during the Civil War, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad ended at Aquia Landing on the Potomac River
Source: Library of Congress, Central Virginia: showing Lieut. Gen'l. U.S. Grant's campaign and marches of the armies under his command in 1864-5 (US War Department. Engineer Bureau, between 1864 and 1869)
steamboats carried passengers and freight north from Aquia Landing until 1872
Source: Library of Congress, Central Virginia (1864)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad connected to the Potomac River at Aquia Creek 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)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad connected Richmond to a steamboat pier at Aquia Creek; the direct link to Washington DC was not built until 1872 (after the Civil War)
Source: Library of Congress, Chronological history of the Civil War in America and hand atlas of the slave states ("Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware" map by J. H. Colton, 1863)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was unable to block the Virginia Central from building a competing line between Richmond and Hanover Junction (modern Doswell)
Source: Library of Congress, Map showing from Richmond to Fredericksburg, Va (Robert Knox Sneden, 1864-65)
the 1945 topographic map shows the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad between Potomac Yard and Long Bridge
Source: US Geological Survey, Alexandria, VA 1:31,680 scale topographic quadrangle (1945)
in 1905, the tracks of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad still used Belvidere and Byrd streets
Source: Library of Congress, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond, Independent Cities, Virginia (1905)
the railroad gap between Fredericksburg and Alexandria was finally closed in 1872
Source: Library of Congress, A map showing the Atlantic Mississippi & Ohio R.R. and its connections from Norfolk to Cumberland Gap via Bristol (1867)
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) was a rarity in Virginia. All other railroads chartered before the Civil War were intended to draw agricultural products from the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley to a port city - Alexandria, Richmond, Petersburg, Portsmouth, or Norfolk. In contrast, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was designed to connect two existing port cities and facilitate north-south traffic along the Fall Line with Washington, DC. That was done via steamboat until 1872. The railroad was unique; passenger traffic generated more revenue that freight traffic until after the Civil War.1
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was chartered on February 25, 1834, originally as the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potowmac Railroad. A year later the state agreed to purchase 40% of the shares, providing government support for a public-private partnership. Private support for the company was so great that not enough shares were available, so the state acquired 2,752 shares (slightly less than 40%) in 1835 for $275,200. Those shares grew in value over the next 156 years, when the state finally sold them for $136,874,400, though inflation would account for much of the increase.2
The state appointed two people to the company's board between 1836-1851, then one member between 1852-1970. The state appointed two members again until the railroad was sold to the CSX in 1991.
It was granted a 30-year monopoly on railroad traffic between Richmond and Washington. The charter required building through Fredericksburg, and permitted construction north:3
Track in Richmond started at 8th and "H" streets, where the railroad built its headquarters, shops, and passenger/freight station. H Street, also known as Richmond Turnpike and as Deep Run Turnpike, was renamed Broad Street by 1845. It was an extra-wide road, with the railroad tracks in the center.4
the first Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad depot was located at 8th and H (Broad) Street
Source: National Archives, Map of City of Richmond, Virginia (c.1858); Library of Congress, Illustrated atlas of the city of Richmond, Va. (Section G, 1877)
The 61 miles of track was completed between Richmond and Fredericksburg at the beginning of 1837. Just north of Richmond, a branch line to the coal fields in Henrico County provided revenue-generating freight traffic.
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad carried coal from Henrico County
Source: Library of Congress, Map of Richmond, Va., and surrounding country showing Rebel fortifications (1864)
The Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company provided the water link from Fredericksburg to Washington, using a wharf at Belle Plain on Potomac Creek. Steamboats had been operating on the Potomac River between Washington, DC and Aquia Creek, and then Potomac Creek, since 1815. The original Belle Plain landing was moved downstream to deeper water at Whipcewason Point.5
the RF&P railroad built to Aquia Creek in 1842, replacing the stagecoach/wagon connection to Belle Plain on Potomac Creek used for five years
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the state of Virginia (by Lewis Von Buchholtz, L. V., Herman Böÿe, Benjamin Tanner, 1859)
The railroad wanted to eliminate the need to use a stagecoach between Fredericksburg and the steamboat landing, but did not choose to build to Belle Plain. Instead, it found a site on Aquia Creek with deeper water, where larger steamboats could dock.
In 1842, a wharf was completed at Aquia Creek, with 14 miles of track linking Fredericksburg to the new steamboat landing and northern terminal of the original Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P). The railroad purchased half the shares of the Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company and took control of freight and passengers all the way between Richmond-Washington. After later acquiring all the shares, the railroad renamed it the Potomac Steamboat Company.
the RF&P railroad built to Aquia Creek in 1842, replacing the stagecoach/wagon connection to Belle Plain on Potomac Creek used for five years
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the state of Virginia (by Lewis Von Buchholtz, L. V., Herman Böÿe, Benjamin Tanner, 1859)
Until 1872, steamboats on the Potomac River carried passengers and cargo between Aquia Landing and Washington, DC. The trip took nine hours, five and a half by rail and three and a half by steamboat. In comparison, travelers by stagecoach took 38 hours for the equivalent trip by road, or 24 hours by using the Potomac River steamboat.6
the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad stopped at Aquia Landing until 1872
Source: Library of Congress, Central Virginia
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad sent stagecoaches to Belle Plain until it built track to Aquia Landing
Source: Library of Congress, Map showing from Richmond to Fredericksburg, Va (Robert Knox Sneden, 1864-65)
since track from Aquia Landing was destroyed, the Union Army used Belle Plain briefly as the supply point during the 1864 Overland Campaign
Source: Library of Congress, Bacon's new army map of the seat of war in Virginia (Bacon & Co., 1862)
to supply the 1864 Overland March, the Union Army reconstructed the Belle Plain landing rather than the old Aquia Landing steamship wharf
Source: Library of Congress, Fredericksburg to Petersburg, VA (by Robert Knox Sneden, c.1863)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad abandoned Aquia Landing, after building a direct line to Alexandria in 1872
Source: Library of Congress, Map of northern Virginia (1894)
In 1837, the Lousia Railroad started constructing track westward from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad at Hanover Junction. In 1850, the General Assembly granted the Louisa Railroad the right to build its own track, parallel to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, between the junction and Richmond. The re-named Virginia Central built that new track to eliminate the high fees charged by the RF&P for use of that segment. The Virginia Central's station in Richmond was located in the valley of Shockoe Creek, downhill from the RF&P station on Broad Street.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad also lost business in 1850 when it proposed to charge a high fee for allowing a telegraph line to be constructed within the right-of-way. Samuel F. B. Morse chose to build the line instead on another route, known since as Telegraph Road. As a result, the railroad lacked telegraph service for coordinating trains until 1862, when military traffic required greater efficiency.7
One particularly famous rail shipment occurred in 1849. Henry Brown crawled into a three-foot long shipping crate and had friends nail it shut. The box was shipped as "dry goods" from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad depot on Broad Street to the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia. On the 26-hour trip north, the box was placed upside down when loaded onto the steamship going from Aquia Creek to Washington. Brown barely survived until a passenger moved the box in order to sit on it. He arrived alive and Henry "Box" Brown became a symbol of the inhumanity of slavery.8
Henry "Box" Brown started his escape from Richmond at the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad depot on Broad Street
Source: Library of Congress, The resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia, who escaped from Richmond Va. in a box 3 feet long 2 1/2 ft. deep and 2 ft wide (1850)
In 1856, the General Assembly authorized the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad to extend its track north to Manassas Junction, starting from a point between Fredericksburg and Aquia Creek. Connecting to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Manassas would shorten the distance required to travel between Richmond and Alexandria, by using a more-direct route following the Fall Line rather than zigging westward to Gordonsville.
A connection at Manassas Junction would also have linked Fredericksburg by rail to the Shenandoah Valley via the Manassas Gap Railroad. Had the track been built, Fredericksburg would have become far more competitive with Alexandria as a destination port for agricultural products grown on the Piedmont and in the Shenandoah Valley.
The 1856 charter revision also permitted the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad to build a branch line north from Manassas Junction to Occoquan. Investment capital was limited, especially after an economic recession in 1857, and no track extension was started before the Civil War.9
the Manassas Gap Railroad was granted authority in 1856 to extend northwest to Manassas Junction
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the proposed line of Rail Road connection between tide water Virginia and the Ohio River at Guyandotte, Parkersburg and Wheeling (1852)
The railroad lost its ability to use the Potomac River in the earliest days of the Civil War. The Federal government seized all four steamboats of the Potomac Steamboat Company and attacked the railroad wharf at Aquia Landing. US Navy vessels, including the USS Pawnee, fired about 600 shells at the wharf on May 29, 1861. Confederate batteries defending the site hit the USS Pawnee nine times. Damage was slight and there were no serious injuries on either side that day. A day later, the ships were able to suppress the Confederate batteries on the hills and force a retreat from the wharf.10
the US Navy attacked Aquia Landing on May 29, 1861
Source: Library of Congress, Aquia Creek Landing, Va. Wharf with transport and supplies (1863) and US Navy, USS Pawnee
the USS Pawnee was hit nine times by Confederate shells as it attacked Aquia Landing in 1861
Source: Library of Congress, The Pawnee (by Alfred R. Waud, 1860-65)
starting in 1862, Union steamships brought supplies to Aquia Landing for transport via the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad to troops near Fredericksburg
Source: Library of Congress, Aquia Creek Landing, Va. Wharf with transport and supplies (1863)
The Civil War revealed the inefficiency of the railroads in Richmond. In 1861, none of the railroads entering the city were connected to each other. The Virginia Central terminal was eight blocks east in the valley of Shockoe Creek. The Richmond and Danville Railroad, the West Point Railroad, and the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad had three separate depots near the James River.
Confederate officials called for the railroads to be connected in order to increase efficiency of moving supplies through Richmond to support the armies in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. City officials allowed the connections, but on condition that the tracks be removed when military conditions no longer required the connection. The inefficient transfer of material via wagons provided jobs in Richmond; greater efficiency was perceived by Richmond officials as a threat to the local economy.11
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Virginia Central terminals in Richmond were not connected by track when the Civil War started
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the city of Richmond, Virgini (by US Coast Survey, 1864)
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg railroads were connected in August, 1861. Track was built on 8th Street between the Byrd Street station of the Richmond and Potomac Railroad and the depot of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) on Broad Street. That connection streamlined delivery of military supplies through Richmond.12
in 1861 the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (red) was not connected in Richmond to any other railroad
Source: Harpers Weekly, The Army of Virginia (August 9, 1862, p.502)
In March, 1862, Confederate forces moved south of the Rappahannock River to defend Richmond during General George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. As the Confederates evacuated Fredericksburg, they destroyed the port facilities at Aquia Landing and three miles of Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad track. The railroad bridge over the Rappahannock River was left intact.
In April 1862, Union forces occupied the area. The US Military Railroad, under Colonel Herman Haupt, rebuilt the Aquia Landing infrastructure in three days so supplies could be transported south from the steamboat landing to the Union Army's fortifications at Fredericksburg.
U.S. Military Railroad trains carried supplies from Aquia Landing to Union troops stationed near Fredericksburg in 1862
Source: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War, Burnside's Campaign - Fredericksburg (p.408)
When President Abraham Lincoln visited, he complimented the quick completion of the 80-foot high trestle built over Potomac Creek. According to Lincoln, it appeared to have been constructed from "beanpoles and cornstalks."
Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad bridge over Potomac Creek, rebuilt in 1862 with what President Lincoln claimed were just "cornstalks and beanpoles"
Source: National Archives, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad's Potomac Creek Bridge after reconstruction (1862)
In May, 1862, Union forces abandoned Fredericksburg and moved their troops to the Peninsula as part of Genberal McClellan's plan to attack Richmond from the eastern side. The Union Army burned the railroad bridge over the Rappahannock River. After the Confederate Army reoccupied Fredericksburg, the railroad rebuilt its bridge.
When General Burnside led the Union Army and established the front line on the Rappahannock River at the end of 1862, the US Military Railroad rebuilt the Aquia Landing wharf, track, and trestle. However, the Confederates destroyed the Rappahannock River bridge again. That forced Burnside to use pontoon boats to provide temporary river crossings during the Battle of Fredericksburg. The bridge was not rebuilt again until after the Civil War ended.
both sides in the Civil War destroyed the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad bridge over the Rappahannock River
Source: Library of Congress, View of Fredericksburg, Va. Nov. 1862
General Burnside's Fredericksburg offensive in 1862 required building pontoon bridges because older bridges had been destroyed
Source: Library of Congress, Plan of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., Decr. 13, 1862 (by Robert Knox Sneden, 1862-65)
The Union Army abandoned Fredericksburg again in late June, 1863, in response to General Robert E. Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania that ended at Gettysburg. Before the Union army returned back to Fredericksburg, the Confederates once again destroyed the Aquia Landing infrastructure at the northern end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. 13
in December 1862 the Union Army had to use pontoon bridges to cross the Rappahannock River, after the Confederates destroyed the railroad bridge
Source: The Photographic History of The Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume Two, Two Years of Grim War, The Bridges That a Band of Music Threatened
During the 1864 Overland Campaign, the US Military Railroad needed to supply its forces as they marched south of Fredericksburg. Because the Overland Campaign was not intended to pause near Fredericksburg, the Aquia Landing track was not restored.
General Ulysses S. Grant relied upon supplies delivered by steamboat to Belle Plain, then carried to the troops by wagon, for two weeks. Once he established his major supply depot at City Point next to Petersburg, there was no military reason to use or even protect the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Union cavalry destroyed the bridges over the North and South Anna and other segments of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad in various raids, in order to hamstring the ability of the Confederate forces to obtain supplies from north of Richmond.14
Federal supplies were brought by steamboat to Belle Plain in 1864, since the railroad to Aquia Landing had been destroyed
Source: Library of Congress, Bell-Plains [sic], the principal depot for stores (1864)
the RF&P track from Aquia Landing was not restored in 1864; the Union Army chose instead to haul supplies by wagon from Belle Plain until shifting its base of operations south
Source: Harpers Weekly, Belle Pain Virginia - General Grant's Late Base of Supplies (June 11, 1864, p.372)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad bridge over the North Anna River was burnt in 1864
Source: Library of Congress, Fredericksburgh [sic] and Richmond RR Bridge over N. Anna, in flames (by Alfred R. Waud, 1864)
Throughout the Civil War, the Union Army had an inside operator to help interfere with the railroad's operations. The superintendent of the railroad, Samuel Ruth, was from Pennsylvania. He kept his job in Richmond when the Civil War started, but arranged for trains to be inefficient in the delivery of supplies to the Army of Northern Virginia. He also served as a spy working with Elizabeth Van Lew, helping Federal soldiers escape from Richmond and reach Union lines.
Ruth was arrested for treason in January, 1865 and imprisoned for nine days. He was released after convincing officials that the accusation that he was a spy was a false claim, made by jealous people to whom he had refused to grant free passes for travel on the railroad. He retained his job as railroad superintendent until 1871, though his relationships with co-workers was stressful.15
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was heavily damaged in the Civil War
Source: National Archives, Virginia, Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Bridge, across the James, Ruins of
After the Confederacy was defeated in 1865, northern investors acquired controlling interests in southern railroads. Railroad interests dominated state legislatures, which chartered new railroads. Both of the gaps on the northern and southern ends of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad were closed.
On the southern end in Richmond, construction of new tracks eliminated the need to carry freight inefficiently between the depots of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad and the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. The temporary connection during the Civil War included a steep grade up 8th Street. To construct track on a new route, the General Assembly chartered the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad (the "Connection Railroad") in 1866.
In 1867 that new railroad built track westward from the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad depot on Byrd Street to Belvidere Street, then north to connect to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad on Broad Street. That 1.25 mile long stretch included Richmond's first railroad tunnel. It was constructed underneath 3rd and 4th streets, where the Downtown Expressway now is located, in order to reduce the grade required for locomotives to pull cars uphill. The two railroads each owned 50% of the Connection Railroad and shared revenues equally, but the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad paid for over 75% of the construction costs.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad continued to keep its primary passenger and freight depot on Broad Street, but did construct a new "Elba" station where the two lines joined on Belvidere Street and Broad Street. Today the Institute for Contemporary Art of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) occupies the site of the Elba station.16
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad depot in Richmond was located at 8th and Broad streets between 1836-1879
Source: Harper's Weekly, The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, Virginia - train starting out from Richmond (October 15, 1865)
After the Civil War, the northern end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was changed by the addition of new track. That eventually eliminated the steamship segment from Aquia-Washington. Charters of two railroads were used to legalize construction from Aquia Landing to the Alexandria and Washington Railroad in Alexandria. A number of legal maneuvers were part of the process.
The Civil War had bankrupted railroads throughout the southern states. The Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad competed to expand their separate networks from Alexandria south into Virginia. Both railroads planned to capture traffic in agricultural products coming north from the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and to control shipments of manufactured goods as the southern states recovered from the war.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad acquired control over the Orange and Alexandria and Manassas Gap railroads. However, the Pennsylvania Railroad outmaneuvered the B&O and blocked it from getting from Alexandria to Washington DC by gaining control over track between the District of Columbia and the northern end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.
First, the Pennsylvania Railroad gained control over the Long Bridge in 1870. Then in 1872, it gained control of the Alexandria and Washington Railway, the connection in Virginia between Long Bridge to Alexandria.
The Pennsylvania Railroad also arranged in 1872 for physical removal of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks in Washington, DC that connected its rival to Long Bridge. Not being able to cross the Long Bridge and use the Alexandria and Washington Railway blocked the B&O from connecting to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. To restore the link, the B&O built new track to the edge of the Potomac River and implemented a car float. From Shepherd's Landing in Maryland, rail cars were ferried to Alexandria on barges. Several loaded cars were moved on and off each ferry, which had its own tracks. No unloading and reloading of freight was required, but the process was inefficient.
The Pennsylvania Railroad guaranteed it would have the only track that connected to the northern end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad by financing construction by the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway. It completed track south from Alexandria to Quantico in 1872.
At the same time the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad built north from Aquia Landing. The RF&P charter allowed construction of branch lines 10 miles in length, but Quantico was almost 12 miles away.
The solution was to use the charter of the Potomac Railroad to build a technically independent railroad. The General Assembly had issued a charter for the Potomac Railroad in 1867. At the time, it was not clear if any construction would occur on the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway, and the Potomac Railroad was granted the right to construct track all the way between Fredericksburg and Alexandria.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad leased the Potomac Railroad and used that charter to finance construction of the 1.7 miles of extra track needed to reach Quantico.
The steamboats controlled by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad shifted from Aquia Landing to Quantico, once the railroad reached that point in 1872. The Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway was completed south to Quantico and tracks were connected two months later.
Even after trains could use the track north of Fredericksburg to reach Washington, steamboats continued to operate between Quantico-Washington. They ran for five more years, allowing shippers to use just the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.
Traffic by rail north of Quantico benefitted only the Pennsylvania Railroad, which owned the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway and the Alexandria and Washington Railway. Maintaining the steamboats generated revenue for the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad over that segment. The inconvenience and delays caused by shifting from rail to steamboat was significant, and the steamboat service finally was cancelled in 1877.
the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway connected with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad at Quantico in 1872
Source: Library of Congress, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia Air Line Railroad (1882)
In 1890, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway and the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway into the 32-mile long Washington Southern Railway.
The competition between separate railroad companies changed after the Pennsylvania Railroad initiated the Community of Interest Plan in 1899, in cooperation with the New York Central Railroad. The two major railroads decided to partner in order to block financier Jay Gould from building a new trunk line across the eastern states. A third trunk line would reduce business for both of the existing railroads.
With loans from New York banks, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad acquired sufficient control of other major shippers to end the rate-cutting on shipments which had cut deeply into profits. The US Supreme Court had ruled in 1898 that the Joint Traffic Association violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, but the Community of Interest Plan created an alternative way for accomplishing the same objective. The Interstate Commerce Commission lacked the power to block an anti-competitive maneuver arranged through shared ownership.
Under the Community of Interest Plan, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased control of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railroad. The Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads combined to get control of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad.
The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad gained enough control over other railroads to control the market. By 1901, the Pennsylvania Railroad no longer needed to control track south of Washington, DC to ensure rates would not be undercut by a competitor. That allowed reorganization and expansion of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad north from Quantico to Long Bridge on the Potomac River.
The six railroads using Alexandria formed the Richmond-Washington Company in 1901. It acquired 64% of the voting shares of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Each of the six railroads owned an equal share in the RF&P, apart from the percentage still owned by the state of Virginia. The General Assembly had sold the state's shares in all the other railroads after the Civil War, but retained the stake in the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was given control of the Washington Southern Railway track connecting Alexandria to Washington, DC. That included rights for the RF&P to operate its trains across Long Bridge to the depot in Washington DC.
the Washington Southern Railway was created in 1890, merging the two Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiaries between Quantico and Washington DC
Source: Library of Congress, Map of Washington D.C. metropolitan area showing roads and ferries as of 1792 (1895)
The Southern Railway had acquired the route of the original Orange and Alexandria Railroad in 1894, but trackage rights had been granted on that route to the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway. The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Coast Line had acquired trackage rights from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad [STORY!]. The Pennsylvania connection came across Long Bridge, while the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) connection required use of a car float from Maryland to a wharf on the Alexandria waterfront.17
The Pennsylvania Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Southern Railway, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the Seaboard Air Line Railway, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cooperated with each other to create the Richmond-Washington Company in 1901. It built a single passenger station in Alexandria in 1905 and opened the joint Potomac Yard for transferring freight traffic in 1906.
In 1907, the Union Station in Washington DC opened as a partnership between the Baltimore and Ohio and the Pennsylvania railroads. The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad passenger trains stopped there, after using tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad between Long Bridge and Union Station.18
In Richmond, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad trains disrupted pedestrian traffic and wagons/stages drawn by horses on Broad Street. As the city expanded to the west, complaints increased.
Richmond's city council finally prohibited locomotives on Broad Street in 1872. The railroad did not comply with the city ordinance until the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a fine imposed in 1874. The railroad's initial response was to use horses to pull railroad cars on Broad Street. The passenger station was moved west to Elba Station, where the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad linked up with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad kept its office on Broad Street, but removed the tracks
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University, Baist Atlas of Richmond - Outline & index map Richmond and vicinity (1899)
On April 11, 1887 the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad opened a joint Byrd Station for passengers at the intersection of Seventh and Byrd streets. That site was next to the freight station of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad.19
Conflicts between trains and wagons/pedestrians on downtown streets continued to increase. The solution was to build a railroad bypass around downtown. The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad cooperated with the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to construct a Belt Line west of town in 1891, with a new bridge across the James River. The siding at Acca was expanded to become a full-scale railyard to handle interchange of freight cars, replacing the Bolton Yard. Acca Yard was named after the adjacent Acca Stock Farm, which had raised a Arabian race horse named Acca.20
The Belt Line served just freight traffic; passengers continued to use the Byrd Street Station. When the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad became part of the Atlantic Coast Line of Virginia in 1898 and then the Atlantic Coast Line two years later, the arrangement continued.
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Atlantic Coast Line built a Belt Line (blue) west of Richmond
Source: Library of Congress, Map of Richmond-Petersburg and adjacent territory showing lines of communication and points of historical interest (by Virginia Passenger and Power Company, 1907)
By 1916, the Belt Line needed to be expanded from one track to two. At the same time, Belvedere and Byrd streets could no longer accommodate the passenger trains. The Atlantic Coast Line and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad built a new Belt Line in 1919.
The 1891 bridge over the James River was replaced with a new structure. The new Belt Line had two tracks, sunk below grade to eliminate crossings with city streets.
the new Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Atlantic Coast Line bridge opened in 1919
Source: Bill Dickinson, James River Railway Bridge
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad built a Belt Line to connect with the Atlantic Coast Line
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Richmond, VA 1:31,680 topographic quadrangle (1939)
In 1919 the Atlantic Coast Line and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad opened Broad Street Station next to the RF&P's Acca Yard, eliminating the need to use the Byrd Street Station for passenger traffic. The Broad Street Station was built on the former location of the Virginia State Agricultural Society Fairgrounds. The state fair had moved to that spot in 1859 from Monroe Park, then moved further west again in 1906 when the railroad purchased the land for speculative real estate development.
City officials obstructed the plans to build a new community similar to The Fan. That left the land available for a new railroad station. In 1913 architect John Russell Pope won an international competition to design the new station, and in 1916 the grandstand for the fairgrounds was torn down.
Broad Street Station served only the two railroads. The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad continued to use the separate Main Street Station, which they had completed in 1901. The Richmond and Danville Railroad kept its own passenger station, near Main Street Station.21
Broad Street Station was built on the site of the former state fairgrounds
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University, Baist Atlas of Richmond, VA (1899)
the roundhouse was located east of the state fairgrounds
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University, Baist Atlas of Richmond, VA (1899)
With the creation of Broad Street Station and diversion of passenger trains over the new Belt Line Bridge in 1919, there was no longer any need to retain the track of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and the Richmond and Petersburg Connection Railroad between Byrd and Belvidere streets. The track was removed, but the Atlantic Coast Line continued to use the Byrd Station until 1958 as its headquarters.22
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad and the Atlantic Coast Line opened Union Station, known locally as Broad Street Station, in 1919
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Map of Richmond-Petersburg and adjacent territory showing lines of communication and points of historical interest (by Virginia Passenger and Power Company, 1907)
For most of the 1900's, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad served as a bridge line. It obtained most freight and passenger traffic from other railroads at its southern and northern ends; little shipping was originated on its stretch of track between Richmond-Alexandria.
the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad ended at Aquia Creek until 1872
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the region between Gettysburg, Pa. and Appomattox court house, Va. (by Nathaniel Michler, 186_)
The northern end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was at what today is Long Bridge Park in Arlington County. Pennsylvania Railroad trains going south across the Long Bridge reached the RO tower, then veered west to that railroad's endpoint in Rosslyn. South of the RO tower, the tracks were controlled by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Today there is a 15-foot high stone walkway at Long Park along the tracks, designed so visitors on the "esplanade" can view and photograph the passenger and freight trains.23
the RF&P (now CSX) bridge across the Occoquan River
Source: National Archives, U.S. Route 1 Near Woodbridge, Virginia
The CSX absorbed the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad in 1991.24
Source: Henrico County Government, All Aboard! The History of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad
the northern terminus of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad was Aquia Creek until 1872
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the internal improvements of Virginia (Claudius Crozet, 1848)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad stopped at Aquia Creek before the Civil War
Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, New Map Of Virginia (Henry S. Tanner, 1845)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad employed free "colored" and enslaved people in 1854
Source: Virginia Board of Public Works, 1854 Annual Report of the Board of Public Works to the General Assembly of Virginia (p.420)
the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad bridge over the Rappahannock River was destroyed in 1862
Source: National Archives, Fredericksburg from the river. Showing Confederate troops and bridge. (taken at a distance of one mile.)