the Virginia Air Line Railroad connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Strathmore, near the James River
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Dillwyn VA 1:62,5000 topograhic quadrangle (1950)
the Virginia Air Line Railroad connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Strathmore, near the James River
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Dillwyn VA 1:62,5000 topograhic quadrangle (1950)
The Virginia Air Line Railroad was chartered in 1906. In 1908, construction of the Virginia Air Line Railroad was completed.
Transporting heavy loads of coal east through the Blue Ridge was easiest by using the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad's route along the James River, rather than using the narrow and low tunnel through the Blue Ridge designed by Claudius Crozet. At Lynchburg, trains could take the Southern Railway north to customers in Northern Virginia and the Washington DC area, but that reduced the revenue to the Chesapeake and Ohio. The C&O desired to carry coal, together with loads too igh or wide to fit through the tunnel, for a greater percentage of the trip to northern customers.
The Virginia Air Line Railroad ran 30 miles from Strathmore near Bremo Bluff north, joining the Southern Railway at Lindsay in Albemarle County. The railroad was created as an independent line, but always designed to be part of the president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad network. The C&O managed operations on the Virginia Air Line Railroad starting in 1909, and purchased the railroad in 1912.1
The depot at Palmyra was built in 1909, and lasted until a fire in 1974. Today the site is a parking lot of the adjacent courthouse.2
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad announced plans to abandon the track in 1971. That was done in 1975, after delays in getting approvals from the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. The rails were removed in 1978.3
In 2003, the Heritage Trail Foundation in Fluvanna County purchased the right-of-way near Palmyra from the CSX Railroad, which had absorbed the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad formally in 1987. Today only pedestrians can use the old Virginia Air Line Railroad route.4
some of the Virginia Air Line Railroad route along the Rivannna River has become the Fluvanna Heritage Trail, in a Rails-to-Trails conversion
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Scottsville VA 1:62,5000 topograhic quadrangle (1943)
1. "Virginia Air Line," Piedmont Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, https://www.piedmontsub.com/VAL.shtml (last checked May 29, 2020)
2. "Historic Palmyra Walking Tour," Fluvanna Historical Society, http://www.fluvannahistory.org/pdfs/Walking_Tour_Brochure.pdf (last checked May 29, 2020)
3. "Virginia Air Line," Piedmont Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, https://www.piedmontsub.com/VAL.shtml (last checked May 29, 2020)
4. "Fluvanna Heritage Trail Celebrates 15th Anniversary," Daily Progress, September 12, 2012, https://www.dailyprogress.com/ruralvirginian/fluvanna-heritage-trail-celebrates-15th-anniversary/article_092c5989-d4f2-5ba1-bc6d-b0b6c2465152.html; "CSX merger family tree," Trains, June 2, 2006, https://trn.trains.com/railroads/railroad-history/2006/06/csx-merger-family-tree (last checked May 29, 2020)