in 1848, Alexandria (red X) had no railroad track bringing agricultural products from the hinterland to the port
Source: Library of Congress, Skeleton map showing the Rail Roads completed and in progress in the United States (1848)
in 1848, Alexandria (red X) had no railroad track bringing agricultural products from the hinterland to the port
Source: Library of Congress, Skeleton map showing the Rail Roads completed and in progress in the United States (1848)
The Orange and Alexandria (O&A) Railroad was chartered by the General Assembly on May 27, 1848. The charter authorized construction from Alexandria to Gordonsville. It required passing through the county seat of Orange County, but no similar mandate was included for other jurisdictions. In an 1849 charter amendment, the General Assembly increased the state's investment from 40% of the stock to 60%.
In 1853, a charter amendment authorized extending the southern end to Lynchburg. The railroad was required to use the Virginia Central tracks between Gordonsville and Charlottesville, before eventually getting the right to build its own track in 1876. The Orange and Alexandria Railroad reached Lynchburg in 1860.
With one exception, stockholders met annually from 1849-1867, when the company was merged into the Orange, Alexandria and Manassas Railroad. The first two meetings were in 1859 and 1850 held in Warrenton. Following stockholder meetings were held in Alexandria until 1861, when the city was occupied by the Union Army. The 1861 meeting was in Charlottesville, and the next three meetings were held in Lynchburg. There was no stockholders meeting in 1865. Stockholders returned to Alexandria for the last two meetings, in 1866 and 1867.1
Charles Minor Blackford, Legal History of the Virginia Midland Railway Co., and of the Companies which Built Its Lines of Road, J.P. Bell, 1881, pp.1-7, p.10, https://books.google.com/books?id=vV4EAAAAMAAJ; "A New Look On An Old Railroad That Helped Build A Nation," The New Orange and Alexandria Railroad Historical Society, https://thenewoanda.weebly.com/ (last checked January 8, 2025)
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad provided better, faster, cheaper transportation between the port of Alexandria and the Piedmont east of the Blue Ridge
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the internal improvements of Virginia (Claudius Crozet, 1848)
The railroad was designed to stimulate business in Alexandria. By the time Alexandria was retroceded back to Virginia in 1847, it was clear that the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal and its Alexandria Canal extension were not going to out-compete the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. The new steamships began using Baltimore as their deepwater port in the 1840's. To increase the opportunity for ships to collect and deliver cargo, Alexandria's merchants chose to mimic Baltimore and build a railroad network of their own into the interior of Virginia.
Fredericksburg was another potential competitor to Alexandria. By acting quickly after the 1847 retrocession, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad was completed through the Piedmont before Fredericksburg built any effective transportation link up the Rappahannock River to the Blue Ridge. Alexandria's railroad was the first to access the Rappahannock River watershed, the natural "hinterland" of Frederickburg. As a result, farmers in Fauquier, Culpeper, and Orange counties traded with merchants at a Potomac River port rather than at a Rappahannock River port.
A railroad could have connected Fredericksburg to Harrisonburg. In 1856, the General Assembly authorized the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad to construct a line from someplace between Fredericksburg and the Aquia Creek landing to Manassas Junction.1
Charles Minor Blackford, Legal History of the Virginia Midland Railway Co., and of the Companies which Built Its Lines of Road, J.P. Bell, 1881, p.11, https://books.google.com/books?id=vV4EAAAAMAAJ (last checked June 20, 2020)
The 1857 economic recession was one factor in preventing the construction. Had that track been built, then Fredericksburg would have been a better destination than Alexandria for many Piedmont and Shenandoah farmers. Products being shipped down the Potomac River could be delivered faster to buyers in northern states or the Caribbean from Aquia Landing.
the Orange and Alexandria railroad bypassed Fairfax Courthouse, to minimize the need for locomotives to pull trains uphill
Source: Library of Congress, Map and profile of the Orange and Alexandria Rail Road with its Warrenton Branch and a portion of the Manasses [sic] Gap Rail Road, to show its point of connection
The first Orange and Alexandria Railroad train bringing wheat to the port arrived on May 29, 1851. Access to the docks was through the Wilkes Street tunnel, passing beneath Lee and Fairfax streets on the bluff above.
The railroad built its workshop for maintenance and repair of locomotives and railcars and a roundhouse at the intersection of Wolfe and Henry streets.1 Jay Roberts, "Rails in the Seaport: A Brief Look at the History of Railroads and Their Tracks in Alexandria," Jay's Jottings blog, January 28, 2015, https://jay.typepad.com/william_jay/2015/01/rails-in-the-seaport-a-brief-look-at-the-history-of-railroads-and-their-tracks-in-alexandria.html (last checked January 6, 2025)
Track was laid across Bull Run and service started to what became Manasss Junction in October, 1851.
The county seats of Fairfax and Prince William were bypassed, to avoid the costs of building track up to those high points and operating trains on the steeper grades. The branch line to Warrenton, the county seat of Fauquier County, was completed in 1853.
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad bypassed the Fairfax and Prince William county seats, in order to follow the flattest route
Source: Library of Congress, Topographical map of Virginia between Washington and Manassas Junction (by Charles Magnus, c.1861)
the Manassas Gap Railroad later planned to build to Fairfax Court House, despite the topographic challenge
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the Manassas Gap Railroad and its extensions; September, 1855
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad built a branch line to the Fauquier County seat
Source: Library of Congress, Map of northern Virginia (1894)
The railroad reached Gordonsville in 1854, where freight and passengers could be transferred to the Virginia Central. That same year, the Manassas Gap Railroad reached Strasburg, with their trains using the Orange and Alexandria Railroad between Manassas Junction-Alexandria.1
"An Archeological Assessment of the Southern Plaza Project Area Alexandria, Virginia," John Milner Associates, 1988, p.12, https://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/historic/info/archaeology/SiteReportSeifertSouthernPlazaUSMRR.pdf (last checked May 29, 2020)
In Orange, the passenger station built in 1854 lasted until 1908. The Great Fire that year burned much of the town's business district, but the Southern Railway rebuilt the station quickly. Today it is the town's visitor center.2 "Tracks Through Time," Orange County, http://orangecountyva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1390/Railfan-Tour
In 1853, once completion of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to Gordonsville was assured, the General Assembly authorized the railroad to build further south to Lynchburg. That created the potential for two competing railroads to service Charlottsville.
The Virginia Central ensured it would have a monopoly in 1856. A new law permitting a $400,000 state loan to the the Orange and Alexandria Railroad included a provision that no track could be constructed between Gordonsville and Charlottesville, provided the Virginia Central offered reasonable rates for trackage rights over that segment.2
Charles Minor Blackford, Legal History of the Virginia Midland Railway Co., and of the Companies which Built Its Lines of Road, J.P. Bell, 1881, pp.12-13, https://books.google.com/books?id=vV4EAAAAMAAJ (last checked June 20, 2020)
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad had to use Virginia Central tracks between Gordonsville-Charlottesville
Source: Library of Congress, Albemarle County, Virginia (by Jedediah Hotchkiss, 1867)
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the Virginia Central (blue) connected Godonsville and Charlottesville
Source: Library of Congress, Central Virginia (1862)
the Alexandria waterfront was industrial in 1907
Source: Library of Congress, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia (Sanborn Map Company, November 1907)
The "Orange Bridge" was built across the James River to Lynchburg in 1861. The Orange and Alexandria Railroad connected there with the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad headed west, and the South Side Railroad headed east.2
"More Abandoned Rails - Lynchburg and Central Virginia Historic Railroad Photographs," Kipp Teague's RetroWeb, http://retroweb.com/wp/lynchburg-rails/more-abandoned-rails/ (last checked May 28, 2020)
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad linked to the Virginia and Tennessee and the South Side railroads in Lynchburg in 1861
Source: Library of Congress, Amherst County, Virginia (by Jedediah Hotchkiss, 1867)
the extension of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to Lynchburg in 1861 is still in use
Source: Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), Virginia Rail Map (2019)
By 1861, trains could go from Alexandria to Mobile, Alabama by a series of connected lines. In Virginia, passengers and freight on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad could transfer to the Virgina and Tennessee Railroad at Lynchburg. That linked to the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad at Bristol. Not until 1870 were other connections made to allow uniterrupted travel by train to New Orleans.2
Fairfax Harrison, A History of the Legal Development of the Railroad System of Southern Railway Company, 1901, p.16, https://books.google.com/books?id=0IkjAQAAMAAJ (last checked June 22, 2020)
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad was in the center of several key battles during the Civil War. At the very beginning on May 24, 1861, Union forces occupied Alexandria and took control of the railroad's passenger station, office, roundhouse, and repair facilities - including 1,100 tons of rails imported from England. The company president, John S. Barbour, set up a new office in Charlottesville.
Confederates fleeing Alexandria managed to stop a train headed into the city, hopped aboard, and redirected it to Manassas. Their ride to Manassas was the first military evacuation by railroad in US history.1
"An Archeological Assessment of the Southern Plaza Project Area Alexandria, Virginia," John Milner Associates, 1988, pp.15-16, https://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/historic/info/archaeology/SiteReportSeifertSouthernPlazaUSMRR.pdf (last checked May 29, 2020)
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad is the reason that the 1861 Battle of Manassas was fought in Prince William County. The Union Army wanted to seize the railroad and use it to move supplies and equipment south on the march to Richmond. Because no track went directly south from Alexandria, the best route was to go southwest from Alexandria along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to Gordonsville, then turn southeast on the Virginia Central.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis road a special train to the battlefield at Bull Run, arriving near the end of the fighting. Thought it was risky to go from Richmond to Manassas, his quick arrival was a political necessity. Davis was only the provisional president at the time, and the election would be in November. His presence at Bull Run ensured that a Confederate general, either Joseph Johnston or P.G.T. Beauregard, could not capture all the glory.
After the Confederate victory in July 1861, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad provided the essential supply line for the Confederate front line established along the Occoquan River. No general, on either side, had experience in managing a railroad-based supply line, but the Confedrates were innovative enough to build a branch line from Manassas to Centreville. The Centreville Military Railroad is the world's railroad built primarily to support a military force.
an 18-mile wagon road linked the Orange and Alexandria Railroad depot at Bristow to Dumfries in 1861
Source: National Archives, Rough Sketch of the Vicinity of Quantico, Virginia
Confederate General Joseph Johnston and his staff lacked the expertise to remove excess supplies from Manassas before withdrawing in March, 1862 to defend Richmond against the Peninsula Campaign led by Union General George McClellan. A massive stockpile of meat, stored at the Beverley/Chapman Mill, was burned rather than shipped back to Richmond.
Confederate forces destroyed the Orange and Alexandria facilities in Manassas in March, 1862 before withdrawing to Richmond for the Peninsula Campaign
Source: Library of Congress, Evacuation of and firing of Manassas Junction (by Alfred R. Waud, 1862)
After retreating from Manassas in March, 1862, Confederate troops treated the Orange and Alexandria Railroad as an enemy asset and a military target. Though that railroad pathway for a Union march to Richmond was never successful, the US Military Rail Road used the line to supply Union troops when they were stationed on the Rappahannock River in 1862-64.
the supply depot at Manassas was destroyed by retreating Confederates in March, 1862
Source: Library of Congress, Manassas, Va. Orange and Alexandria Railroad wrecked by retreating Confederates
Union troops occupied Manassas in March, 1862 after Confederate forces moved south for the Peninsula Campaign
Source: Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Manassas Junction, March, 1862 (No.10)
the US Army staffed blockhouses to limit Confederate raids on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad
Source: Library of Congress, Blockhouse, O and A.R.R., nr. Bull Run (by Alfred R. Waud, 1861-62)
Confederate forces destroyed trestles and track whenever they crossed the railroad, and the 1862 Battle of Manassas occurred after General Stonewall Jackson maneuvered behind Union lines to destroy the large depot at Manassas.
Col. J.E.B. Stuart seized General John Pope's personal baggage after capturing a US Military Railroad train on the Orange and Alexandria tracks in Fauquier County
Source: Library of Congress, Catletts Station where Stuart made a raid and captured Popes baggage (by Alfred R. Waud, 1862)
Col. Gohn Mosby and other raiders intercepted US Military Rail Road trains and damaged the railroad when the track was behind the front line.
Confederates tore up the Orange and Alexandria Railroad track to interrupt the delivery of troops/supplies by the US Military Rail Road
Source: Library of Congress, Virginia. Tracks of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, destroyed by the Confederates between Bristow Station and the Rappahannock (by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, October 1863)
Union use of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad was abandoned after General Grant initiated his Overland Campaign in 1864. By then, the Union Army had enough horses, mules, wagons, and teamsters to supply the army as it moved directly south along the Fall Line; there was no need to use the railroad.
Plans to use the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to supply Union armies in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864 were dropped in part because Colonel John Mosby's Confederate raiders were so effective in the area, and in part because the Winchester and Potomac Railroad offered a feasible alternative.
Source: Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation, Mosby's War on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad
After the Civil War, the US Military Rail Road returned the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to the Virginia Board of Public Work and the private owners. Damage to the infrastruture was extensive, rehabilitation was expensive, and at the end of the war few Virginians had capital to invest.
The Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad acquired the shares of stock held by Virginia's Bureau of Public Works and gained control of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad also acquired control over the Alexandria & Washington Railroad (stretching six miles from Long Bridge to Aklexandria) and the Manassas Gap Railroad. At the time, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had a monopoly on rail traffic coming south into Washington, DC. Acquiring the track stretching south of Long Bridge to Lynchburg and Staunton was part of the competition with the Pennsylvania Railroad to establish a network stretching deep into the former Confederate states.1
"A New Look On An Old Railroad That Helped Build A Nation," The New Orange and Alexandria Railroad Historical Society, https://thenewoanda.weebly.com/ (last checked January 8, 2025)
In 1867 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad merged the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and the Manassas Gap Railroad into the Orange, Alexandria and Manassas Railroad. In 1873 the Orange, Alexandria and Manassas Railroad was merged with the Lynchburg & Danville Railroad and became part of the Washington City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern Railroad.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, still in control, feared a competitor would block its ability to run trains between Gordonsville and Charlottesville. Using the charter of the Charlottesville & Rapidan Railroad, it built new track to eliminate the problem. The eastern connection to the Washington City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern Railroad track was made at Orange rather than Gordonsville, in part to serve additional territory and in part to inimize construction costs through hilly terrain.1
"Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad," World Heritage Encyclopedia, ; "Central Virginia Railroad History," CvilleRail and the Piedmont Rail Coalition, http://www.cvillerail.org/centralvarailhistory.html; Charles Minor Blackford, Legal History of the Virginia Midland Railway Co., and of the Companies Which Built Its Lines of Road, J. P. Bell & Company (Lynchburg), 1881, pp.52-75, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015006370533; Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports, Volume 37, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932, pp.7-8, https://books.google.com/books?id=Kp8FAAAAIAAJ (last checked July 14, 2020)
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's access to Alexandria was broken by the Pennsylvania Railroad during President Grant's first term. The Pennsylvania Railroad gained control over Long Bridge in 1870 and the Alexandria & Washington Railroad in 1872. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad maintained its connection to Alexandria by building a branch line east of the District of Columbia to Marbury Point, on the northern bank of the Potomac River opposite the Alexandria waterfront. Railroad cars were floated on barges across the river until 1906, when the different railroads carrying passengers and freight into Alexandria negotiated a truce and the Pennsylvania Railroad allowed competitors to use the new Long Bridge constructed in 1904.
The Washington City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern Railroad was reorganized in 1881 and renamed the Virginia Midland Railway. The Richmond and Danville Railroad and the Richmond Terminal leased it in 1886. In 1890, The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway obtained trackage rights to use the former Orange and Alexandria Railroad tracks.In 1894, reorganization of the Richmond and Danville Railroad and the Richmond Terminal created the Southern Railroad. That line built Cameron Yards in Alexandria to service its trains. The Southern Railroad merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1982, and the Norfolk Southern Railroad was created officially in 1990.1 "Norfolk Southern merger family tree," Trains, June 2, 2006, https://trn.trains.com/railroads/railroad-history/2006/06/norfolk-southern-merger-family-tree (last checked June 1, 2020)
The Norfolk Southern dead-ended at Alexandria. The original route of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad remains busy with trains running north to Manassas. Most trains now turn west there to take the original Manassas Gap Railroad (now called the "B Line") towards the Virginia Inland Port at Front Royal and Hagerstown, Maryland.
North of Manassas only Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express, and light freight traffic uses the dead-end stub into Alexandria. Each day, a "rock train" carries gravel from basalt quarries into Alexandria for construction. In 2024 the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority purchased Norfolk Southern's track between Manassas-Alexandria, one of several transactions to enhance the expansion of passenger train operations across Virginia.1
"VPRA Purchases Manassas Line from Norfolk Southern," Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, September 5, 2024, https://vapassengerrailauthority.org/vpra-purchases-manassas-line-from-norfolk-southern/ (last checked January 6, 2025)
Two components of the original roadbed remain today in Alexandria, the Wilkes Street Tunnel and the stone bridge over Hooff's Run. The tunnel is used for a recreational trail, and the bridge now carries Jamieson Avenue over the creek. Elsewhere on the track, some culverts remain. The track near Accotink Creek has been realigned but the old roadbed remains. At Accotink Park, it has been repurposed as the park entrance road, and that road crosses a culvert built in 1851.1
"100-0149 Orange & Alexandria Railroad Hooff's Run Bridge," National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, June 4, 2003, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/100-0149/ (last checked May 5, 2020)
the Warrenton Branch in 1862
Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Surveys for military defenses. Map of northeastern Virginia and vicinity of Washington. Sheet 2 (by J.J. Young and W. Hesselbach, August 1, 1862); Library of Congress, Map of n. eastern Virginia and vicinity of Washington ("McDowell Map," 1862)
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad bridge over Bull Run was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the Civil War, but the sandstone pillars are still intact today
Source: National Archives, Ruins of bridge, Bull Run and Military bridge, Haupt Truss, Bull Run, Va., April 1863
durng the Civil War, Union soldiers rebuilt bridges to put the Orange and Alexandria Railroad back into service
Source: National Archives, The engine "Firefly" on a trestle of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad
the US Military Railroad restored the tracks and used the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to supply troops on the Rappahannock River
Source: Library of Congress, R.R. bridge over Cedar Run in Warrenton Junction (by Alfred R. Waud, 1860-65)
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad roundhouse, built before the Civil War, was part of the Southern Railroad in 1896
Source: Library of Congress, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Alexandria, Independent Cities, Virginia (1896)