The Oak Hill Railroad Depot is a historic depot in Oak Hill, West Virginia, United States. The depot is located on the southwest corner of Virginia Avenue and Central Avenue. It opened as a station on the White Oak Railway in 1903 and later became part of the

Virginian Railway The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads. History ...

, which it served until 1957. From this year until closure in 1983, it operated as a depot for the

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

. The depot now serves as the meeting place for the White Oak chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. It is the only remaining Virginian Railway depot in West Virginia.

History

The Oak Hill Railroad Depot opened in 1903 on the White Oak Railway, a subsidiary of the White Oak Coal Company. The depot served a line from Glen Jean to coal mines in Summerlee and

Lochgelly Lochgelly ( ; gd, Loch Gheallaidh, IPA: �ɫ̪ɔxˈʝaɫ̪ai is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located between Lochs Ore and Gelly to the north-west and south-east respectively. It is separated from Cowdenbeath by the village of Lumphinnans ...

; it initially served as both a checkpoint for coal cars from these mines and a freight and passenger station for the newly incorporated town of Oak Hill. The station's opening led to a commercial boom in Oak Hill, which transformed from a farming community to a commercial center with multiple banks, hotels, and stores. The

leased the depot in 1912 and ultimately bought it in 1922. The depot continued to provide passenger and freight service to Oak Hill until after World War II, when passenger service to Oak Hill ended. The depot became part of the

in 1957 and provided freight service for the railway until it closed to trains in 1983. The

Norfolk Southern Corp. 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 ...

, the holding company for the Norfolk and Western Railway, donated the closed depot to the city of Oak Hill in 1995. The White Oak chapter of the National Railway Historical Society has since restored the depot through donations and a U.S. Department of Transportation grant. Oak Hill began an annual festival known as Depot Day in 1997 to raise money to restore the depot. The depot presently serves as a meeting place for the White Oak chapter of the National Railway Historical Society but is otherwise vacant; it is the sole surviving Virginian Railway depot in West Virginia. In 2013, the station caught fire in a suspected arson attempt and suffered slight damage.

Structure

The Oak Hill Railroad Depot is a one-story wooden building located on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Virginia Street, along the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

tracks. It has a

board and batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

siding with

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

features, a style representative of small-town railway depots of the early 1900s. The original depot consisted of a passenger waiting area and a station master's office. A warehouse, loading dock, and ramp were added to the depot in 1922. Restoration on the depot began in 1993, at which point it was painted a period shade of gray. Behind the depot, there is a small steam locomotive.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Railway stations in the United States opened in 1903 Railway stations closed in 1983 National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County, West Virginia Norfolk and Western Railway stations Oak Hill, West Virginia Former railway stations in West Virginia