the Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railway built a narrow-gauge line to the James River at Scotland Wharf, opposite Jamestown
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Surry 1:62,500 scale topographic quadrangle (1919)
the Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railway built a narrow-gauge line to the James River at Scotland Wharf, opposite Jamestown
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Surry 1:62,500 scale topographic quadrangle (1919)
In the 1870's, the Surry Lumber Company used mule-drawn wagons to haul lumber from the mill at Mussel Fork on the Blackwater River to a wharf on the James River at Sloop Point. The company then built a wooden tramway to provide a less-expensive transportation process.
In 1882, the General Assembly approved a charter for the Surry County Railroad & Lumber Co. to replace the tramway. A 3-foot wide narrow gauge railroad would carry finished products from the mill, located in the community soon renamed Dendron.
A 3-foot wide narrow gauge railroad required less capital to construct and to operate, a key factor in Virginia's economically-stressed economy after the Civil War. Still, the lumber railroad in Surry and Sussex counties was struggling to build at the same time Philadelphia-based bankers were financing completion of the standard-gauge Shenandoah Valley Railroad and purchasing the broad-gauge Norfolk and Western Railroad.
In 1882, the Virginia legislature also chartered the narrow gauge Atlantic & Danville Railway to traverse the same territory as the Surry County Railroad & Lumber Co.. The Atlantic & Danville Railway was authorized to build much further to the west, up the Roanoke River to Danville.
The two railroads chose to build a common line between the lumber company's mill on the Blackwater River (at what became known as Dendron) and the James River. The shared line would end at a new port, located at Claremont. That site was 1.5 miles downstream from the lumber company's existing wharf at Sloop Point.
In 1886, after the lumber company went through bankruptcy, the railroad was renamed the Surry, Sussex & Southampton Railway. It then completed a 3-foot wide line to Scotland Wharf on the James River, about 10 miles downriver from Claremont.
the Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railway relied upon traffic from the lumber mills at Dendron
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Surry 1:62,500 scale topographic quadrangle (1919)
The railroad's southern extension to Jerusalem, county seat of Southampton County, enabled locals to joke that the railroad was the longest in the world since it ran between Scotland and Jerusalem (since renamed Courtland).
It was a common carrier, transporting passengers and mail as well as the lumber company's products. At its longest, the line ran 28 miles between Dory (now Capron) in Southampton County to the James River. Branch lines were run into the woods, then pulled up after the timber had been harvested.
The closure of the mills at Dendron in 1927, after most of the trees in the area had been cut, eliminated much of the revenue-generating traffic on the railroad. In 1930, at the start of the Great Recession, the track was removed and equipment was sold. The Virginia Diner at Wakefield used two Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railway passenger cars in its restaurant. It continues the theme today, though diners no longer sit in the original cars.1
the Surry, Sussex and Southampton (red) built a narrow-gauge line to the James River at Scotland Wharf, while the Atlantic & Danville (yellow) built to Clermont
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Surry 1:62,500 scale topographic quadrangle (1919)