| Virginia, Falls Church — Tracks into History — The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad |
| | The railroad that became the Washington & Old Dominion was born in Alexandria in response to the competition in shipping posed by the port in Baltimore, which was served by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The B&O was diverting farm produce from the Shenandoah Valley away from Alexandria by way of its junction with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad. It also had access to the rich coalfields of the Ohio Valley.
A group of Northern Virginia businessmen formed the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire . . . — Map (db m2902) |
| Virginia, Falls Church — Train Wrecks |
| | Accidents happened on the Washington & Old Dominion. Mishaps resulted from washouts of the roadbed, loose rails, rotting ties, or from livestock wandering across the tracks. Crew negligence also played a part. One of the earliest and most serious accidents occurred in Round Hill, Virginia. On Christmas Day 1874, an engine in the process of being turned around fell off the turntable and crushed a crewman. Perhaps the most dangerous situation arose from dozens of at-grade street crossings. . . . — Map (db m2899) |
| Virginia, Falls Church — West Falls Church Station |
| | In 1912, from the station that stood nearby to your right, you could board a modern interuban passenger coach at 7:34 a.m. and arrive in Georgetown by 8:00 sharp. It was a new century and Washington, D.C., was on the move. The demand was heavy in the early 1900s for passenger service along the mostly residential corridor of the Washington & Old Dominion. Its owners replaced steam power with electricity and scheduled dozens of commuter runs. Often, however, schedules were not met, cars were . . . — Map (db m2901) |
| Virginia (Arlington County), Shirlington — Nauck: A Neighborhood History |
| | The Nauck community has a long and diverse history. The area that now comprises the Nauck neighborhood was originally granted to John Todd and Evan Thomas in 1719. The land was later acquired by Robert Alexander and sold to John Parke Custis in 1778, becoming part of the Abingdon estate. Until the Civil War era, the area remained farmland with few structures. Free blacks, such as Levi and Sarah Ann Jones, who built a house in 1844, owned land prior to the Civil War in what is now Nauck.
. . . — Map (db m2504) |
| Virginia (Arlington County), Shirlington — Tracks Into History — The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad |
| | Time Line
March 20, 1847 - Incorporated as the Alexandria &
Harper’s Ferry Railroad.
March 15, 1853 - The corporate name changes to the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad Company.
February 25, 1855 - Construction begins near Alexandria.
May 17, 1860 - First train from Alexandria to Leesburg.
1861 – 1865 - Railroad construction, and some service, is interrupted by the Civil War.
June 1, 1867 - Train service is restored from Alexandria to . . . — Map (db m2500) |
| Virginia (Arlington County), Shirlington — Washington and Old Dominion Trail |
| | W & OD Trail.
The 100-foot-wide Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park (W&OD Trail) features a 45-mile asphalt trail for walking, running, skating, bicycling and other activities and a 33-mile parallel, gravel bridle path for horseback riding and biking. The W & OD Trail traverses the Piedmont between the Potomac River and the Blue Ridge Mountains creating a recreation corridor extending from the Virginia suburb of Arlington to the farming areas of western Loudoun County.
. . . — Map (db m2406) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Herndon — Herndon Station |
| | Herndon grew up around this railroad station. The town received its name in 1858 when the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad (later the W&OD) arrived and a post office was established in the newly built station.
Herndon quickly became the commercial center for a booming dairy industry in the surrounding countryside. Mills, farm suppliers, and retail shops were established near the railroad depot. As businesses expanded, so did the population.
Local resident Madeleine Sharp described . . . — Map (db m152) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Herndon — Mosby’s Herndon Station Raid — “My loss was nothing.” — Mosby's Confederacy |
| | On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1863, Confederate Capt. John S. Mosby and 40 Partisan Rangers attacked the picket post of the 1st Vermont Cavalry guarding this station on the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad. The detachment commander Lt. Alexander G. Watson, had just been joined by Maj. William Wells and other officers to investigate charges that pickets were stealing from local citizens.
Arriving ahead of a Union relief force, Mosby and his men took the pickets by surprise with . . . — Map (db m151) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Herndon — The Rail Strike of 1916 |
| | In the years before motor vehicles came to dominate transportation, business was never better for the Washington & Old Dominion Railway. Demand for passenger and freight service boomed, while the W&OD's owners balked at spending the money necessary to keep the line running smoothly. The increasing dissatisfaction of the workers coincided with a campaign by the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railroad Employees to unionize area rail workers. In the spring of 1916 many W&OD . . . — Map (db m4952) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Herndon — Tracks Into History — The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad |
| | The railroad that became the Washington & Old Dominion was born in Alexandria in response to the competition in shipping posed by the port in Baltimore, which was served by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The B&O was diverting farm produce from the Shenandoah Valley away from Alexandria by way of its junction with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad. It also had access to the rich coalfields of the Ohio Valley.
A group of Northern Virginia businessmen formed the Alexandria , Loudoun & Hampshire . . . — Map (db m153) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Vienna — Electric Trains on the W&OD |
| | Electrification arrived in 1912, after the Great Falls & Old Dominion Railroad and the Southern Railway’s Bluemont Branch were consolidated into the Washington & Old Dominion Railway. The new owners brought modern interurban trolley cars. Wire strung above the tracks carried electricity from the railroad's own power plant in Rosslyn, Virginia. In 1917 service switched to the local utility company. By 1939, the year this man was photographed departing a trolley near Bluemont, Virginia, the . . . — Map (db m2095) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Vienna — Hunter Station — Circa 1900 |
| | This station was called a flag stop—a passenger would step out and flag down the train to catch a ride. The railroad was owned by the Southern Railway at this time and was operated as a steam railroad. Wires were installed in 1912 when the line became the W & OD Railway and was electrified. The camera that took this photo was pointed west with what is now Hunter Mill Road behind the shelter. The white piece of equipment on the far side of the road is a mail crane, which let the . . . — Map (db m1933) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Vienna — Tracks into History — The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad |
| | The railroad that became the Washington & Old Dominion was born in Alexandria in response to the competition in shipping posed by the port in Baltimore, which was served by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The B&O was diverting farm produce from the Shenandoah Valley away from Alexandria by way of its junction with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad. It also had access to the rich coalfields of the Ohio Valley.
A group of Northern Virginia businessmen formed the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire . . . — Map (db m2094) |
| Virginia (Fairfax County), Vienna — Vienna Station |
| | Vienna Station, shown in the center of the photograph below in 1864, has stood here since the arrival of the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railway (later the Washington & Old Dominion Railway) in 1859. The farm community of Ayr Hill consisted of houses, mills, a general store, and a plow factory that benefited from proximity to the railroad. The post office name was soon changed to Vienna. In 1890 Vienna was officially incorporated as a town. In 1967, a year before the W&OD shut down . . . — Map (db m2090) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Ashburn — Ashburn Station |
| | At least two different railroad stations stood where you are now standing. When the Alexandra, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad (later the W&OD) arrived in 1860, the aptly named crossroads of Farmwell became one of the many rail stops that served agrarian Loudoun County. In 1896, after an ash tree caught fire and supposedly burned for a week, Farmwell changed its name to Ashburn. Loudoun County had more than 1,200 farms at the time. The railroad transported the cash crops of wheat, corn, and oats . . . — Map (db m20282) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Ashburn — Norman's Station |
| | The shelter or "waiting shed" in the photograph below stood across the road from where you are now located. Crossing the track was Norman's Station Road (now called Smith's Switch Road). These three-sided shelters were typical of many small stops along the line. There was a station or shelter about every three miles along the W&OD. The nickname "Virginia Creeper" describes the leisurely pace of the railroad - and underscored the contrast with the vision of its founders who wanted to rival . . . — Map (db m20277) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Bluemont — Bluemont Historic District |
| | Bluemont Historic District has been registered as a Virginia Historic Landmark pursuant to the authority vested in the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Act of 1966. — Map (db m4023) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Clarkes Gap |
| | At 582 feet, Clarkes Gap, up the hill to your left, was the highest point on the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad. The stone bridge dates from the 1870s, when the tracks were completed to Clarkes Gap. The station stood on the site where you are now located. Newspaper ads from the 1880s promote stagecoach service from Clarkes Gap to Waterford. After passing beneath the bridge the tracks originally continued north-northwest to Paeonian Springs. The switchback portion of the trail that you see . . . — Map (db m2031) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Diesel Trains on the W&OD |
| | The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad switched from electric to diesel power during World War II. In 1941-42 the railroad bought its first three diesel-electric engines. Each General Electric engine had 380 horsepower and weighed 44 tons. Later engines weighing between 65 and 75 tons operated at about 660 horsepower. The railroad was phasing out passenger service in favor of more profitable freight hauling. Diesel power allowed the W&OD to participate in Northern Virginia’s growth boom in the . . . — Map (db m2111) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Electric Trains on the W&OD |
| | Electrification arrived in 1912, after the Great Falls & Old Dominion Railroad and the Southern Railway’s Bluemont Branch were consolidated into the Washington & Old Dominion Railway. The new owners brought modern interurban trolley cars. Wire strung above the tracks carried electricity from the railroad’s own power plant in Rosslyn, Virginia. In 1917 service switched to the local utility company. By 1939, the year this man was photographed departing a trolley near Bluemont, Virginia, the . . . — Map (db m2107) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Leesburg Freight Station |
| | Leesburg’s first railroad depot opened here in 1860 to accommodate passengers, mail, express packages, and freight. All but the freight operations were moved west to King Street in 1887 when the new passenger station opened. An industrial area known as “the Wharf”—mills, warehouses, a farm implement factory, and a stockyard—grew up around this station. Passenger service along the Washington & Old Dominion barely made money. Freight appeared to be the railroad’s . . . — Map (db m2109) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Leesburg Passenger Station |
| | When the Alexandria, Loudoun, & Hampshire Railroad (later W&OD) arrived on May 17, 1860, Leesburg realized a dream. A local newspaper praised the railroad, which “throws us within an hour or two’s ride of the cities of the seaboard, and opens up a new avenue of commerce and trade.” At first a single depot, located 0.2 mile east of here, served passengers and freight. In 1887 the railroad opened a separate passenger station here at King Street. It remained in use until passenger . . . — Map (db m2110) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Norman-Harding Barn — (The "Wharf") |
| | "The Wharf" refers not only to the entire two-block area, but also to the Norman-Harding Barn, itself the original "Wharf." This building is on its original site. Since its construction around 1890, the two-story barn served as a storage warehouse in the heart of the old railroad industrial district. The warehouse held incoming and outgoing merchandise that moved via the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad. Salted herrings, a seasonal specialty from Tidewater, Virginia, came by the barrel for . . . — Map (db m5127) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — Stationmaster's House |
| | This building of duplex design housed the Stationmaster in one section and other railroad employees in another. The railroad traditionally provided such housing close to switching yards and depots for its always-on-call employees. The Stationmaster's responsibilities included collecting freight duty and overseeing the area. Dating from 1915, the structure now sits at Market Station, only two blocks from its original location beside the tracks of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad. — Map (db m5123) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — The Depot |
| | The Freight Depot was built at the turn of the century, replacing a depot gutted by the disastrous fire of 1898. The wooden building is a fine example of railroad station architecture, with its wide overhangs to protect dock workers and freight from the elements. The rail line was chartered in 1847 as the Alexandria and Harper's Ferry Railroad. It was reorganized in 1853 as the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire, but by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860 had been constructed only from . . . — Map (db m11324) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — The Great Falls Line |
| | The Bluemont Branch of the Washington & Old Dominion was not the railroad’s only line. The Great Falls & Old Dominion Railroad arose in 1906 from the vision of two prominent men. Sen. Stephen B. Elkins of West Virginia had prospered through coal, lumber, and railroads in his home state. John R. McLean was involved in several businesses and owned The Washington Post. Elkins and McLean bought land on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at Great Falls. They turned it into a resort, . . . — Map (db m2106) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Leesburg — The Leesburg Lime Company |
| | The arrival of the railroad in the 1860s spawned new businesses. One such enterprise was the Leesburg Lime Company, which operated at the site where you are now located. In 1868 a local newspaper announced: New Lime Kiln— Messrs. Orr & Manning have in full blast, their new improved Lime Kiln, erected near the A.L.&H. Railroad Depot, Leesburg. It works beautifully, and is turning out a large quantity of Lime. Our farmers and builders can now be supplied with this article, at . . . — Map (db m2108) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Paeonian Springs — Paeonian Springs Station |
| | In its heyday, Paeonian Springs attracted folks such as those men gathered for a raccoon hunt sponsored by The Washington Post in October 1912. The station shown at right stood where the three-sided shelter stands today. Two things happened to make places like Paeonian Springs popular. The first was the need to escape heat and epidemics such as the ones that hit Washington in the 1860s and 70s. The second was the expansion of the railroads, making travel easy and inexpensive. The . . . — Map (db m2903) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Purcellville — Beyond Purcellville |
| | The trail ends here but the story does not. The founders of the Alexandria, Loudoun, & Hampshire (later the W&OD) sought to rival the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for the coal of West Virginia and the trade of the Ohio Valley. By 1900 the railroad finally reached Snickersville, seven miles west of here, but never continued across the Blue Ridge. Snickersville's name was promptly changed to Bluemont to capitalize on a niche the founders never envisioned: the resort trade. The hill towns of western . . . — Map (db m24307) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Purcellville — Electric Trains on the W&OD |
| | Electrification arrived in 1912, after the Great Falls & Old Dominion Railroad and the Southern Railway’s Bluemont Branch were consolidated into the Washington & Old Dominion Railway. The new owners brought modern interurban trolley cars. Wire strung above the tracks carried electricity from the railroad’s own power plant in Rosslyn, Virginia. In 1917 service switched to the local utility company. By 1939, the year this man was photographed departing a trolley near Bluemont, Virginia, the . . . — Map (db m19330) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Purcellville — Tracks into History — The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad |
| | The railroad that became the Washington & Old Dominion was born in Alexandria in response to the competition in shipping posed by the port in Baltimore, which was served by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The B&O was diverting farm produce from the Shenandoah Valley away from Alexandria by way of its junction with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad. It also had access to the rich coalfields of the Ohio Valley.
A group of Northern Virginia businessmen formed the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire . . . — Map (db m19331) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Sterling — Rails to Dulles Airport |
| | In 1958 the federal government began construction of a new international airport near Chantilly, Virginia. The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, whose freight business had been on the decline, enjoyed a resurgence of activity. Cement, stone, and other materials arrived from local quarries by rail to this spot and were trucked to the airport site a few miles south of here. Dulles International Airport opened 1962. The W&OD limped along for another six years, while a boom in road construction . . . — Map (db m20281) |
| Virginia (Loudoun County), Sterling — Sterling Station |
| | By 1967, when the photograph below was taken, Sterling had grown from a railroad stop known as Guilford to a large residential development. Beginning in 1860, the station served local farmers. Trains carried grain, produce, and dairy products to eastern markets, returning with merchandise and mail. Passengers rode to school, to shop and visit. Many commuted to jobs in Washington, D.C. In the 1890s, after financier J.P. Morgan bought the line, he supposedly gave Sterling its name because of his . . . — Map (db m20146) |
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