The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC&P) was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

operating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It had main lines radiating from

Elkins, West Virginia Elkins is a city in and the county seat of Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The community was incorporated in 1890 and named in honor of Stephen Benton Elkins, a U.S. Senator from West Virginia. The population was 6,950 at the 2020 ...

in four principal directions: north to

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its s ...

; west to Belington, WV; south to Huttonsville, WV; and east to

Durbin, WV Durbin is a town in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 235 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town has the name of Charles R. Durbin, a local bank official. Geogra ...

. Some of the routes were constructed through

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

companies, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway and the Coal and Iron Railway.

History

West Virginia businessman

Henry G. Davis Henry Gassaway Davis (November 16, 1823 – March 11, 1916) was a millionaire and Senator from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. Born on a farm in Howard County, Maryland, he bec ...

founded the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company in 1866. In 1880 the company began to construct a rail line from a

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

on the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

(B&O) near

Bloomington, Maryland Bloomington is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) locates in southeastern Garrett County, Maryland located at the confluence of the North Branch Potomac River and Savage River. It lies to the west of Luke on Maryland Ro ...

, south along the

North Branch Potomac River The North Branch Potomac River flows from Fairfax Stone in West Virginia to its confluence with the South Branch Potomac River near Green Spring, West Virginia, where it turns into the Potomac River proper. Course From the Fairfax Stone, the ...

. In 1881 the line reached

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

fields near Elk Garden, WV, and Davis obtained new

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

s from the states of West Virginia and Maryland, renaming the company as WVC&P. By 1884 the line reached Fairfax, WV and the location of the future town of Davis, WV. Davis became a center for

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s and leather

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

, and in the 1890s it was the starting point for the rapidly growing Davis Coal and Coke Company. In 1886 the WVC&P began construction north from the Bloomington junction (known as WVC Junction) toward

Westernport, Maryland Westernport, also known as Piedmont is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,888 at the 2010 census. History ...

and Cumberland, using a newly created subsidiary, the Piedmont and Cumberland (P&C). The P&C reached Cumberland in July 1887. Connections with the B&O were established at Cumberland and

Rawlings, Maryland Rawlings is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, on the McMullen Highway (U.S. Route 220). As of the 2010 census, the Rawlings CDP had a population of 693. The community was n ...

. Southward construction on the WVC&P continued, and the line reached

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

in 1888 and Elkins (formerly Leadville) in 1889. Elkins became a major hub for the railroad. A branch out of Elkins west and north along the

Tygart Valley River The Tygart Valley River — also known as the Tygart River — is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed Aug ...

was constructed and reached Belington in 1891. Another branch followed the river south, reaching Beverly in 1891 and Huttonsville in 1899. In 1899 the WVC&P established the

Coal and Iron Railway The Coal and Iron Railway (C&I) was a railroad in West Virginia. Its main line ran from Elkins to Durbin. The C&I was a subsidiary of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC&P) and was later acquired by the Western Maryland Railway ...

(C&I) to build a line from Elkins to Durbin. By 1903 the line to Durbin was complete and a connection was made there with the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad 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 ...

(C&O).

Acquisition

The WVC&P and subsidiaries were sold to the

Fuller Syndicate The Fuller Syndicate was a group of American financiers that invested in railroads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The group was organized by investor Edward Laton Fuller, President of the International Salt Company, and led by George Ja ...

, led by George Gould, in 1902 and merged into the

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM beca ...

(WM) in 1905. The newly built WM connected to the WVC&P in Ridgeley, WV. The WM was taken over by the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated und ...

in 1973, and the Chessie System in turn was merged out of existence and into

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

in 1980.

Current Operation

Portions of the original WVC&P lines are used by CSX for freight operations. Other portions are owned by the

West Virginia State Rail Authority The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) is the state agency responsible for transportation in West Virginia. The Department of Transportation serves an umbrella organization for seven subsidiary agencies which are directly respons ...

, which contracts with the

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad The Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad is a heritage and freight railroad in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. It operates the West Virginia State Rail Authority-owned Durbin Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad , as well as ...

to operate a

tourist railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

from Elkins, Belington and Durbin.

References

* * *

External links

Mountain State Railroad and Logging Historical AssociationWest Virginia Railroad Museum
– Elkins, WV
Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:West Virginia Central Pittsburgh Railway Defunct Maryland railroads Defunct West Virginia railroads Predecessors of the Western Maryland Railway Predecessors of CSX Transportation Railway companies established in 1881 Railway companies disestablished in 1905 American companies established in 1881

History

Acquisition

Current Operation

See also

References

External links