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The ''Fast Flying Virginian'' (''FFV'') was a named
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...
of the
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond to ...
. The ''FFV'' was inaugurated on May 11, 1889, and ran until May 12, 1968; this was the longest running C&O named passenger train. The train operated on a daily daytime schedule, being carried from
Jersey City, NJ Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
train to
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
(after 1908 to
Washington Union Station Washington Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters, the railroad's second-busiest station, and North Ameri ...
) and, as a C&O train, from there to
Cincinnati, OH Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
(after 1933 calling at the Union Terminal). The train operated westbound as #3 and eastbound as #4. The train ran behind C&O locomotives beyond Washington, DC, first to
Alexandria, VA Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. T ...
over
trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...
from the
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad compan ...
to
Alexandria, VA Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. T ...
, there changing to tracks of the Southern Railway (now part of
Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...
). In
Orange, VA Orange is a town and the county seat of Orange County, Virginia. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census, representing a 14.5% increase since the 2000 census. Orange is northeast of Charlottesville, southwest of Washington, D.C., and east ...
, C&O trains left Southern property to turn onto what is now a transfer track between Orange and
Gordonsville, VA Gordonsville is a town in Orange County in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Located about 19 miles northeast of Charlottesville and 65 miles northwest of Richmond, the population was 1,496 at the 2010 census. The town celebra ...
, but this track was originally part of the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad The Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) was a railroad in Virginia, United States. Chartered in 1848, it eventually extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. The road played a crucial rol ...
, which continued through Gordonsville on to Charlottesville. This segment of track became part of the C&O, as did the track through Gordonsville, which before becoming part of the C&O was the
Virginia Central Railroad The Virginia Central Railroad was an early railroad in the U.S. state of Virginia that operated between 1850 and 1868 from Richmond westward for to Covington. Chartered in 1836 as the Louisa Railroad by the Virginia General Assembly, the railr ...
. Northeast of Orange, portions of the Orange and Alexandria railroad became part of the Southern; the present-day Norfolk Southern tracks between Orange and Charlottesville were built after the Civil War. When the ''FFV'' was new, the transfer track from Southern property at Orange joined the C&O main line from
Phoebus, Virginia Phoebus (known as Chesapeake City from 1871-1899) is a formerly incorporated town located in Elizabeth City County on the Virginia Peninsula in eastern Virginia. Upon incorporation in 1900, it was named in honor of local businessman Harrison Phoebu ...
at Gordonsville, and proceeded on them to Charlottesville. About a mile west of the C&O station in Charlottesville, the C&O tracks crossed the Southern line. The Southern station was, and is, a union station, with platforms for both main lines; a few C&O trains, but not seemingly the ''FFV'', stopped at both stations. From Charlottesville, the ''FFV'' continued west over the
Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...
and North Mountain to West Virginia, along the
New River Gorge The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is a unit of the United States National Park Service (NPS) designed to protect and maintain the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains. Established in 1978 as a nat ...
, and finally crossing the
Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
into Ohio at Cincinnati. (The "Ohio" of "Chesapeake and Ohio" is the river, not the state.)


Features

Major station stops included Alexandria, VA, Charlottesville, VA,
Charleston, WV Charleston is the capital and most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 2020 census and an estimated population of 48,018 in 2021. The Charleston ...
,
Huntington, WV Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A ...
,
Ashland, KY Ashland is a home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon a southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West Virginia. The population was 21, ...
, and Cincinnati, OH. Charlottesville, besides being a junction point for all traffic going to or coming from Washington, was also where the ''FFV'' from Washington and an extension of the train from Phoebus, and later, Newport News, were combined. (Between 1953 and 1954, the eastern terminus was shipped west from
Phoebus, Virginia Phoebus (known as Chesapeake City from 1871-1899) is a formerly incorporated town located in Elizabeth City County on the Virginia Peninsula in eastern Virginia. Upon incorporation in 1900, it was named in honor of local businessman Harrison Phoebu ...
to
Newport News station Newport News station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Newport News, Virginia. The station is the southern terminus of two daily ''Northeast Regional'' round trips. It has a single side platform adjacent to a large CSX rail yard. An Amtrak ...
.) The Phoebus/Newport News - Charlotesville section was labeled in timetables as #43 westbound or #44 eastbound. The ''Fast Flying Virginian'' operated alongside the later ''
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
'' and the '' Sportsman'', being one of the C&O's most prestigious passenger trains and at the outset a prestigious train absolutely. It was the first train in the C&O system to operate with a
dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...
, and the original consist of the ''FFV'' was one of the first trains in the country to feature cars with enclosed " vestibules", enabling safe and convenient passage from car to car. Unfortunately for the ''FFV'', and the majority of American railroads, passenger trains become less popular over time, as the public embraced the automobile and the airplane. By the mid-1960s, the C&O, like other railroads, depended on mail and express packages to keep passenger trains marginally profitable (while being able to claim, thanks to the accounting rules, that passenger trains lost money). In 1967, when the
U.S. Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...
canceled all their mail contracts with the railroads, the C&O like all railroads really ''was'' losing money on passenger operations. This spelled the end of the ''FFV'', which made its final run on May 12, 1968. Actually, it spelled the end for privately operated passenger service in the US, to be replaced by Amtrak, which came in existence almost exactly two years after the ''FFV'' made its last run.


Legacy

Amtrak's thrice-weekly train called the ''
Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
'' (##50 and 51), follows the route of the ''FFV'' from New York Penn Station to Cincinnati via Washington, D.C. before continuing on to
Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
via
Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. The 23 October 1890 wreck of the FFV, near
Hinton, West Virginia Hinton is a city in Summers County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,266 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Summers County. Hinton was established in 1873 and chartered in 1897. Hinton was named after John "Jack" Hin ...
, was immortalized in the folk ballad "
Engine One-Forty-Three "Engine One-Forty-Three" is a ballad in the tradition of Anglo-American train wreck songs. It is based on the true story of the wreck of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's '' Fast Flying Virginian'' (''FFV'') near Hinton, West Virginia in 1890. The ...
."


References


External links


Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society
{{C&O Named Trains Railway services introduced in 1889 Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Kentucky Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Virginia Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C. Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Railway services discontinued in 1968