The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad 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 ...

connecting Richmond, Virginia, 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, ...

The track is now the

RF&P Subdivision The RF&P Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation. It runs from Washington, D.C., to Richmond, Virginia, over lines previously owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. ...

of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad company. The RF&P was a bridge line, with a slogan of "Linking North & South," on a system that stretched about 113 miles. Until around 1965, RF&P originated less than 5% of its freight tonnage, probably less than any other Class I railroad. For much of its existence, the RF&P connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

and

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

at Richmond. At

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and through

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 ...

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, connections were made with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway. It connected to the

Washington and Old Dominion Railroad The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad (colloquially referred to as the W&OD) was an intrastate short-line railroad located in Northern Virginia, United States. The railroad was a successor to the bankrupt Washington and Old Dominion Railway ...

Potomac Yard Potomac Yard is a neighborhood in Northern Virginia that straddles southeastern Arlington County and northeastern Alexandria, Virginia, located principally in the area between U.S. Route 1 and the Washington Metro Blue Line / Yellow Line trac ...

and interchanged with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Doswell. It and the former Conrail properties are the only CSX lines to have cab signal requirements on their entire system.

History

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was chartered on February 25, 1834,Virginia State Corporation Commission
Commonwealth Atlantic Land V Inc.
(formerly Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company); accessed 2018.02.15. to run from Richmond north via Fredericksburg to the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

. It opened from Richmond to Hazel Run in 1836, to Fredericksburg on January 23, 1837, and the rest of the way to the Potomac River at Aquia Creek on September 30, 1842. Steamboat service to Washington, D.C., and the

Baltimore & 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 ...

was provided by the Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company, later renamed the Potomac Steamboat Company, controlled by the railroad after 1845. Badly damaged during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, on October 11, 1870, an extension to the north toward Quantico was authorized at a special meeting of the company's stockholders. The company's charter limited this branch to 10 miles, leaving it 1.7 miles short of the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad. This split from the existing line at Brooke and ran north to Quantico, also on the Potomac. The old line to the Aquia Creek wharf was abandoned on the opening of the Quantico wharf on May 1, 1872. On the other end of the line, the Alexandria and Washington Railroad was chartered on February 27, 1854, to build from the south end of the

Long Bridge Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

over the Potomac River south to

. That line opened in 1857. The railroad went bankrupt and was sold July 9, 1887, being reorganized November 23, 1887, as the Alexandria and Washington Railway. In 1873 the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad's branch over the Long Bridge opened, giving a route into

, over which the A&W obtained

. The Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway was chartered February 3, 1864, to continue the line from Alexandria to Fredericksburg. It opened on July 2, 1872, only reaching Quantico, the north end of the RF&P. At Quantico the 1.7-mile (2.7 km) Potomac Railroad, chartered April 21, 1867, and opened May 1, 1872, connected the two lines. It was leased to the RF&P for 28 years from May 17, 1877. On March 31, 1890, the two companies terminating in Alexandria merged to form the Washington Southern Railway. Until November 1, 1901, it was operated by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad and its successor the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system). The Potomac Railroad lease was transferred to the Washington Southern on June 30, 1904. On February 24, 1920, the Washington Southern was formally merged into the RF&P. The Richmond-Washington Company was incorporated September 5, 1901, as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, owning the entire capital stock of the two railroads. The stock of the company was owned equally by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,

, Southern Railway,

Seaboard Air Line Railway The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

and Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Four of these companies (B&O, ACL, SAL, C&O) have since become part of CSX. The Southern Railway is now part of

Norfolk Southern 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, ...

and does not use the former RF&P; the former Pennsylvania Railroad, in its later incarnation as Conrail, has been split between CSX and Norfolk Southern with most of PRR's routes becoming part of Norfolk Southern. However, the portion of the former PRR that connected to the very north of the RF&P's former Potomac Yard, across the Long Bridge and into Washington DC, became part of CSX following the takeover of Conrail by NS and CSX. The RF&P company became Commonwealth Atlantic Land V Inc., and a new corporation, named the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railway Company, was formed on October 9, 1991. On December 31, 1925, RF&P operated 118 miles of road and 432 miles of track; on December 31, 1970, mileages were 118 and 518.

Passenger service

As the link between "North and South" the RF&P primarily hosted the trains of other railroads, particularly those on the lucrative New York–Florida run. In March 1950 this included the '' East Coast Champion'', '' West Coast Champion'', '' Miamian'', '' Palmland'', '' Silver Star'', '' Silver Comet'', '' Orange Blossom Special'', ''

Silver Meteor The ''Silver Meteor'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line R ...

'', '' Vacationer'', '' Havana Special'', '' Palmetto'', '' Florida Special'', '' Cotton Blossom'', '' Sunland'', and ''

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

''. The RF&P operated comparatively few trains of its own. One was the ''Old Dominion'', a streamliner inaugurated in 1947 between Washington and Richmond. This train used four 70-seat coaches and a cafe-parlor car, all built by

American Car and Foundry ACF Industries, originally the American Car and Foundry Company (abbreviated as ACF), is an American manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once (1925–54) a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches und ...

. In 1956, the RF&P operated two daily passenger trains, one of which was a local and the other an express in addition to operating numerous through trains from other railroads.

Branches

;Richmond Connection The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac and Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Connection was chartered March 3, 1866, and opened May 1, 1867, as a connection between the RF&P and the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad (later part of the

) west of downtown Richmond. It was operated jointly by those two companies. In addition, a downtown connection was owned by the R&P past Broad Street Station. ;Louisa The Louisa Railroad was chartered in 1836, running from the RF&P at Doswell west to Louisa. At first it was operated as a branch of the RF&P, but it was reorganized as 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 ...

in 1850 and merged into 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 t ...

in 1868 as its oldest predecessor. ;Rosslyn In 1896, the Washington Southern Railway opened a branch that connected the south end of the Long Bridge in Jackson City to the south end of the Aqueduct Bridge in Rosslyn. The Railway built much of the branch within the grade of the old disused Alexandria Canal. In 1904, the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, which the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad controlled, acquired the branch on the same day (February 29) that the railroad was incorporated in accordance with Virginia law. The Rosslyn Connecting Railroad abandoned nearly all of its line in 1962 and closed in 1969 after operating for 65 years. In 1977, the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

opened a surface-level section of

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...

's Blue Line that replaced most of the section of the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad's line that had traveled within the Alexandria Canal's grade. The section of the Blue Line parallels

Virginia State Route 110 Virginia State Route 110 (SR 110) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Richmond Highway (formerly Jefferson Davis Highway), the state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and Interstate 395 (I-395) in ...

where passing

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

.(1)
(2) 1942 map showing the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, the planned route of

(below the railroad), The Pentagon building and Arlington National Cemetery:
(3) Maps and images of the area near the former route of the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad at the Arlington Cemetery Station of Metrorail's Blue Line (Coordinates: )

Station listing

Footnotes

References

External links

Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Historical Society, Inc.Pictures and information on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RailroadRailroad History Database
*Mileposts fro

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond Fredericksburg Potomac Railroad Defunct Washington, D.C., railroads Defunct Virginia railroads Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Southern Railway (U.S.) Seaboard Air Line Railroad Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Predecessors of CSX Transportation Former Class I railroads in the United States Standard gauge railways in the United States Transportation in Arlington County, Virginia Companies affiliated with the Pennsylvania Railroad Companies affiliated with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Railway companies established in 1834 Railway companies disestablished in 1991 1834 establishments in Virginia 1991 disestablishments in the United States American companies established in 1834