the Virginian Railway bypassed Lynchburg and Petersburg
Source: National Archives, System Index Map - Virginian Railway (ca. 1915–ca. 1920)
the Virginian Railway bypassed Lynchburg and Petersburg
Source: National Archives, System Index Map - Virginian Railway (ca. 1915–ca. 1920)
The Virginian Railway was built as a coal-hauling line from West Virginia to Sewell Point at Norfolk. Henry Huttleston Rogers acquired the Deepwater Railway in West Virginia in 1902, and got a charter from the Virginia General Assembly in 1904 for the Tidewater Railway. He combine them into the Virginian Railway in 1907.1
"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 July 1, 2020)
the Virginian Railway took a different route east of Roanoke than the Norfolk and Western
Source: Library of Congress, Railway mail map of Virginia (by Earl P. Hopkins, 1910)
Two coal piers at Sewell Point loaded coal onto ships for export. The first pier was completed in 1909, and the second in 1925.
The Virginian was designed to compete with the Norfolk and Western Railroad, not to share traffic. The two railroad lines crossed only twice, at Glen Lyn on the New River in Giles County and in South Norfolk.
After the Norfolk and Western acquired the Virginian in 1959, coal was loaded onto ships at the Lambert's Point piers of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. The US Navy purchased the Virginian's railyard with the Sewell Point piers in 1966, and Naval Station Norfolk expanded into that area.1 Virginian Railway - First Subdivision (Norfolk Division), Rails in Virginia, http://www.railsinvirginia.com/abandoned/virginian/norfolk_division.html (last checked December 3, 2018)
The Virginian Railway was purchased by he Norfolk and Western Railway and merged into that corporation on December 1, 1959.1
"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 May 31, 2020)
the Virginian Railroad was a single-purpose line, with a route designed to carry coal (not passengers or other freight) from West Virginia to Norfolk
Source: Boston Public Library, Map of the Virginian Railway
unlike the Norfolk and Western Railway (blue line), the Virginian Railway (red line) bypassed Lynchburg
Source: National Archives, The Library Atlas of the World; Volume 1: United States (1913)