Lorraine was an unincorporated community in Henrico County, Virginia.
Lorraine was named for Edward Lorraine, who was the 19th century chief engineer of the James River and Kanawha Canal. According to the Library of Virginia, he was born in 1818. In 1842, he first worked as a rod man doing surveying work on the James River and Kanawha Canal, beginning a career of over 30 years. He was promoted to assistant engineer, and finally appointed chief engineer of the canal succeeding Walter Gwynn. Lorraine served in this position until his death from smallpox in December 1872. [1]
Lorraine became a station stop of the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad which was built on the defunct canal's right-of-way in the 1880s. Soon after completion, the railroad was acquired by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It became a major conduit for transportation of coal from southern West Virginia to the coal pier on the harbor of Hampton Roads at Newport News. The line later became the James River line of CSX Transportation, and continued to support eastbound coal traffic.
Once a moderately busy passenger and freight station on the railroad, Lorraine was discontinued by the C&O in the mid 20th century.
Fluvanna County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,249. Its county seat is Palmyra, while the most populous community is the census designated place of Lake Monticello.
Chesterfield County is a county located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court House.
Brookneal is an incorporated town in Campbell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,090 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Ansted is a town in Fayette County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The population was 1,404 at the 2010 census. It is situated on high bluffs along U.S. Route 60 on a portion of the Midland Trail near Hawks Nest overlooking the New River far below.
The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County 348 miles (560 km) to the Chesapeake Bay. The river length extends to 444 miles (715 km) if the Jackson River is included, the longer of its two headwaters. It is the longest river in Virginia. Jamestown and Williamsburg, Virginia's first colonial capitals, and Richmond, Virginia's current capital, lie on the James River.
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.
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 "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America". In 1986, N&W merged with Southern Railway to form today's Norfolk Southern Railway.
William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer and industrialist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War. Page was widely known as a metallurgical expert by other industry leaders and investors as well as state and federal authorities.
Manchester is a former independent city in Virginia in the United States. Prior to receiving independent status, it served as the county seat of Chesterfield County, between 1870 and 1876. Today, it is a part of the city of Richmond, Virginia.
The Southside Railroad was formed in Virginia in 1846. Construction was begun in 1849 and completed in 1854. The 5 ft gauge railroad connected City Point, a port on the James River with the farm country south and west of Petersburg, Virginia, to Lynchburg, Virginia, a distance of about 132 miles (212 km).
The James River and Kanawha Canal was a partially built canal in Virginia intended to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast. Ultimately its towpath became the roadbed for a rail line following the same course.
Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community. The railroad was featured in the January 2012 issue of Trains Magazine. It is referenced in the How It’s Made episode “Railway Bridge Ties”, showing it crossing a curved bridge.
Huguenot Memorial Bridge is located in Henrico County and the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It carries State Route 147 across the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the James River and Kanawha Canal, and the James River in the Fall Line region above the head of navigation at Richmond.
Westham Station in Henrico County, Virginia, USA, was originally located at Westham on the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad (R&A), which was laid along the towpath of the James River and Kanawha Canal in the 1880s. The R&A railroad was acquired by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in the 1890s. Westham station was built in 1911, near the Westham Bridge, which spans the James River. The station was heated by a coal stove and had a telegraph for communication through the 1950s.
Covington and Ohio Railroad was part of a planned railroad link between Eastern Virginia and the Ohio River in the 1850s. The mountainous region of the Allegheny Front of the Appalachian Plateau between an existing canal, railroads and navigable rivers represented a formidable obstacle.
The Winding Gulf Coalfield is located in western Raleigh County and eastern Wyoming County, in southern West Virginia. It is named after the Winding Gulf stream, a tributary of the Guyandotte River. In the early 20th century, it was promoted as the "Billion Dollar Coalfield".
The Triple Crossing in Richmond, Virginia is one of two places in North America where three railroad lines cross at different levels at the same spot, the other being the BNSF operated Santa Fe Junction in Kansas City. Santa Fe Junction became a triple crossing after the Argentine Connection was completed in 2004.
Eagle Rock is a census-designated place (CDP) in Botetourt County, Virginia, United States, located along the James River between Iron Gate and Buchanan. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 209.
The Peninsula Extension which created the Peninsula Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was the new railroad line on the Virginia Peninsula from Richmond to southeastern Warwick County. Its principal purpose was to provide an important new pathway for coal mined in West Virginia to reach the harbor of Hampton Roads for coastal and export shipping on collier ships.
In 1886, Randolph Harrison, of the Virginia department of Agriculture, cited Cumberland Mining Company, stating that the United States had purchased stock in the Brighthope Railway. He continued by citing their assertion that extending the railway into Cumberland would increase the value of farms there because they could sell consumer agricultural products such as fruit, dairy and vegetables to all markets of Virginia. The Brighthope Railway was founded in 1877 by the creditors of the Clover Hill Railroad who bought that railroad when the Clover Hill Railroad went bankrupt. The Brighthope Railway continued in the role of the Clover Hill Railroad, hauling coal from the Clover Hill Pits at Winterpock, Virginia. In addition to coal, the Bright Hope Railway transported timber and agricultural products and had passenger service. The Bright Hope Railway was narrowed from standard gauge to narrow gauge and rerouted in 1881. In 1886, much of the southern rails were changed to standard gauge. The Brighthope Railway was not changed back.
37°34′02″N77°37′12″W / 37.56722°N 77.62000°W