As Christmas approaches, many people’s memories take them back to days of toy trains circling a brightly lit Christmas tree. But the history of toy trains pales in comparison to the amazing history of Virginia’s real railways! They have taken on many roles, from delivering cargo to passenger transit to bringing smiles to children who come on board to see Santa. Trains have traveled across Virginia since the 19th century, changing their shapes, routes, and technology with the times.
This article details the history of Virginia’s railways and the special place they have in the hearts of Virginians. After you read it, be sure to check out our collection, opens a new window for more on the history of railroads and trains.
The First Lines: Early Virginia Railroads
Although in Virginia, most railroad construction took place after the Civil War, there were some notable early attempts. The very earliest attempt was the Falling Creek Railroad, opens a new window in Chesterfield. Built on wooden tracks without a charter, this railroad was used to move munitions from the gunpowder mill to a magazine for storage. There was no locomotive, only a wooden cart that moved down the track to the magazine by gravity and was pulled up by a rope. Virginia’s first chartered railroad was the Chesterfield Railroad, opens a new window. Authorized in 1828 and completed in 1831, this railroad did not use a locomotive, either. Instead, it used the gravity of Falling Creek’s western slope and mules to get carts from the Midlothian coal mines to a port on the James River. The Chesterfield Railroad was reputed to be the world’s most profitable railroad in 1836, opens a new window, but it did not last long. It was obsolete by 1850,, opens a new window as the steam-powered Richmond and Danville Railroad opened, and closed shortly afterwards.
Fredericksburg was part of the service area for one of Virginia’s earliest railroads with a train, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad (RF&P), opens a new window. First chartered in 1834 to link Richmond with the Potomac through Fredericksburg, the line expanded northward over the years. It reached Aquia Creek in 1842 and got steamboat service all the way to Washington D.C. in 1845. The RF&P was viable in its early days because the state of Virginia granted it a 30-year monopoly, opens a new window on railroad traffic between Richmond and Washington. Unlike other early Virginia railroads, the RF&P was not designed to bring goods from rural areas to a port, but to connect two port cities together for the ease of moving goods and people between them.
Train Tracks Under Attack
The Civil War was a difficult time for train service in Virginia. Trains were of vital importance for moving supplies and troops into battle and for getting the wounded to hospitals quickly. Though the RF&P was seized by the Confederate forces after Virginia seceded, opens a new window in 1861, it proved difficult to sustain over the course of the war. As battles raged, the Confederacy lost and regained control over portions of the track. A section in Aquia, opens a new window was particularly volatile. In this area of Stafford County, the Confederates repeatedly blew up portions of the track to keep it out of Union control, forcing the Union troops to reconstruct the track whenever they controlled the area.
The Virginia Central Railroad, opens a new window also saw brutal battles for control, as Louisa Court House and Hanover Depot were attacked in 1863, and Union cavalry attempted to destroy the track in 1864. By the end of the war in 1865, both railroads were extensively damaged and largely unusable. Service was restored quickly on both railroads within months of the war’s end, setting the stage for rail expansion in the late 19th century.
The "Poor Folks and Preachers" Railroad
There was a competing narrow gauge railroad, opens a new window in Fredericksburg that was first incorporated by the Virginia General Assembly in 1853. In theory, this railroad, with a narrower track than a standard gauge railroad, would have been cheaper to build and operate. In reality, it remained uncompleted throughout the Civil War and only went into operation in 1876. Officially named the Potomac, Fredericksburg, and Piedmont Railroad, it ultimately became profitable by the early 1900s. Its passengers were typically not wealthy. In a play on its initials, it became popularly known as the Poor Folks and Preachers Railroad. In the Great Depression, the railroad finally faced its end due to financial difficulties and was mostly abandoned in 1938, opens a new window, although one mile of its track in Fredericksburg was in use until 1983.
Post-war Expansion
Other important railroads began to expand across Virginia and beyond in the post-Civil War period. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway began in 1836 in Louisa County as the Louisa Railroad, opens a new window, but was renamed as Virginia Central in 1850 after its expansion east to Richmond and west to Charlottesville. Only five miles of track were still in operation by the end of the Civil War in 1865, so further investment had to be sought to make the railroad viable. Collis P. Huntington, opens a new window, a native of Connecticut, provided the funds needed to repair and expand the railroad, and construction extended it all the way to the town of Huntington, West Virginia, opens a new window--originally called Guyandotte, but renamed for its benefactor.
From the Coalfields to the Chesapeake Bay
Although the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway suffered financially during the 1870s, coal resources along it were still being developed, and, during the 1880s, it was further expanded eastward via the Peninsula Extension, opens a new window from Richmond to Newport News (originally Warwick County). The Peninsula Extension allowed coal to easily be transported all the way from the coalfields of West Virginia and Kentucky to the port of Newport News, where it could then be shipped anywhere on the East Coast. This made the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway very lucrative, and it remains today one of modern railroad company CSX’s, opens a new window most profitable routes as the Chessie System,, opens a new window a name derived from Chessie the Railroad Kitten, opens a new window, a sleeping cat mascot used in advertisements to showcase the comfort of the railway’s new air-conditioned sleeping cars.
Another important early railroad in Virginia was the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&WR), opens a new window. Although the N&WR was chartered in 1881, opens a new window, the first part of its track was built as City Point Railroad, opens a new window, a nine-mile track connecting Petersburg, VA, with what was then the docks of City Point (now Hopewell, VA). The track would later be bought out and incorporated into the Southside Railroad, opens a new window in 1854. Other milestones, opens a new window in the N&WR's construction included the completion of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad in 1858 and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (which spanned from Lynchburg, VA, to Bristol, VA, at the Tennessee state line) in 1856. All three of these railroads were eventually incorporated into the Norfolk and Western in 1881.
For much of its history, the N&WR functioned mainly as a coal hauler. Extending into Cincinnati by 1901, opens a new window, the N&WR ended up as the longest coal road in the country. The trains the Norfolk and Western used relied on the same coal they also shipped for fuel; as a result, the Norfolk and Western was the last, opens a new window major American railroad to rely on steam power, with some steam trains operating well into the 1950s. Eventually, N&WR merged with the Southern Railway Company to form the current Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), opens a new window in 1982. The old Norfolk and Western lines remain some of the most profitable parts of the current company.
They Almost Got Away with It...
As the railways expanded across Virginia, so did commerce from them…and crime. The Great Aquia Train Robbery, opens a new window, an infamous railway crime, occurred in Stafford County in 1894. The train robbers were Charles Jasper Searcey, a carpenter, and Charles A. Morganfield, a professional gambler. Both men were in desperate need of money and hatched a scheme to rob a train heading out of Fredericksburg to get the desired funds. They boarded at Fredericksburg, then waited until the train reached Brooke Station, opens a new window in Stafford. Once at Brooke, Searcey used a gun to hold up the passengers and crew while Morganfield used a stick of dynamite to blow apart the American Express car, which contained the money.
Afterwards, the two fled with the cash, evading the Pinkerton, opens a new window detectives until they were finally apprehended in Culpeper. Morganfield and Searcey were both tried and convicted in 1895, but one aspect of mystery remains long after the robbery and court case. Searcey and Morganfield stole an estimated $182,000 worth of goods from the train, but only a fraction of that was ever found on them. Tales of a lost gold stash somewhere in the woods of Stafford persist to this day.
Legendary Lines of Christmas: Virginia’s Santa Trains
The first half of the 20th century saw the beginning of one of Virginia’s most beloved traditions, the Santa Trains. The first Santa Train went down the tracks in 1943, opens a new window, part of an effort by business leaders to boost morale during World War II. The original Santa Train rolled down the coal lines connecting Appalachian towns in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia, and was part of the Clinchfield Railroad, opens a new window service. The original version of the Santa Train was very simple; Santa would simply stand on the back of the passenger train while his helpers threw candy, opens a new window to the crowds of children and families. The train did not stop and did not have a regular schedule; in the early years, it was simply a happy surprise to coal town communities that relied on regular train service for travel and coal shipping. Award-winning children's author Cynthia Rylant's Silver Packages, opens a new window is a story about those days.
Over time, the Clinchfield Santa Train became more distinct from the company’s regular service. In 1955, the Santa Train became a special route, and locomotive was to be used by only Santa himself. And, in 1968, an older steam locomotive was restored and made into the Santa Train, allowing people to easily tell which train was Santa’s. In the early 2000s, the traditional method of throwing gifts onto the tracks from the moving train was changed to having the train make scheduled stops and having Santa’s helpers hand out the gifts. Though no one was ever injured by the old method, the new method was deemed safer for children. The Santa Train has never missed a year since 1943, even during the height of COVID restrictions.
The Santa Train tradition spread from Appalachia to other parts of Virginia, including the Fredericksburg area. The Santa Train that visits Fredericksburg runs on a VRE (Virginia Railway Express), opens a new window line. Unlike the Appalachian Santa Train, the VRE Santa Train did take two years off, opens a new window during COVID, but has returned since 2022. Tickets for the Santa Train go on sale in late November or early December, and families that buy them will receive a 75-minute ride with Santa and get goody bags. VRE uses it as an opportunity to promote rail safety, opens a new window and coordinates toy drop-off locations with the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots, opens a new window program. Fredericksburg is one of five train stops that VRE uses for its Santa Trains; the others are Spotsylvania, Woodbridge, Manassas, and Burke Centre. For more information on the Santa Train tradition, check out the book Virginia's Legendary Santa Trains, opens a new window from our collection. This book details the Santa Train traditions all over Virginia and their many decades of service. Read it and learn about generations of happy childhood memories the Santa Trains have brought to our state!
Rolling Through the 20th Century
The 20th century saw commercial rail become dominant in Virginia and passenger lines eliminated over the course of decades. The Virginian Railway saw a massive rise in freight traffic, from 2,771 net-ton miles in 1925 to 5,358 net-ton miles in 1956. Much of this change was brought on by the arrival of diesel trains, opens a new window into train fleets. Although diesel trains had been used in the United States since 1918, opens a new window, early diesel engines could not match the power of steam engines.
Diesel engines have a notable advantage over their older steam engine competitors. Diesel engines are much cheaper, opens a new window to operate and required fewer stops for service, repairs, and refueling. Virginia (especially the Norfolk and Western Railway) was a notable holdout for steam engines; in many other places diesel replacement of steam had taken off in the 1940s, opens a new window. Even the Norfolk and Western started buying diesels from 1955, opens a new window onwards. As diesels took over, the number of train service stops in Virginia gradually began to decline, even as freight traffic further expanded with the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, opens a new window in the 1960s. Passenger rail further declined as the Interstate Highway System, opens a new window expanded across Virginia during the 1960s and 70s. As Virginia became bound together by car transit and highways, the number of passenger rail stops and service areas greatly declined.
(Railroad) Ties to History: Virginia’s Train Museums
Virginia has several great train museums to excite and educate anyone interested in trains. In Spotsylvania, you can find the Rappahannock Railroad Museum, opens a new window. This museum features four historic railway cars, a small yellow train, opens a new window that goes on a two-mile round trip, and displays, opens a new window featuring model railroads and the history of trains in Fredericksburg. Going northward, you’ll come to the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum, opens a new window. Originally Fairfax Station, the museum pays homage to Fairfax’s railroad depot, which operated from 1852 to 1973. In addition to showcasing the history of trains in Fairfax County, the museum also features regularly scheduled, opens a new window model train displays and demonstrations.
To the south, you can visit the Richmond Railroad Museum, opens a new window. This museum houses the historic image archives of the National Railway Historical Society, opens a new window, a model railroad, and restored historical equipment from the railroad, including a steam engine. In Roanoke, VA, you can find the Virginia Museum of Transportation, opens a new window. In addition to exhibits on cars and planes, the Museum of Transportation is home to the Norfolk and Western J Class #611, opens a new window steam locomotive. The J Class #611 is one of the most advanced steam locomotives created and the last surviving Class J steamer.
A few other museums stand out for their importance to rail history as well. The Exchange Hotel, opens a new window was located near the Virginia Central Railroad, and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and served as a hospital during the duration of the Civil War. Today, it contains medical memorabilia from the Civil War, as well as information about the hotel’s function as a hospital. Manassas maintains the Southern Railway Depot, opens a new window, a historical train depot that once served both commuters and freight. Though freight lines no longer unload in Manassas, it still serves commuters via Amtrak, and there is a small exhibit that details the history of the train companies that went through it over the years. And, the Museum of Culpeper History, opens a new window offers a wide variety of exhibits on early Culpeper and Virginia history, ranging from fossil dinosaur tracks to the Revolutionary War. It’s found inside Culpeper Station, opens a new window, a historical depot still in operation today.
Decades after the peak of Virginia’s train industry, memories and artifacts from it can be found all across the state. An effort to upgrade, opens a new window and expand railroad passenger services in Virginia has begun, with the promise of electrified rail and expanded service. The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has also reached a deal, opens a new window that will expand Amtrak service beyond Roanoke into the New River Valley. Perhaps the 21st century will be a time of renewal and expansion for rail across Virginia, unlike the losses experienced in the latter part of 20th century.
While we look forward to progess, we can also remember Virginia’s railway traditions, including December's Santa trains.
