the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad included a tunnel on Byrd Street
Source: Virginia Comonwealth University, Baist Atlas of Richmond - Outline & index map Richmond and vicinity (1899)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad included a tunnel on Byrd Street
Source: Virginia Comonwealth University, Baist Atlas of Richmond - Outline & index map Richmond and vicinity (1899)
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad built north from Richmond in 1834, with shops, headquarters, and passenger/freight station at 8th and Broad ("H") streets. The facade of that station is now part of Virginia Commonwealth University's Theatre Row Building, between the National Theater and the Library of Virginia.1
"Engine Trouble," Richmond Magazine, April 14, 2014, https://richmondmagazine.com/news/richmond-history/history-of-trains-in-richmond/ (last checked June 23, 2020)
The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad built a bridge across the James River and opened its Byrd Street station in Richmond, next to the James River and Kanawha Canal, in 1838. That site is currently occupied by the Federal Reserve Bank.1
"Richmond Rail History," Richmond Railroad Museum, https://www.richmondrailroadmuseum.com/railroad-history (last checked July 5, 2020)
Between 1838-1861, passengers going between Petersburg-Fredericksburg had to walk or take a stage between the stations. Freight going north to Fredericksburg or south to Petersburg was transported between the separate train depots by teamsters using wagons. The two railroads, owned by different stockholders, did not see enough economic opportunity to justify building a link up the hill from the James River to Broad Street. City officials supported inefficient transfers of freight and passengers, because it stimulated economic activity within Richmond. The jobs associated with slow, horse-drawn transfers between terminals would disappear if trains could pass through Richmond directly.
Military necessity drove the General Assembly to authorize a connection, and for city officials to authorize it. By August, 1861, track was up 8th Street from the Richmond and Petersburg depot on Byrd Street to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad on Broad Street.1
"Connecting tracks for the RF&P and Petersburg RRs (running up 8th st) will be completed in a few days," Richmond Whig, August 5, 1861, in "Civil War Richmond," https://www.civilwarrichmond.com/other-sites/railroads/3212-1861-08-05-richmond-whig-connecting-tracks-for-the-rf-p-and-petersburg-rrs-running-up-8th-st-will-be-completed-in-a-few-days; "Railroad up 8th street, connecting RF&P & Petersburg Railroad is nearly complete," Richmond Enquirer, August 10, 2861, in "Civil War Richmond," https://www.civilwarrichmond.com/other-sites/railroads/2331-1861-08-10-richmond-enquirer-railroad-up-8th-street-connecting-rf-p-petersburg-railroad-is-nearly-complete (last checked July 5, 2020)
The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad bridge over the James River and the depot in Richmond were destroyed by the Evacuation Fire in April,1865.
Traditional political arrangements were disrupted by post-war Reconstruction. The General Assembly sought to spur economic recovery, and was more accommodating to northern investors willing to finance railroad development. The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad partnered with the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to build 1.25 miles of track connecting them.
In 1866 the legislature issued a charter for the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad, with 1.5 miles of track and the "the country’s shortest railroad with the longest name." The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad jointly leased it. They shared revenues equally, but the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was responsible for 78.5% of the costs.1
Fairfax Harrison, A History of the Legal Development of the Railroad System of Southern Railway Company, 1901, pp.1485-1486, https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_the_Legal_Development_of_th.html?id=0IkjAQAAMAAJ; "Annual Report of the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. Compilations from Returns of Railroads, Canals, Electric Railways and Other Corporate Companies," Virginia State Corporation Commission, 1917, p.414, https://books.google.com/books?id=BN8lAQAAIAAJ; "Why Richmond, Why?!? Byrd Street Tunnel," Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 6, 2013, https://www.richmond.com/why-richmond-why-byrd-street-tunnel/article_61fac6e8-b415-11e2-9d54-0019bb30f31a.html (last checked July 5, 2020)
The new track opened in 1867. It ran west of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad's passenger and freight station at Eighth and Canal streets, with a tunnel dug beneath Second and Fifth streets. It cut through Gamble's Hill, adjacent to the State Penitentiary.1
"Why Richmond, Why?!? Byrd Street Tunnel," Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 6, 2013, https://www.richmond.com/why-richmond-why-byrd-street-tunnel/article_61fac6e8-b415-11e2-9d54-0019bb30f31a.html (last checked July 5, 2020)
the Connection Railroad cut a tunnel through Gambles Hill, next to the State Penitentiary
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), State Penitentiary, Richmond, Va.
At Belvedere Street, track turned north to a connection with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad at Broad Street. That junction at Broad and Pine streets, where the Institute for Contemporary Art is now located, was known as "Elba." When a mansion house had been built there, the site was considered to be so far from downtown that it was equivalent to the island to which Napoleon was exiled in 1814.1
"Engine Trouble," Richmond Magazine, April 14, 2014, https://richmondmagazine.com/news/richmond-history/history-of-trains-in-richmond/ (last checked June 23, 2020)
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad moved its passenger station one mile west from Eighth Street to Elba in 1880.
A year later, the two railroads combined to build a bypass to carry freight trains around the west side of Richmnond. The Belt Line eliminated the need to use the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad (the "Connection") for freight traffic. Passenger trains continued to use the Connection Railroad, and stop at Elba and Byrd stations, for six more years.
the first Belt Line bridge over the James River lasted from 1881-1916
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), View of James River showing Belt Line Bridge, Richmond, Va (1908)
In 1887, the two railroads combined to build a new passenger station, Byrd Station, next to the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad's depot.
two railroads used Byrd Station for passengers between 1887-1919
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Byrd Street (Union) Depot, Richmond, Va (1889)
in 1887 the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) and the Richmond and Petersburg railroads opened the Byrd Street Station
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Baist Atlas of Richmond, VA - Part of Madison & Monroe Wards Richmond (1889)
In 1898, the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad became part of the Atlantic Coast Line of Virginia, and then the Atlantic Coast Line in 1900. In 1913, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad announced that John Russell Pope would design a new Union Station, to be located on the Fair Grounds. The RF&P had purchased that property in 1904, bought had not pursued its planned real estate development there.
The station was needed in part because neither Byrd Station nor Elba Station had tracks long enough to accommodate long passenger trains, city residents complained about the trains blocking traffic as they moved through town, and locomotives struggled to move up the grade from the James River to Broad Street.
Construction started in 1917, but World War I intervened and it took two years to finish the project. The old stations handled the surge of passenger traffic during the war, until Broad Street Station opened in 1919.1
"History of Broad Street Station," Science Museum of Virginia, http://sciencemuseumofvirginia.blogspot.com/2009/12/history-of-broad-street-station_9387.html; "History of the Museum," Science Museum of Virginia, https://www.smv.org/about/history-of-the-museum; "Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Town of Bethel, North Carolina," Supreme Court of the United States, October Term 1935, No. 886, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, pp.4-6, https://books.google.com/books?id=pyNA9e5YWycC; "Richmond Rail History," Richmond Railroad Museum, https://www.richmondrailroadmuseum.com/railroad-history (last checked July 5, 2020)
When passenger trains started using Broad Street station, there was no longer any need for the Connection Railroad. The rails were pulled up, and today the Downtown Expressway covers the route once used by trains west of Byrd Street Station. The tunnel was filled in during the Great Depression, thanks to a Works Progress Administration grant. The station remained the Atlantic Coast Line headquarters office until 1958.1
"Richmond Rail History," Richmond Railroad Museum, https://www.richmondrailroadmuseum.com/railroad-history; "Why Richmond, Why?!? Byrd Street Tunnel," Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 6, 2013, https://www.richmond.com/why-richmond-why-byrd-street-tunnel/article_61fac6e8-b415-11e2-9d54-0019bb30f31a.html (last checked July 5, 2020)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection tunnel passed under 3rd and 4th Street
Source: Virginia Comonwealth University, Baist Atlas of Richmond - Outline & index map Richmond and vicinity (1899)