the Richmond and Danville Railroad had the rights to build between Keysville and Clarksville in 1881
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the Richmond & Danville Railroad system (G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co, 1881)
The Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad connected Clarksville on the Roanoke River to the Richmond and Danville Railroad at Keysville.
Before the Civil War, the Roanoke Valley Railroad ran south from Clarksville to Manson, North Carolina. The railroad planned to extend its track north to Keysville in 1858, where it would connect with the Richmond and Danville Railroad. Instead of expanding north, the Roanoke Valley Railroad was dismantled during the Civil War. Confederate authorities used its track, locomotives, and rail cars to buld the Piedmont Railroad instead.
In 1868, the Richmond and Danville Railroad bought the rights of the defunct Roanoke Valley Railroad to build the Clarksville-Keysville link. To ensure that claims against that railroad by debtors would not be a complication, the Richmond and Danville Railroad got the General Assembly to issue a charter in 1875 for the Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad. The charter granted that new rairoad the right to build from Clarksville to Keysville.
The holding company known as the Richmond Terminal Company acquired the charter of the Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad in 1881, then built 34 miles of track south of Keysville. The Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad reached Clarksville in 1884.
the Richmond and Danville Railroad had the rights to build between Keysville and Clarksville in 1881
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the Richmond & Danville Railroad system (G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co, 1881)
Construction of the Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad created the town's first rail link to the north, and the first railroad link in over two decades. There was no railroad in Clarksville between the Civil War and 1884.
Clarksville re-established a railroad link to the south four years later. The track was not rebuilt to Manson along the old route of the Roanoke Valley Railroad.
Instead, in 1888 the Oxford and Clarksville Railroad built from Clarksville south to Oxford, North Carolina. The seven-mile section in Virginia was chartered as the Clarksville and North Carolina Railroad.
With completion of track to Oxford, there was a complete rail connection between Keysville (on the Richmond and Danville Railroad) and Oxfoed (on the North Carolina Railroad). The line essentially paralleled the old Piedmont Railroad on the west and the old Petersburg Railroad on the east.
In 1888, the Richmond and Danville Railroad acquired by lease both the Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad and the Oxford and Clarksville Railroad. Those leases gave the Richmond and Danville Railroad two paths to transport the cotton flowing northeast through the Piedmont of North Carolina to Richmond.
the Richmond and Danville Railroad controlled the Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad and the Oxford and Clarksville Railroad in 1893
Source: Library of Congress, Birds-eye-view of the Richmond & Danville Railroad and the Florida Central & Peninsular Systems and their connections (1893)
The Southern Railway acquired the Richmond and Danville Railroad in 1894, replacing the Richmond Terminal Company. The Southern Railway executed its own 50-year lease with the Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad in 1898. The Southern could operate trains from Richmond southwest to Keysville, then use the Richmond and Mecklenburg track to reach Clarksville and the Oxford and Clarksville Railroad tracks to reach the main route going east-west through North Carolina 1
starting in 1894, the Southern Railway controlled the track between Keysville, Virginia and Oxford, North Carolina
Source: University of North Carolina Libraries, Railroad map of North Carolina 1900 (by Henry C. Brown, 1900)
In 1889, when the Atlantic and Danville Railroad built west from Emporia to Danville, the Richmond and Danville Railroad authorized the Atlantic and Danville Railroad to use almost two miles of Richmond and Mecklenburg Railroad track. That lease arrangement left a permanent two-mile gap in the Atlantic and Danville Railroad.
After the merger between the Southern and the Norfolk and Western in 1982 to create the Norfolk Southern Railroad, the track between Oxford and Keysville became surplus.
in 1943, the Southern Railway operated trains on track south of Clarksville to Oxford, North Carolina
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Clarksville 1:24,000 topographic quadrangle (1943)
The Norfolk Southern leased the track to RailTex in 1988, creating a Class III shortline railroad known as the Virginia Southern. The Virginia Southern was the first spinoff of low-traffic branch lines in the Norfolk Southern's efforts to create the Thoroughbred Shortline Program.
The RailTex conglomerate of shortline railroads was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. The Buckingham Branch acquired the lease from Norfolk Southern in 2009.
the Buckingham Branch now operates the Virginia Southern shortline between Burkeville and Clarksville
Source: Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, Virginia State Railroad Map (2012)
The Virginia Southern is a short line railroad linking Burkeville and Clarksville. The track is owned by the Norfolk Southern, but is leased to other railroads willing to operate it as a "feeder" to increase traffic on the Norfolk Southern's mainline at Burkeville. The Buckingham Branch currently operates the Virginia Southern Railroad on 59 miles of track south of Burkeville.2
The 19 miles of the shortline that RailTex formerly used to connect with Oxford, North Carolina, has not been active since the 1980's. Norfolk Southern has not abandoned the line, so there is no opportunity yet to create a 15-mile hiking trail on the right-of-way.3
the railroad bridge crosses Buggs Island Lake/Kerr Reservoir upstream of two highway bridges at Clarksville
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online