1907 · Deepwater + Tidewater = The Virginian
The Virginian Railway.
Known as the “Richest Little Railroad in the World,” the Virginian was formed in 1907 through the marriage of the Deepwater Railway in West Virginia and the Tidewater Railway in Virginia — the secret project of one of the wealthiest men on earth.
A railroad built without regard to cost.
Financed by Henry H. Rogers — one of the wealthiest men in the world — the Virginian proved itself a modern, well-engineered railroad that could operate more efficiently than its far larger competitors. It ran 443 miles from Sewells Point on Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Virginia, to Deepwater, West Virginia, and existed from 1909 until 1959, when it was bought out by Norfolk & Western.
Directness of route was the primary goal of the engineers who planned the Virginian's path. To achieve it, the mountainous terrain had to be overcome with a series of tunnels, bridges and cuts. More attention was paid to grades and alignment than had ever been given to the building of a railroad. “Nothing is too good for my railroad,” said Rogers.
Unlike established systems that routed lines to reach populated places and built piece-by-piece as money allowed, the Virginian was planned with the resources of one man to use the fastest possible route for hauling coal. It became the model for railway improvements on some of the oldest and largest systems in the country.
The work began in West Virginia under the name of the Deepwater Railway Company, with William N. Page as president. When Rogers took a hand in directing its affairs, his first act was to have the charter amended to extend to the West Virginia boundary line; the company's charter was revised in September 1902. About a year and five months later, the Tidewater Railway was chartered in Virginia, its boundary extended to the line of the two Virginias to connect the two railways. W. N. Page became president of both railways. Rogers' ownership of the two projects did not become public until 1907, when the Virginian Railway was incorporated. Sixty-four percent of the excavation in West Virginia was solid rock — most of it moved by hand labor, mules and carts, aided by some 50 steam shovels, 1,200 dump cars and 124 locomotives. At the height of construction, more than 10,000 laborers were employed.
At the time construction began there was not a single mine on the main line. By 1933 the Virginian had developed 91 mines, and shared in developing 47 more on connecting lines — a total of 138 working mines feeding the “Richest Little Railroad in the World.”
Building the “Richest Little Railroad in the World.”
Rare photographs from the construction and early years of the Virginian Railway — the line Henry H. Rogers built across the mountains of West Virginia.
A timeline of the Virginian.
From one man's secret plan to the museum on Mercer Street — scroll through the moments that made the “Richest Little Railroad in the World.”
See it in person.
Caboose #308, artifacts, artwork and the model railroad — explore the museum's collection built around this story.
Sources & further reading.
We aim to get the history right. Our exhibits draw on the museum's own accession records and Deed-of-Gift files alongside the standard published histories of the Virginian Railway. Want to dig deeper? Start here.
The standard history
H. Reid. The Virginian Railway. Kalmbach Publishing, 1961. The definitive narrative history — planning, construction, operations and the 1959 merger into the Norfolk & Western.
The motive-power roster
William E. Warden. Virginian Railway Locomotives. TLC Publishing, 1993. Builder, year, serial number and disposition for the VGN's steam, electric and diesel fleet — the reference for rolling-stock detail.
Primary archives
Norfolk & Western Historical Society. Holds original Virginian Railway records, maps, blueprints, timetables and photographs. nwhs.org ↗
A quick online overview: Virginian Railway on Wikipedia ↗. Spot something we've gotten wrong, or have a source to add? Tell us → — we correct the record when the evidence says so.