1881 railroad line from Richmond, VA to Newport News, VA
Peninsula Extension
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/C%26O_Railway_Peninsula_Extension_in_Virginia1895.jpg/300px-C%26O_Railway_Peninsula_Extension_in_Virginia1895.jpg) |
|
Other name(s)
| Peninsula Subdivision
|
---|
Owner
| CSX Transportation
|
---|
Termini
| |
---|
|
Completed
| 16 October 1881
(
1881-10-16
)
|
---|
|
Line length
| 82.3 mi (132.4 km)
|
---|
Number of tracks
| 2
|
---|
Track gauge
| 4 ft
8
+
1
⁄
2
in
(
1,435 mm
)
|
---|
The
Peninsula Extension
which created the
Peninsula Subdivision
of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
(C&O) was the new
railroad
line on the
Virginia Peninsula
from
Richmond
to southeastern
Warwick County
. Its principal purpose was to provide an important new pathway for
coal
mined in
West Virginia
to reach the harbor of
Hampton Roads
for coastal and export shipping on
collier ships
.
Completed on October 16, 1881, the new double-tracked railroad and the other development visions of
industrialist
Collis Potter Huntington
resulted in a 15-year transition of the rural farm village of
Newport News
into a new
independent city
which also became home to the world's largest shipyard. The railroad, one of the later developed in Virginia, became important to many communities, opening transportation options, and stimulating commerce and military operations on the Peninsula throughout the 20th century.
Over 125 years after it opened, many of the stations are gone. Spur lines have both come and gone. Also gone are the
steam locomotives
, save one on display at
Huntington Park
in Newport News, another at the
Science Museum of Virginia
in Richmond, and a third which was left buried in Richmond's
Church Hill Tunnel
.
Despite the changes, in the early 21st century, the rails of the Peninsula Subdivision continue to form an important link for
Amtrak
service from
Williamsburg
and Newport News. High quality
bituminous coal
was the motivation for originally building the line, and current owner
CSX Transportation
continues day and night to deliver massive amounts of it to be loaded onto ships destined for points worldwide.
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
[
edit
]
Opening at the outset of the final quarter of the 19th century, the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
(C&O) was the fulfillment of a long-held goal of Virginians.
Many years before the American Revolution,
George Washington
, a Virginian licensed as a
surveyor
by the
College of William and Mary
during the colonial era, identified the importance of a transportation link between the navigable waters flowing to the
Atlantic Ocean
and those across the
Eastern Continental Divide
in the
Allegheny Mountains
which lead to the
Mississippi River
and the
Gulf of Mexico
. He had mapped out several potential routes, and in 1785, he been an early investor in a
canal
venture.
The
James River
was navigable east from the
Fall Line
at
Richmond
and
Manchester
to
Hampton Roads
, the
Chesapeake Bay
, and the Atlantic Ocean. However, from these sister cities at the
head of navigation
, seven miles (11 km) of rapids marked the transition to the
Piedmont Region
, and only very shallow craft such as
bateau boats
could navigate portions of the river from that point west. Over 250 miles (400 km) from Richmond, across the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Shenandoah Valley, and what was called the "Transmountaine" region in old Virginia, better known in modern times as the
Alleghany Mountains
, were the falls of the
Kanawha River
. They similarly marked the head of navigation, but from the west. From the falls of the Kanawha, ships could follow the river to its confluence with the Ohio River, which in turn, flowed west to the Mississippi River. In the earlier periods during which a transportation link was contemplated, the
Colony of Virginia
(according to the British and its own calculations) extended all the way to the west to what is now
Cairo, Illinois
, where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers join. Of course, transportation was not the only obstacle to developing these western regions, as both the French and the Indians did not see it the same way.
In any event, that 250-mile (400 km) gap in the navigable waters became a major focus for Virginians. By the end of the 18th century, efforts to link these heads of navigation were underway with the building of
turnpikes
and canals. Work on the
James River and Kanawha Turnpike
and the
James River and Kanawha Canal
, both prominent infrastructure improvements, was partially funded by the Virginia General Assembly through the
Virginia Board of Public Works
, although the canal was never completed. By the 1830s, railroads were emerging as a favorable technology for such purposes, and Virginia's network of turnpikes, canals, and railroads grew, substantially guided by the
civil engineering
skills of
Claudius Crozet
. Both railroads and canals had conquered the
Blue Ridge Mountains
and entered the
Shenandoah Valley
region when the
American Civil War
broke out in 1861, bringing new work to a virtual halt. By the end of the War in 1865, many of Virginia's railroads, turnpikes, and canals lay in ruins, although the related debt which had helped fund building them was still outstanding.
[2]
After the War, part of Virginia had been subdivided to form the new state of
West Virginia
. Both states were heavily in debt, but wanted to encourage completion of a rail link to the Ohio River, which they saw as vital to rebuilding and expanding commerce. To do without government funding, the state legislatures of both Virginia and West Virginia tried to attract investors several times in 1866 and 1867. Finally, under a plan offered by the
Virginia General Assembly
, in 1868, the new project was merged with the extant
Virginia Central Railroad
, connected Richmond with the westernmost point at the time. The new enterprise was to be known as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O).
The head of the Virginia Central Railroad was former
Confederate
General
Williams Carter Wickham
of
Hanover County, Virginia
. He was a descendant of several former Virginia governors and the grandson of constitutional lawyer
John Wickham
, who had set up shop in Richmond after the
American Revolutionary War
and served as a respected agent of financial interests in England and Scotland. However, in the volatile period of the late 1860s, General Wickham failed in his efforts to secure either southern or British financing as had been hoped. Finally, he journeyed to
New York City
, where he successfully attracted the interest of
industrialist
Collis P. Huntington
and gained access to the new financing needed.
[3]
Huntington had been one of the "
Big Four
", the men involved in building the
Central Pacific
portion of the
Transcontinental Railroad
, which was at that time just reaching completion.
Under the new leadership and financing, during 1869?1873 the hard work of building through West Virginia was done with large crews working from both ends, much in the manner the
Union Pacific Railroad
and the
Central Pacific Railroad
had been built to complete their transcontinental rails.
The final spike ceremony for the 428-mile (689 km) long line from Richmond to the Ohio River was held on January 29, 1873 at
Hawks Nest
railroad bridge in
New River Gorge
, near the town of
Ansted, West Virginia
.
[4]
Huntington's vision for the Peninsula
[
edit
]
Virginia's long dream for the C&O had been trade with the west, and Huntington's work accomplished that by 1873. However, he and others also realized that the new railroads for the first time offered a practical way to ship coal. The region's high quality
bituminous coal
had been known to be among West Virginia's vast natural resources, but until now, there had been no way to transport it to markets. The new C&O railroad provided a method of transporting this valuable product out of the mountains and east to Richmond, where ocean-going shipping called. However, one problem they faced was that depth of the channels of the tidal portion of the river to reach Richmond was insufficient to accommodate the draft required by the large colliers.
As a young man in 1837, Collis P. Huntington had visited the rural village known as Newport News Point in
Warwick County
at the mouth of the James River on the harbor of
Hampton Roads
. It later became clear that Huntington had never forgotten his 1837 visit to Newport News Point. By the early 1870s, he and his associates began buying up land on the Peninsula, nowhere more intensely than in Warwick County, where their Old Dominion Land Company soon owned enough for a railroad line, a
coal pier
and even more. In 1873, Major Robert H. Temple surveyed a railway line from Richmond to the mouth of the James River.
Building the Peninsula Extension
[
edit
]
To extend the line east to Hampton Roads from the end of the former
Virginia Central Railroad
at Richmond in the Shockhoe Valley, there was only a single major obstacle: Richmond's
Church Hill
, occupied by some of the city's older and nicer buildings. From there east, the only significant obstacles across the gentle coastal plains a distance of about 75 miles (121 km) were several rivers and some wetlands down the Peninsula to reach Newport News.
[5]
The initial solution to overcoming that major obstacle in Richmond was the
Church Hill Tunnel
. The tracks to the new tunnel left the old Virginia Central line west of 17th street and curved southeasterly to enter the tunnel east of N. 18th Street and north of E. Marshall Street under Cedar Street.
[6]
The east end of the 4,000-foot (1,200 m) long tunnel appeared just north of today's Williamsburg Road near 31st Street below Libby Terrace Park.
The construction of the Church Hill Tunnel was problematic. Unlike the bedrock through which the C&O carved its western tunnels, in Richmond, the blue marl clay
shrink-swell soil
tended to change with rainfall and groundwater. There were cave-ins during the construction. Ten workers were reportedly killed. The tunnel was completed and opened in 1875. East of the tunnel, the C&O established its
Fulton Yard
, with a capacity of thousands of rail cars, a
roundhouse
to service the steam locomotives, and other support facilities. Planning and right-of-way acquisition for the Peninsula Extension took another 5 years.
From Fulton Yard, after climbing out of the James River Valley, the surveyors generally followed the high ground of the Peninsula between the rivers which border it. As a result, the route selected faced only gentle grades through
coastal plains
of the
Tidewater region of Virginia
, dropping only about 30 feet (9.1 m) in elevation, from Richmond (54 feet above sea-level) to Newport News (at 15 feet (4.6 m) above sea-level).
[7]
The new C&O line ran through several
American Civil War
battlefield areas in eastern
Henrico County
and then through
Charles City County
,
New Kent County
,
James City County
,
York County
and Warwick County. It crossed the
Chickahominy River
south of
Bottoms Bridge
,
Diascund Creek
south of
Lanexa
, and the
Warwick River
east of Lee Hall.
Construction on the tracks between Richmond and Newport News began in Newport News in December, 1880. In a method used before by Huntington, work also began from Richmond the following February, and crews at each end worked toward each other. The crews met and completed the line 1.25 miles (2.01 km) west of Williamsburg on October 16, 1881 although temporary tracks had been installed in some areas to speed completion. This was just in the nick of time because Huntington and his associates had promised they would provide rail service to Yorktown, where the United States was celebrating the centennial of the surrender of the British troops under
Lord Cornwallis
at Yorktown in 1781. (That event was considered most symbolic of the end of the conflict, which was later formalized by the
Treaty of Paris
in 1783). Only 3 days after the last spike ceremony, on October 19, the first passenger train from Newport News took local residents and national officials to the
Cornwallis Surrender Centennial Celebration
at
Yorktown
on temporary tracks which were laid from the main line at the new
Lee Hall Depot
to Yorktown, and then removed afterward.
New railroad line's impact on the Peninsula
[
edit
]
The Peninsula Extension ran directly through Williamsburg, a city whose site had been selected in 1632 for the very reason that it was on the center ridge, or spine, of the land between the adjacent rivers. After the capital of Virginia had moved to Richmond in 1780, Williamsburg had been reduced in prominence. It was not sited on a major water route and in the 18th and early 19th century, transportation in Virginia was largely by navigable rivers and in some cases, canals. A canal project linking the colonial capital city to the James and York rivers had been planned and begun for Williamsburg. However, it was never completed due to the
American Revolutionary War
. Although new railroads seem to be springing up in many places after 1830, until now, none had come to Williamsburg or the lower Peninsula. Until the coming of the railroad, the areas furthest from the rivers were generally the least-populated, excepting the old colonial capital of Williamsburg.
The Peninsula Extension was good news for the farmers and merchants of the Virginia Peninsula, and they generally welcomed the railroad. Williamsburg allowed tracks to be placed down the main street of town,
Duke of Gloucester Street
, and even directly through the ruins of the historic capitol building. These tracks did not last long, as some landowners around the Capitol end of the city were upset. So, the C&O main line only went down Duke of Gloucester Street from October 16 to December 13, 1881. After that date, the railroad was realigned to its current state north of Williamsburg.
[8]
The leaders of
Elizabeth City County
and
Warwick County
even adjusted their mutual boundary slightly to allow the railroad to be completely within Warwick County at one location.
Although the main business purpose was unquestionably shipping eastbound coal to Newport News, the C&O dutifully established freight and passenger stations at frequent intervals along the way. In addition to many small depots, larger facilities were located at
Providence Forge
, Williamsburg, and at Lee Hall. At Newport News, an ornate Victorian style passenger station was built right on the waterfront.
Hampton Branch: east to Phoebus, Fort Monroe
[
edit
]
No sooner had the tracks to the coal pier at Newport News been completed in late 1881 than the same construction crews were put to work on what would later be called the Peninsula Subdivision's Hampton Branch. From a junction with the main line a few miles west of the coal pier which was named Old Point Junction, work began easterly a distance of about 10 miles (16 km) into
Elizabeth City County
toward
Hampton
and
Old Point Comfort
, where the
U.S. Army
base at
Fort Monroe
was a fortress situated to guard the entrance to the harbor of Hampton Roads from the Chesapeake Bay (and the Atlantic Ocean).
The tracks were completed about 9 miles (14 km) to the town which became
Phoebus
in December 1882.
[9]
A passenger and freight station was opened. When the town was incorporated as a political subdivision of Virginia in 1900, it was named Phoebus in honor of its leading citizen,
Harrison Phoebus
, who is largely credited with prevailing upon the railroad to build the branch line to Old Point Comfort.
From Phoebus, an extension across Mill Creek to reach Fort Monroe required a 2,800-foot (850 m) long trestle and was not completed until 1890. At that time, a passenger and freight facilities were also added. On the base, the U.S. Army built connecting tracks and operated its own locomotive for a number of years.
At Old Point Comfort, in addition to the Army base at Fort Monroe, the Hampton Branch served both the older
Hygeia Hotel
and the new
Hotel Chamberlin
, popular destinations for civilians. During the first half of the 20th century, excursion trains were operated to reach nearby
Buckroe Beach
, where an
amusement park
was among the attractions that brought church groups and vacationers.
Newport News
[
edit
]
No place on the Peninsula benefited more from the completion of the C&O's Peninsula Subdivision than southeastern Warwick County, soon to become better known as Newport News. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway became one of the country's wealthiest as West Virginia coal moved eastward to the
coal piers
. The coal volume of the C&O, combined with that of the
Norfolk and Western Railway
(N&W) shipping from
Lambert's Point
and that of the later-completed
Virginian Railway
(VGN) at
Sewell's Point
turned the harbor of
Hampton Roads
, the East Coast of the United States' largest
ice-free port
, into the largest coal export point in the world by 1915.
Collis P. Huntington and his associates set developing the tiny unincorporated community at Newport New Point. His Old Dominion Land Company built the landmark Hotel Warwick, opened in 1883, which played a significant role in the development of the city. The hotel dominated the landscape, and was the civic and commercial center of the area during its early years. The first bank at Newport News, the first newspaper, the U.S. post office, the federal customs office, and even the municipal government of Warwick County were each located within the Hotel Warwick, at least for a time. It was also the site in 1886 of the organizational meeting for the Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Company. The latter evolved into the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
.
[10]
For a brief time, Warwick County shifted the location of its
county seat
to Newport News from the historic location at
Denbigh
, where it had been situated since colonial times. However, the growth at Newport News was such that, in 1896, it became one of only two Virginia localities to ever become an
independent city
from Warwick County without the additional stepping-stone of first becoming an
incorporated town
. (In the aftermath of that event, the county seat was returned to Denbigh. However, in 1958, voters of both communities chose to reunite, consolidating Newport News with the rest of the former county into an even bigger single independent city, one of the largest in Virginia in land area.)
Communities, locations over the years
[
edit
]
During its more than 125-year existence, the Peninsula Subdivision has continued to serve coal and passenger traffic, now operated by
CSX Transportation
and
Amtrak
. In earlier times, it was an important factor in commerce and growth of some of the communities it has served, as well as for the United States military, particularly during
World War I
and
World War II
when the C&O was invaluable to the
Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation
.
[11]
Richmond
[
edit
]
In the 1890s, the C&O acquired the
Richmond and Allegheny Railroad
(R&A) which had been built east from the Blue Ridge Mountains along the towpath of the
James River and Kanawha Canal
, proving an alternate "water level" route to Richmond following the north bank of the James River.
To create a good connection to the existing line at Fulton yard, and as an added benefit, avoid the troublesome Church Hill tunnel, the C&O constructed a 3-mile-long double track elevated viaduct along the riverfront extending between the area of
Hollywood Cemetery
east past downtown Richmond, the
Shockoe Valley
, and Church Hill to join the Peninsula Subdivision at Fulton Yard (east of the tunnel). At the same time, a new
Main Street Station
was built for passenger services adjacent to the viaduct. Both the landmark Main Street Station and the viaduct, believed to be the longest in the United States, were still in use as of 2008.
[6]
After completion of the riverfront viaduct in 1901, the Church Hill Tunnel fell into disuse for over 20 years. Then in 1925, to add capacity, the railroad began efforts to restore it to usable condition.
[5]
On October 2, while repairs were under way, a work train was trapped by a collapse near the western end. Two workmen crawled under flat cars and escaped out the eastern end of the tunnel, and two bodies including the engineer's were recovered, but two other workers were unaccounted for.
[12]
During the next week, the community anxiously watched rescue efforts, but each time progress was made, further cave-ins occurred. Eventually, the
Virginia State Corporation Commission
(SCC), which regulated railroads in Virginia, ordered the tunnel sealed for safety reasons.
[13]
Left inside was the work train complete with a
4-4-0
steam locomotive
[14]
Over the years, portions of the tunnel have collapsed, once claiming several houses.
[15]
The circa-1901 Main Street Station was reopened to Amtrak passenger service in 2004. Expanded use as an intermodal facility for additional passenger trains and local
transit bus
service is planned.
Penniman
[
edit
]
In 1916, the
E.I. DuPont Nemours
company announced that it would develop a large black powder and shell-loading plant facility six miles northeast of
Williamsburg
[16]
in
York County
. The plant as built was large enough to have ten thousand employees.
The new plant and the new town for the workers and families were named
Penniman
. At its peak, Penniman had housing for 15,000, and included dormitories, a store, a post office, bank, police station, church, YWCA, YMCA, Mess Halls canteen, and a hospital.
[17]
The C&O built a spur track on the Peninsula Subdivision from a point about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of
Williamsburg
(mp 33) to Penniman. The C&O depot at Penniman opened on June 1, 1916. By the fall of 1918, Penniman was a town of about fifteen thousand inhabitants, and there were three passenger trains a day each way between Williamsburg and Penniman.
[18]
After World War I, the area was largely abandoned, and then placed into use again in World War II under the name
Cheatham Annex
as a supply depot for the U.S. Navy. Rail service became inactive, and
grade crossings
along the spur line at the
State Route 143
(Merrimack Trail) and several other points were removed in 2008.
Camp Peary
[
edit
]
During World War II, beginning in 1942, the U.S. Navy took over a large area on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in York County which became known as
Camp Peary
, initially for use as a
Seabee
training base. The C&O extended a spur track from its main line tracks to the site and established Magruder Station near the former unincorporated town of
Magruder
.
The spur tracks were later removed. A portion of the old
right-of-way
which is not located on federal property now forms a
rail trail
in Waller Mill Park.
Fort Eustis
[
edit
]
The
Fort Eustis Military Railroad
is a
United States Army
rail transportation
system existing entirely within the
post
boundaries of the
United States Army Transportation Center and Fort Eustis (USATCFE), Fort Eustis, Virginia
. It has served to provide
railroad
operation and maintenance training to the US Army and to carry out selected materiel movement missions both within the post and in interchange with the Peninsula Subsdivision via a
junction
at Lee Hall. It consists of 31 miles (50 km) of
track
broken into three subdivisions with numerous
sidings
,
spurs
, stations and facilities.
Further information on Fort Eustis Military Railroad:
Fort Eustis
Oyster Point
[
edit
]
The station at
Oyster Point
in Warwick County became a shipping point for the area's watermen during the years of extensive
oyster
harvesting. Although oystering has dwindled greatly in the years since, Oyster Point, now within the City of Newport News, became the site for a new city center development. The
Oyster Point City Center
, developed as a
New Urbanism
project, has been touted as the new "downtown" because of its new geographic centrality in the area.
[19]
Norge
[
edit
]
The C&O railway station on the Peninsula Extension of the railroad at
Norge
in
James City County, Virginia
was a community focal point. Seen here in 2005 preserved but in disuse, the following year it was relocated to public property nearby where work began for it to be reopened as museum.
Beginning in the 1890s, C&O land agent Carl M. Bergh, a
Norwegian-American
who had earlier farmed in the mid-western states, realized that the gentler climate of eastern Virginia and depressed post-Civil War land prices would be attractive to his fellow Scandinavians who were farming in other northern parts of the country. He began sending out notices, and selling land. Soon there was a substantial concentration of relocated Americans of Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish descent in the area. The location earlier known as Vaiden's Siding on the railroad just west of Williamsburg in James City County was renamed
Norge
. These citizens and their descendants found the area conditions favorable as described by Bergh, and many became leading merchants, tradespersons, and farmers in the community. These transplanted Americans brought some new blood and enthusiasm to the old colonial capitol area.
The railroad has such community significance to Norge many generations later that, in February, 2006, the historic Norge railroad station building (circa 1908) of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was relocated about 1-mile (1.6 km) to a site adjacent to the James City County Branch of the Williamsburg Regional Library on Croaker Road. Community volunteers set to work providing a new foundation and restoring the exterior, with additional improvements set for the future. A community project, the local
Virginia Gazette
newspaper reported that in January 2009, following historical research, the Norge Station had been repainted in its original livery, featuring a bright orange as the primary color.
The former C&O station from
Ewell
also survives, and is in an adaptive reuse. However, the other James City County stations which were located at
Diascund
,
Toano
,
Kelton (Lightfoot)
and
Grove
are all gone without a trace.
Williamsburg
[
edit
]
In Williamsburg, a number of years before the Restoration, the C&O tracks initially ran down Duke of Gloucester Street and through the grounds of the former Capitol at the eastern end.
[20]
In 1907, the C&O replaced its passenger station with a fine brick colonial style structure to accommodate the patrons of the
tercentennial
(300th anniversary) of the founding of
Jamestown
in 1607. Around this time, the ladies of Williamsburg who were among the early organizers of the group which became
Preservation Virginia
(formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) successfully prevailed upon the Old Dominion Land Company to turn over ownership of the capital historic site.
Beginning in 1926,
Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin
led a campaign to preserve and restore Williamsburg's colonial-era properties. He was successful in gaining the interest and financial support of philanthropists
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
and her husband,
Standard Oil
heir
John D. Rockefeller Jr.
The Rockefellers made historic Bassett hall at Williamsburg their second home for several months each year, and took substantial interest in details of "The Restoration" which created
Colonial Williamsburg
. Partially on the key property donated to the APVA by Dominion Land Company, a major centerpiece, the brick
Capitol
was recreated, as well as dozens of other buildings.
As part of the project to recreate the Governor's Palace, in 1935, the 1907 C&O station was replaced with an even finer one located about a half mile west of the original site. Later owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the 1935 structure itself has been carefully maintained and modernized and serves as the intermodal
Williamsburg Transportation Center
, offering one of the more complete range of services of its type in the country.
Lee Hall
[
edit
]
Lee Hall in 1983, during service as a stop on
Amtrak
's
Colonial
.
Lee Hall, the westernmost station in Warwick County, was named for
the nearby mansion
of
Richard Decatur Lee
. During the 1862
Peninsula Campaign
of the
American Civil War
, it served as the headquarters of Confederate General
John B. Magruder
. A tiny village which came to be known as
Lee Hall, Virginia
developed after the railroad opened and built the Lee Hall Depot.
Lee Hall Depot became a bustling railroad station after the 1918 establishment nearby of Camp Abraham Eustis, later renamed
Fort Eustis
at Mulberry Island. The depot was strategically located along the mainline midway between
Skiffe's Creek
and the Warwick River and was close to the access point to the base. Lee Hall Depot handled heavy troop movements during both World Wars.
In 2009, the station was moved 165 feet, across
CSX
-owned tracks, to prevent it from being demolished by CSX.
[21]
The building was reopened as a local history museum in July, 2021.
[22]
As of 2022, the Lee Hall Depot is the only surviving C&O structure of its type on the Peninsula and the only surviving C&O station which was located in Warwick County, the others were formerly located at Oriana, Oyster Point,
Morrison
, and Newport News.
[23]
CSX Ownership
[
edit
]
The
Peninsula Subdivision
is a
railroad
line owned by
CSX Transportation
in the
U.S. State
of
Virginia
. It was formerly part of the CSX
Huntington East Division
.
[24]
It became part of the CSX
Florence Division
on June 20, 2016. The line runs from
Newport News, Virginia
to
Richmond, Virginia
for a total of 82.3 miles (132.4 km). At its east end the line dead-ends, and at its west end in Richmond, the line continues west as the
Rivanna Subdivision
with connections to the
Bellwood Subdivision
and the
Buckingham Branch Railroad
.
[25]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
openrailwaymap
.org
- ^
"94 U.S. 718"
.
resource.org
. 1 October 1876. Archived from
the original
on 15 February 2012
. Retrieved
21 May
2016
.
- ^
"vivaead/published/vt/viblbv00240"
. ead.lib.virginia.edu
. Retrieved
7 April
2017
.
- ^
"An early history of the building of Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O Railroad) into West Virginia (WV)"
.
wva-usa.com
. Archived from
the original
on 16 February 2012
. Retrieved
17 October
2008
.
- ^
a
b
"Church Hill Tunnell"
. VT Underground. Archived from
the original
on 30 May 2006
. Retrieved
27 June
2006
.
- ^
a
b
Daily, Larry Z. (1997).
"Richmond"
. C&O Piedmont Subdivision Homepage
. Retrieved
27 June
2006
.
- ^
"Topography and Coal Railroads"
.
virginiaplaces.org
.
- ^
Rouse, Parke (25 November 1990).
"Pride Saved Williamsburg"
. Daily Press
. Retrieved
13 September
2021
.
- ^
Archived
12 June 2018 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"whatwehave/photo/newportabout"
. lva.lib.va.us. Archived from
the original
on 21 June 2006
. Retrieved
7 April
2017
.
- ^
"This page can't be displayed"
. www2.ci.newport-news.va.us. Archived from
the original
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External links
[
edit
]