ROCKBRIDGE RAILS Using Local Resources to Communicate Local History
BYRON FAIDLEY
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Above image: Buffalo Forge Station: Rockbridge Historical Society Photographs
hortly before the university transitioned to online learning due to the pandemic, on February 29, 2020, Byron Faidley discussed the area’s rich railroad history in an event hosted by the Rockbridge Historical Society. Byron showcased a variety of primary sources from Special Collections and beyond in order to tell this important and complex story. The following article outlines some of that story. In the mid-19th century, Rockbridge County residents sought to remain connected to the ever-growing railroad networks then under construction throughout the United States. The “iron horse” quickly eclipsed the area’s connections to the Great Wagon Road and the James River and Kanawha Canal.
abruptly halted for the decade. Valley residents, including those from Rockbridge, passed resolutions and pleaded with the larger companies that were backing these projects to urge their speedy completion. Finally, in the early 1880s, the two lines opened into Rockbridge. But, only one achieved the goal of connecting with the Norfolk and Western Railway at Roanoke. The Shenandoah Valley Railroad, winning the local race, serves as an important part of the modern Norfolk Southern network. Today, freight trains from the line are heard occasionally on W&L’s campus. Continued on page 13
The Virginia Central Railroad, later the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, first entered Rockbridge County through Bell’s Valley and into Goshen in 1857. The line became regionally and nationally important, due to the discovery of coal deposits in West Virginia during the line’s drive toward the Ohio River in the late 1860s and early 1870s. However, most people found Goshen to be an inconvenient location for a local depot when transporting goods to market or travelling any great distance. Two competing rail lines, The Valley Railroad (backed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad) and the Shenandoah Valley Railroad (backed by the Pennsylvania Railroad) charted parallel courses through the Shenandoah Valley into Rockbridge County. Both strove to create a regional connection near Salem and Roanoke, respectively, along what would become the Norfolk and Western Railway. After the Panic of 1873, America’s original Great Depression, construction on both lines
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Above image: Fairfield Station: Rockbridge Historical Society, Lyle Collection
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