Washington & Old Dominion Railroad

Discover the contribution and history of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad through pictures from the earliest days of building and development.

The Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad laid track from Alexandria through Fairfax County and into Loudoun County towards the coalfields of West Virginia. In 1900, the Southern Railway, which had taken over the line, extended the railroad into Bluemont on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Washington & Old Dominion Railway leased the Southern Railway's line in 1912, went into receivership in 1932, and was reorganized into the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad in 1935. The employees excavated the roadbed by hand, built stations and electric locomotives, reconfigured passenger cars, replaced diesel motors, and rebuilt bridges. Eventually, public roads and a lack of shipping and receiving industries forced the railroad into abandonment. Through old photographs, Washington & Old Dominion Railroad explores the efforts that went into building, operating, and maintaining the railroad whose right-of-way has now become the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority's Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park.

Author: David A. Guillaudeu, Foreword by Paul E. McCray
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
Published: 02/18/2013
Pages: 128
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.40w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9780738597928

About the Author
Guillaudeu, David A.: - David A. Guillaudeu has taken photographs of the railroad, interviewed former employees, and collected old photographs and scale drawings for over 40 years. Paul E. McCray served as the park manager of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park. Today, he is an unofficial Washington & Old Dominion Railroad historian and gives talks to local groups.