gap Railroad being prime examples.)
The A&HF failed to meet the condition of its charter to begin construction of the line within two years. Thus in 1849 the Virginia General Assembly amended the charter so as to extend the time limit to begin construction by five years. But construction of the line did not materialize until the five-year deadline too had passed.
So, in 1853 the charter was amended once again at the urging of the Alexandria merchants and bankers, and the name and route changed to the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad (AL&H) which better reflected the change in thinking about the ultimate destination of the line and the commercial purposes of such a realignment.
Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad
(1853 - 1870)
The Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire (AL&H) not only wanted to continue the efforts to secure an increased share of the Shenandoah Valley agricultural market but also hoped to reach the very lucrative coal fields around Hampshire County Virginia (later West Virginia).
As with the Alexandria & Harpers Ferry, the AL&H was still proposed to run as near as practicable to Leesburg. By law it was prohibited from connecting with the B&O at any point east of Cumberland, Maryland to blunt the legislative influence of the B&O within Virginia. This meant that all interest in Harpers Ferry was abandoned.
More than one route was contemplated for reaching the western end of the line (wherever the western end of the line would eventually end up.) All the proposed routes followed the valley of the Four Mile Run from Alexandria to Falls Church, then on through Vienna, Leesburg, and Clarke’s Gap, after which they diverged and went different ways.
One of the proposed lines was to run from Clarke’s Gap toward Hillsborough, through Vestal’s Gap (later called Keyes Gap) with a short tunnel across the Blue Ridge, then southwest “up” the Shenandoah Valley, crossing the Shenandoah River near Berryville then continuing west to Winchester.
Another proposed line would run from Clarke’s Gap westward to Purcellville, Round Hill, Snickersville, across the mountains through the Snickersville Gap (again with a tunnel), crossing the Shenandoah River to Berryville then continue west to Winchester.
There were other proposed routings that projected various routes across Virginia and through a variety of Blue Ridge passes and wind gaps going well past Winchester and into the heart of coal country near Paddy Town (later Keyser, WV), but as these were just wishful thinking they are of little merit in a meaningful chronology.
The route via Snickers Gap, with some subsequent variations, was the option that was eventually chosen, but that route was not finalized until after the Civil War. The Snickersville route would require drilling a three-quarter mile long tunnel through the mountains to reach the Shenandoah River, and that was a difficult and costly effort in those early days which greatly impacted the progress of the proposed line. Despite the enthusiasm of some of the promoters, private monetary support was difficult to enlist for many of the same reasons that had plagued the Alexandria & Harpers Ferry. Thus, the Commonwealth of Virginia took a 60% stake in the road and that was a reason it was able to make any progress at all.
Clearly much of the AL&H’s scarce resources had been wasted in fruitless surveys beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains – a place they never reached – but despite that fact a surveyed line was eventually completed to the west bank of the Shenandoah River. The limited funds could more wisely have been expended upon the immediate construction tasks at hand to advance the road westward.
On the eastern end of the road the AL&H had long desired to establish a connection with the City of Washington, DC. But indifference by AL&H stockholders, and the almost total lack of Congressional support (due largely to the enormous political influence of the B&O) delayed action too long for it to be accomplished at that time.
Actual AL&H construction didn’t begin until 1855, and because of costly physical obstructions it started at a point about five miles from Old Town Alexandria. The section to link the Alexandria terminal at Princess and Fairfax Streets with the initial construction point west of Old Town could not be undertaken until more funds became available.
Extensive filling, trestlework, and bridges required to span the Alexandria Canal, Washington Turnpike and intervening swamp land would cost at least $50,000. It was estimated that constructing the road to the Shenandoah River would cost at least $2 million. But first, in order to carry the tracks as far as Clarke's Gap, $215,000 was needed immediately.
As a sidebar it is noted that AL&H President McKenzie is quoted as saying in an Annual Report: "Those immediately benefited by the railroad do not seem to realize its value and hold back their financial support under the belief, perhaps, that good wishes are a sufficient contribution upon their part toward its success."
Nevertheless, by 1859 the road had been graded from Alexandria to Clarke's Gap and a single track of 52-pound rail had been laid from Alexandria to Herndon.
President McKenzie still believed that a direct AL&H link between Washington and Alexandria was vital to the success of the railroad, but since the Alexandria and Washington Railroad was already being built alongside the Washington Turnpike (the most logical route) he turned his attention to the Georgetown portion of the District as a possible alternative.
In 1860 the Alexandria Canal Company authorized the AL&H to construct a railroad on the piers of the deteriorating Aqueduct Bridge at Georgetown in return for constructing a new aqueduct crossing of the Potomac River and maintaining it in perpetuity. Sadly, this connection with Washington failed to develop.
Then the outbreak of War Between the States the following year forestalled any further plans for expansion. At the start of war, the AL&H was in operation only as far west as Leesburg. Two daily trains operated between Alexandria and Leesburg with a running time of a little more than two hours.
The AL&H purchased its three original locomotives of the 4-4-0 (American) type built in 1858 and 1859. The passenger cars were constructed locally in Alexandria. A profitable contract with the Post Office Department for carrying mail between Alexandria and Leesburg was secured before operations began.
In fact, an increase in business just before the war began caused the AL&H to add two additional daily trains from Alexandria to Leesburg.
But, the secession of the State of Virginia on April 17, 1861, brought all construction activities on the road to an abrupt halt. Federal troops crossed the Potomac, occupied Alexandria, and seized all the facilities, locomotives and equipment of this important railroad center, including those of the AL&H. One of AL&H’s locomotives was seized by the USMRR. Two others had been spirited out of Alexandria by Confederate forces. They were disassembled and laboriously hauled by oxen from Alexandria to a railhead on the Orange and Alexandria, rerailed and sent south. All three locomotives (seriously worn out) were returned to the AL&H after the war.
Confederates operating out of Leesburg destroyed the upper sections of the railroad by burning bridges and trestles and tearing up tracks so that the line was completely useless beyond Vienna. The section between Alexandria and Vienna, however, became an important part of the U. S. Military Railroad.
The USMR took over the two-story brick building in Alexandria that served both as a passenger station and general office, and also the nearby freight station, roundhouse and machine shop. Supplementary train sheds and warehouses soon sprang up to protect the contents of the many Federal supply trains arriving daily.
Shortly after the Union forces took the AL&H a connection was established between it and the Orange and Alexandria. The Union also installed railroad tracks on the Long Bridge across the Potomac. However, because of the delicate nature of the old bridge only light loads were allowed until an entirely new dedicated railroad bridge was built alongside the existing structure later in the war.
In 1862 a junction with the Washington and Alexandria was established at a location near the future site of Alexandria Junction in Richmond & Danville and later Southern Railway times. Why General Haupt did not build a full wye when he had the chance to take land from the rebellious Virginia is now lost in antiquity.
While the AL&H did not see any significant amount of military action during the war years, there was much destruction of the line on the western end. In 1865 the US Military Railroad returned the partially-wrecked and worn-out railroad to its owners. A great deal of rehabilitation and money was required to return the railroad to operating condition.
The three original A&HF locomotives were still in service at the end of the war and were returned. No passenger or freight cars were returned and AL&H was forced to purchase rolling stock as war surplus. There was no settlement for equipment that was taken in 1861 due to AL&H’s status as an “enemy railroad.”
Federal forces vacated the railroad's buildings in Alexandria - the general office and passenger station, freight station, and repair shops in 1866, and restored them to the railroad in good operating condition as they had been the central focus of the USMRR, and with a back-payment of rents from the time of occupation.
The AL&H’s bridges west of Vienna had all been destroyed. About two and one-half miles of track beyond Herndon had to be replaced in order to bring daily service to Guilford Station. To extend the track to Leesburg it was necessary to rebuild three more bridges, including the 278-foot span at Goose Creek, the longest and highest on the line. During 1867 new passenger and freight stations were built at Leesburg and Clarke's Gap as well as water towers and turntables.
The State of Virginia, being in desperate financial straits after the war needed to liquidate its holdings in the AL&H. Lewis McKenzie and his associates bought out Virginia’s stake in the railroad in 1867. In 1870 the new State of West Virginia authorized the AL&H to extend its railroad westward to the west bank of the Ohio River and connect with both the nascent Chesapeake and Ohio and the established Baltimore and Ohio railroads.
In keeping with yet another optimistic expansion program, the AL&H changed its name to the Washington and Ohio Railroad.
Washington & Ohio Railroad
(1870 - 1882)
There were three distinct objectives for the Washington & Ohio Railroad: (1) reach the coal fields in West Virginia, (2) secure an increased share of the Shenandoah Valley agricultural market, and if possible, (3) extend into the Mid-West through connections with the B&O and the C&O.
The Virginia General Assembly ratified the extension and change of name, but required that the route westward proceed through Clarke and Frederick Counties to within less than one mile of Winchester. In 1874 the track arrived at Purcellville and later that year at Round Hill on the east side of the mountains across from Winchester.
The debt-ridden W&O was sagging under an impossible financial burden of rebuilding from the war and trying to extend itself at the same time. Bankruptcy inevitably ensued, and a receiver was appointed by the court in 1878. The entire property of the W&O was sold in 1882 to a new corporation known as the Washington and Western Railroad Company.
Washington & Western Railroad
(1883 - 1884)
The Washington and Western Railroad was hardly in possession of the W&O before it defaulted on the first bond in 1883. Accordingly, W&W was once again reorganized as the Washington Ohio and Western Railroad.
Washington Ohio & Western Railroad
(1884 - 1886)
In 1884 the Virginia legislature authorized the Washington, Ohio and Western Railroad Company to lease, consolidate, or connect with other railroads upon the condition that any extension of the road should be through the City of Winchester.
The WO&W then purchased three new 4-4-0 (American) type locomotives to replace or supplement the old Masons that had been operating on the line from its beginning and had been worn out with Civil War work.
At the time, the WO&W was making plans for the construction of the tunnel through the mountains beyond the Snickersville Gap in order to cross the Shenandoah River toward Berryville and Winchester.
Richmond & Danville Railroad
(1886 - 1894)
The so-called “Gilded Age” of the late 19th century saw extensive mergers and other combinations of the myriad railroads around the country.
In 1886 the Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D), one of the largest lines in the southeast, leased the WO&W for a term of 999 years.
The purpose of the lease was (in my opinion) probably strategic rather than operational and intended to prevent the WO&W from expanding westward to connect with the Norfolk and Western (N&W) across the Blue Ridge thus allowing the N&W to gain access to the Northern Virginia/Washington markets and becoming a notable competitor of the R&D.
Upon acquisition by the R&D, the westward extension plans for the WO&W property were immediately shelved and forgotten. Richmond & Danville continued to operate the line as the WO&W, and referred to it as part of the “Piedmont Airline.” Round Hill (a town of essentially no commercial significance) became the western terminus of the line in 1874.
Shortly after the WO&W was leased to the R&D, the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company (the holding company controlled by the Richmond and Danville) purchased the WO&W outright.
But the R&D, considered a powerhouse in southern railroading, began to experience financial difficulties in 1891 when the Terminal Railway was found to have 70 high-interest mortgages/leases and was otherwise highly leveraged with revenues insufficient to accommodate indebtedness . They began to seek relief through the assistance of J. P. Morgan and his company in New York.
After the 1893 “financial panic” the Richmond & Danville was merged into Morgan’s new Southern Railway in 1894 along with five other railroads. Southern Railway, assumed all properties of the R&D, including the former WO&W.
Southern Railway Company
(1894 - 1912)
Southern Railway took over the branch on July 1, 1894 with the assumption of the R&D. While the line may have proven marginally profitable, the Southern Railway probably still saw it as a hedge against the incursion of the N&W.
The Spanish-American War in 1898 brought a brief period of prosperity to the line when Camp Alger was established by the War Department near Dunn Loring. A mule depot was also established at St. Asaph Junction on the site of the Civil War remount facility. The rails were eventually extended approximately four miles from Round Hill to Snickersville early in 1900 in order to accommodate the increasing number of visitors to this popular summertime mountain resort area. Prior to the Southern Railway’s arrival (and most likely at Southern’s suggestion), Snickersville assumed the more appealing name of Bluemont, and the entire line became known as the Bluemont Branch of the Southern Railway.
The segment of the branch from Paeonian Springs to Bluemont once served an area containing a multitude of boarding houses and summer hotels frequented by Washingtonians seeking to escape from the capital’s oppressive summer heat. Hunters and fishermen too used the railroad to reach the unspoiled woods, fields, and streams of Loudoun County, which abounded with game and fish.
Southern Railway continued the 1888 practice established by the Richmond & Danville of starting passenger trains for the branch in Washington at the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Baltimore and Potomac Station until the present Union Station opened in 1907. With the opening of the new Union Station in 1907, Southern Railway shifted all Bluemont Branch passenger trains to originate and terminate there.
Shuttle trains ran between the old AL&H passenger station in downtown Alexandria and Alexandria Junction where passengers could connect to the Bluemont Branch trains to/from Washington.
The original Alexandria Junction was located west of what would in 1906 become Potomac Yard. Alexandria Junction was much later relocated to the east side of Potomac Yard, and the Wye created by the new junction was used to pick-up and drop-off interchange cars with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) as well as to turn the shuttle’s steam locomotives. The original Alexandria Junction may have remained in place until 1912 when Southern removed the connection with the north-south main lines around what was called “Swann’s Curve.”
Freight trains primarily originated in the Alexandria yards of the Southern, and after the opening of Potomac Yards in 1906, from that facility. The bulk of freight car loadings occurred off the branch and moved westward. Milk and other agricultural products moved eastward in significant amounts prior to the introduction of trucking lines. The Bluemont branch featured many grain mills as well as quarries. Milk platforms existed at almost every station.
The railroad right of way along the meandering Four Mile Run (it crossed the stream eleven times between Alexandria and Falls Church) was considered to be one of the most beautiful and scenic stretches of railroad track in Virginia.
In addition to traditional steam trains, the gas-electric motor car was a novelty introduced by the Southern on the Bluemont Branch in 1911.
The Southern Railway Company ran the Branch until July 1, 1912 when the newly organized Washington and Old Dominion Railway Company leased the property from Southern and began the process of electrifying the line and turning it into more of a commuter service for the new and expanding Virginia suburbs of Washington.
Operational Characteristics of the Bluemont Branch
There was nothing particularly special about the characteristics of the Bluemont Branch. In most respects it was a simple, single track, non-signaled, lightly ballasted, light rail line following the nap of the earth across largely flat agricultural land with a few substantial river and ravine crossings. The land that the railroad traversed was also very sparsely populated. The primary customers were farmers (both row crops and dairy) and bulk materials from several quarries and lime kilns along the line.
Nearly every station location (many of which were simple sheds) featured a milk platform. The eastbound morning trains would collect the raw milk along the line and bring it to the dairies in northern Virginia. The westbound evening trains would return the empty cans so the process could begin all over the next day. Milk was a very major commodity and revenue generator for the branch.
At its inception the branch was not connected to Washington, DC. The main terminus was at Fairfax and Princess Streets in old town Alexandria. When the Richmond and Danville and later the Southern Railway ran the branch, passenger trains originated and terminated at the Baltimore and Potomac Station on the National Mall and then the new Washington Union Station after 1906. The trains from Washington traveled on the Alexandria & Washington (later Washington Southern) across the Potomac River and then entered the branch at a location called Alexandria Junction. Connecting trains were run between the Old Town Alexandria Station and Alexandria Junction. A chart explaining how this all worked is included in this document. Freight originated and terminated at both Alexandria Station as well as a connection to the Orange & Alexandria (later Southern) freight yard via a tunnel.
Prior to the branch coming under the control of the Richmond & Danville, locomotive servicing would have been handled at the facilities associated with the Old Town Alexandria station. After access to/from Washington was established, locomotives would have been fueled, watered and serviced at the B&P facilities and after 1906 in the Ivy City Yard in DC. There were a number of water tanks located along the line but no indication of permanent coaling facilities has been discovered.
As construction progressed westward a number of turntables (probably portable type of the manual or air operated variety) were installed. For the more than twenty years that the branch terminated in Round Hill there was a turntable located there. When Southern moved the end of line westward a few miles to Snickersville (later renamed Bluemont) in 1900 a wye track was installed rather than a turntable. The tail track of the wye was just long enough to accommodate a locomotive and baggage or combination car. This first car was probably used for milk can collection and distribution. Remembering that these were days long before radio communications it would be easier for the engine crew to spot the first car behind the engine at the milk platform.
During the Spanish American War, a large military base known as Camp Alger was established adjacent to the station at Dunn Loring. A multiple track yard was built to accommodate the significant amount of passenger and freight traffic coming and going from that location. However, it was almost immediately realized that the camp had been constructed in an area of poor drainage and it was soon abandoned. The yard was dismantled and Dunn Loring returned to a small little station almost overnight.
