Richmond and Alleghany Railroad
{{Short description|Former railway company in the United States of America}}
{{Infobox rail | gauge={{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
|railroad_name=Richmond and Alleghany Railroad
|logo_filename=
|logo_size=
|old_gauge=
|marks=
|locale=Richmond - Buchanan, Virginia
|start_year=March 4, 1880
|end_year=1888
|predecessor_line=James River and Kanawha Canal
|successor_line=Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
|hq_city=122 South 8th Street, Richmond, Virginia
}}
The Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was built along the James River along the route of the James River and Kanawha Canal from Richmond on the Fall Line at the head of navigation to a point west of Lynchburg near Buchanan, Virginia, and combined with the Buchanan and Clifton Forge Railway Company to reach Clifton Forge, Virginia.
The James River 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CSX/CSX%20ETTs/CSX%20Huntington%20Div%20East%20ETT%20%231%201-1-2005.pdf|title=Huntington East Division Timetable|author=G. M. Williams, III (General Manager)|date=8 December 2004|accessdate=7 April 2017}} It became part of the CSX Florence Division on June 20, 2016. The line runs from Gladstone, Virginia to Clifton Forge, Virginia for a total of 110.2 miles. At its east end it continues west from the Rivanna Subdivision and at its west end it continues west as the Alleghany Subdivision.{{cite web|url=http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/JR-James_River_Sub|publisher=wiki.radioreference.com|title=JR-James River Sub - The RadioReference Wiki|accessdate=2017-04-07}}
History
Long a dream of early Virginians such as George Washington, the canal was never completed as envisioned to link the James and Ohio Rivers. Beginning in the 1830s, railroads overtook canals as a preferred technology for transportation in Virginia. The canal was conveyed to the new railroad company by a deed dated March 4, 1880. Railroad construction workers promptly started laying tracks on the towpath. The company constructed the railroad using African-American convict laborers from Virginia penitentiaries."United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBG-9MPZ?cc=1417683&wc=XCF3-W38%3A1589415431%2C1589415781%2C1589415008%2C1589395080 : 24 December 2015), Virginia > Botetourt > Fincastle > ED 11 > images 58 through 61 of 64; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.)
Led by Francis O. French of New York and later starting in 1884 by James T Closson of New York the new railroad offered a water-level route from Richmond, Virginia to Clifton Forge through the Blue Ridge Mountains at Balcony Falls. In 1888 the railroad was leased, and later purchased, by Collis P. Huntington's Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (merger with C&O occurred in 1889 {{cite web|url=http://www.cohs.org/history/|publisher=cohs.org|title=History – C&O Historical Society|accessdate=2017-04-07}}).
Today, the former Richmond and Alleghany Railroad is a major route of CSX Transportation. It forms the Rivanna and James River subdivisions. The eastern terminus is Richmond's Main Street Station. It meets the former Virginia Central Railroad (now operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, a short-line operator) at Rivanna Junction.
{{Wide image|Richmond and Alleghany Railroad 1884 map.jpg|1000px|1884 map of the Richmond and Alleghany overlaid on a geological map of the route and connecting routes}}
<1. Laura E Armitage. "The Richmond and Alleghany," THE RAILWAY AND LOCOMOTIVE SOCIETY BULLETIN, No. 88 (May, 1953) pp. 59–68.> <2. Mary Lynn Bayliss, THE DOOLEYS OF RICHMOND: AN IRISH IMMIGRANT FAMILY IN THE OLD AND NEW SOUTH, University of Virginia Press, 2017, p. 125>
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{cite book | author=Publisher of Trains Magazine| title=The historical guide to North American railroads | edition=2nd | location=Waukesha, WI | publisher=Kalmbach Publishing | year=2000| editor=Kalmbach Publishing| isbn=0-89024-356-5}}
External links
{{portal|Trains|Virginia}}
- [http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/coaltopo.html Virginia Places - Geography of Virginia] great explanation of the R&A and maps
- [http://www.richmondriverfront.com/jrandchistory.shtml Richmond Riverfront - Canal History]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond Alleghany Railroad}}
Category:Transportation in Richmond, Virginia
Category:Defunct Virginia railroads
Category:Predecessors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway