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Virginian Railway

The Virginian Railway was a Class 1 US railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia. It was built primarily to transport high quality "smokeless" coal from southern West Virginia to port at Sewall's Point, Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Beginning in the mid-1890's, William Nelson Page, a civil engineer from Ansted, West Virginia headed an effort to develop the rich untapped coal fields lying between the New River Valley and the lower Guyandotte River, an area not yet reached by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) and Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) and their related interests. He acquired a small logging railroad which was converted and expanded to become the intrastate (within West Virginia only) Deepwater Railway, planned to connect with the existing lines of the C & O along the Kanawha River at Deepwater and the Norfolk and Western at Matoaka. A silent partner in the venture was financier, industrialist and philanthropist Henry H. Rogers, who had made his initial fortune with the Standard Oil Trust.

When the C&O and N&W refused to negotiate with the upstart Deepwater Railway to make connections and share rates, Page (and his silent partner Rogers) didn't give up as apparently was anticipated by the two big railroads. Instead, they set about planning and building their own route out of the mountains to market!

The planning and land acquisition was done largely in secret. One group of 35 surveyors posing as fishermen (on a Sunday in February!) mapped out a crossing of the New River at Glen Lyn, Virginia, as well as the adjacent portion of the line from West Virginia through Narrows, Virginia. Deals were struck with the cities of Roanoke and Norfolk, each home-turf for the Norfolk and Western, and as land was acquired, entire new towns were planned. One of these became Victoria, Virginia, named for Queen Victoria, then the monarch of England, who it is said was greatly admired by Henry Rogers.

With land and route secured, in 1905, Page, Rogers, and their close associates formed another intrastate railroad, this one in Virginia, the Tidewater Railway, and began building what would become their connection to the sea at Hampton Roads. By the time the larger railroads realized what was happening, their new competitor could not be successfully blocked.

In 1907, the under construction Tidewater Railway changed its name to the Virginian Railway (VGN) and acquired the Deepwater Railway. William N. Page was the first president of the VGN. The Norfolk portion of the new Virginian Railway was completed just in time to serve the 1907 Jamestown Exposition. Celebrating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the Exposition was held on land just north of Sewall's Point in Norfolk County. The site is now part of the United States' Norfolk Navy Base. US President Theodore Rooosevelt was an honored guest. Mark Twain and Henry Rogers also paid a visit, in the latter's yacht Kanawha.

Using construction techniques not available when the larger railroads had been built about 25 years earlier, and paying for work with Roger's own personal fortune, the new VGN was built to the highest standards. An engineering marvel of the day, the final spike in the Virginian Railway was driven on January 29, 1909, which was Rogers' sixty-ninth birthday.

The following April, Henry Huttleston Rogers was feted at Norfolk, Virginia in celebration of the new road, and its new $2.5 million coal pier at Sewall's Point. Mark Twain spoke at the Norfolk dinner. On a subsequent trip west on an inspection tour a few days later, smaller celebrations were held at other locations along the new road. These locations included Roanoke,VA, Princeton,WV, and Mullens WV.

Rogers did not live to see the VGN begin regular service on July 1, 1909. In poor health for several years following a stroke in 1907, he reportedly had refused to slow down as requestd by friends, family and his doctor. He died suddenly on May 19, 1909, barely 6 weeks before through service on the VGN was established on July 1, 1909. Huddleston Virginia is reportedly named in honor of his mother, using an older family spelling of his middle name.

Mr. Rogers left his heirs and employees with a marvelous new railroad. For 50 years, the VGN sought (and achieved) best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont, and flat tidewater terrain. 134 miles in the mountains were electrified in 1925 at a cost of $15 million. The profitable VGN experimented with the finest and largest steam, electric, and diesel locomotive motive power. It was well-known for operating the largest and best equipment, and became nicknamed "the richest little railroad in the world."

There were many attempts by the C&O, the N&W, and others to acquire the profitable little Virginian Railway. Eventually the N&W succeeded in 1959, ushering in the modern era of major railroad mergers as the Interstae Commerce Commsission came to accept that railroads needed to be able to compete more successfully against other modes of transport (i.e. highways and air travel) rather than just against each other.

When the VGN lost its identity upon purchase by the Norfolk & Western in 1959, author/photographer H. Reid wrote "There will always be a Virginian." So far, time has proven him correct, and it is still a favoriate among the many fallen flags of railroading in the US.

Today, major portions of the VGN low gradient route are the preferred eastbound coal path for the N&W's successor, Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Other portions of VGN right-of-way in eastern Virginia now transport precious fresh water and are under study for future high speed passenger rail service to South Hampton Roads from Richmond and Petersburg.

Hobbyists around the world model the VGN in many gauges, with some items valuable collectibles.

Demonstrative of the lasting spirit of the Virginian, preservationists have saved VGN passenger stations in Suffolk and Roanoke, Virginia. Three of the locomotives, and numerous cabooses and other rolling stock are also extant, with some on display in museums.

In 2002, VGN authors and enthusiasts restored the Mullens, WV Caboose Museum (ravaged in a flood), funded by sale of handmade models and contributions.

In May 2003, a Gathering of Railfriends was held at Victoria, VA, home to a new museum, with a park with historical interpretations of the roundhouse and turntable sites under development, and plans underway to obtain and display a caboose. Norfolk Southern Railway sent their exhibition train to nearby Crewe for the event.

In April 2004, children of Boonsboro Elementary School in nearby Bedford Virginia and the local Kiwanis group in Lynchburg Virginia teamed to raise funds and work to restore the only surviving original (circa 1910) class C-1 wooden Caboose.

One of the lasting features of the VGN seems to be the heritage of this wonderful little railroad, an outstanding example of a successful US transportation company. Beginning with H. Reid's epoch storytelling and photography in "The Virginian Railway", published in 1961, and reprinted at least 3 times, there have been numerous books published and enthusiasts groups formed, some of which meet physically, and others, on the worldwide web, with members as far from the VGN tracks as Australia. A group of retired railroaders calling themselves "The Virginian Bretheren" meet regularily, and share tales of the VGN, and answer questions posed by members of the online group.