Richmond and Danville Railroad

The Richmond and Danville Railroad was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894, first in the U.S. state of Virginia, and later on of track in nine states.

Chartered on March 9, 1847, the railroad completed its line between Richmond and Danville in 1856. During the American Civil War, the railroad was a vital link between the Confederate capital of Richmond and the rest of the Confederacy. After the Civil War, the railroad grew to become the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company System.

Placed in receivership in 1892, the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company was sold in 1894 and conveyed into the new Southern Railway Company (later the Norfolk Southern Railway) in 1896 and 1897.

History

Beginnings (1847-61)

The new Richmond and Danville Railroad was championed by Whitmell P. Tunstall, a lawyer in Chatham, Virginia, who was also a member of the Virginia General Assembly. After many years, Tunstall secured a charter for the new railroad on March 9, 1847. In the same year, the state of Virginia took a 60% interest in the capital stock of the company, which it would hold until 1871.

Construction on the line began on January 31, 1848, under the supervision of Col. Andrew Talcott, who was later to become the Richmond and Danville's general manager. By 1850, the new railroad had reached Coalfield Station, near the coal mines in an area known today as Midlothian in western Chesterfield County. There, it competed with the mule-powered Chesterfield Railroad, the first railroad established in Virginia. Lawsuits followed, but the older railroad was quickly supplanted by the competition. The Virginia General Assembly allowed the Richmond and Danville Railroad to buy the Chesterfield Railroad for as much as $200,000 in 1848.

By the end of 1851, the line had reached Jetersville in Amelia County. Two years later, it was completed to a point near Drakes Branch, and had been graded to South Boston in Halifax County. On May 16, 1856, the railroad had finished construction of the main line.

Richmond
Midlothian Coal Pits
Amelia Court House
Jetersville
Jennings Ordinary
Burkeville
Meherrin
Keysville
Mossingford, now Mossingford Road Virginia State Route 642, in Charlotte County.
Clover
South Boston
New's Ferry in Halifax County
Barksdale in Halifax County
Ringgold
Dan River
Danville

Civil War (1861–1865)

Known as the "first railroad war", the American Civil War devastated the South's railroads and economy. In 1862, the Richmond and York River Railroad — acquired after the war by the R&D — played a crucial role in George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign.

In 1862, the R&D employed 400 laborers, 50 train hands, 30 carpenters, and 20 blacksmiths. The railroad also employed 300 slaves, some of whom it owned and some whose labor it rented from local planters. If a rented slave was injured or killed, the railroad reimbursed his or her owner; in one instance, the R&D paid $1,379.44 for a slave killed in an accident. Some enslaved women were put to work as maids in ladies' dining cars.

The Richmond and Danville Railroad was an essential transportation link for the Confederacy throughout the war. It provided the production of south-central Virginia to Richmond. When the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad was cut in 1864, the R&D's connection with the Piedmont Railroad was the only remaining connection from Richmond to the rest of the South.

The Confederate Army was often handicapped by its inability to transport supplies efficiently from depots to forces in the field. In one case, the war forced the  Confederate government to overrule objections by North Carolina. That state had blocked construction of a rail connection from Greensboro to Danville, fearing that post-war trade from North Carolina's Piedmont would continue to flow to Richmond via the R&D.

April 1865

Following successful Union attacks on April 1, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee abandoned Petersburg and headed west and south in an attempt to join Gen. Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina.

After evacuating Richmond the next day, on April 2, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet left Richmond on the R&D. The departing Confederates set fire to the bridge across the James River between Richmond and Manchester. They traveled to Danville, where they attempted to set up a temporary government.

On reaching Amelia Court House during the morning of April 4, 1865, Lee searched the commissary stores, finding abundant ordnance but no food. Lee waited 24 hours in vain there for R&D trains to arrive with badly needed supplies. Union cavalry, meanwhile, sped forward and cut the Richmond & Danville at Jetersville. Lee had to abandon the railroad, and his army stumbled across rolling country towards Lynchburg. On the morning of April 9, 1865, Palm Sunday, Lee met Grant in the front parlor of Wilmer McLean's home near Appomattox Court House to surrender.

Reconstruction (1865–94)

thumb|right|300px|1891 map of Richmond and Danville Railroad and connections

thumb|right|300px|Piedmont Air Line System advertisement 1882

thumb|300px|1893 map (also showing the [[Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad and connections)]]

With the support of Virginia Governor Francis H. Pierpont, Algernon S. Buford became president of the R&D on September 13, 1865. Repair work began on war-damaged tracks, including the bridge across the James River between Manchester and Richmond.

Over the next 20 years, Buford, Richmonder James H. Dooley, and other leaders extended the railroad's trackage to 3,000 miles through construction and acquisition.

In 1877, Buford joined with Andrew Talcott, Thomas Mann Talcott, and others to form the Bon Air Land and Improvement Company, a land investment that added a resort train stop in Bon Air six miles east of Richmond.

In 1880, control of the R&D was acquired by William P. Clyde and interests that controlled the Richmond, York River and Chesapeake Rail Road Company. One improvement that year was the installation of two steam powered Nutter car hoists in north Danville, Virginia in order to allow truck exchange to allow cars to be exchanged across the break of gauge with the Virginia Midland Railway.

In or about 1886, the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company acquired a majority of R&D Company stock, and thus control of the railroad.

By 1890, the R&D System covered of track in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. However, the R&D System had become financially unstable during all the growth. After the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company, declared bankruptcy, the R&D Company was pulled down with it. Receivers were appointed to take possession of its property, including its subsidiaries, on June 15, 1892. The Southern Railway Company, incorporated in Virginia on the same date, June 18, 1894,

Lewis E. Harvie (December 10, 1856 – September 12, 1865)
Algernon Sidney Buford (September 13, 1865 – December 16, 1886)
George S. Scott (1884, December 21, 1887 – December 18, 1889)
Alfred Sully (December 16, 1886 – December 21, 1887)
John H. Inman (December 18, 1889 – March 16, 1892)
Walter G.(George) Oakman (March 16, 1892 – 1894)

Vice presidents

A. F. D. Gifford
A. Y. Stokes (1868 or before – 1880/1)
Joseph N.(Napoleon) DuBarry (Btw. 1876 and 1878 – 1880/1)
Thomas M. Logan (1881/2 – 1883), 1st VP
T. M. R.(Thomas Mann Randolph) Talcott (1881/2 – 1883, 1888/9 – 1889), 2nd VP 1881/2–1883, 1st VP 1888/9–1889
Joseph Bryan (1881/2 – 1884), 3rd VP
Calvin S. Brice (1884), 1st VP
Alfred L. Rives (1883 – 1885/6), 2nd VP
Frederick W. Huidekoper (1885 – 1885/6), 1st VP
Walter G.(George) Oakman (Fall 1883 – 1887, 1887 – May 1, 1891), 3rd VP Fall 1883–1887, 2nd VP 1887–1888, 1st VP 1888–May 1, 1891, Pres. 1892–1894
Alexander B.(Boyd) Andrews (1886/7 – 1894), 3rd VP 1886/7–1889, 2nd VP 1890–1894
Henry Fink (April 30, 1887 – December 16, 1887)
J. W. Johnston (1890), 3rd VP
Peyton Randolph (1891), 3rd VP
John A. Rutherford (1892 – 1894), 3rd VP

Acquired railroads

Piedmont Railroad: A 48.5-mile line from Danville, Virginia, to Greensboro, North Carolina.
North Carolina Railroad – A 223.15-mile line from Goldsboro to Charlotte, North Carolina, leased for 30 years (starting Oct. 1871) on September 11, 1871, for an annual rent of $260,000.
North-Western North Carolina Railroad: A 103.22-mile line from Greensboro to Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The NWNC RR was chartered in 1868 and acquired by the R&D in early 1871. The line was finished in 1873. Purchased by the Southern Railway along with the rest of the R&D system in 1894.
Richmond, York River and Chesapeake Railroad
Milton and Sutherlin Railroad
State University Railroad
Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway
Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad
Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad
Danville, Mocksville, and Southwestern Railroad
Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroad
Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad
Western North Carolina Railroad
Statesville and Western Railroad
Oxford and Henderson Railroad
Oxford and Clarksville Railroad
Danville and Western Railroad
High Point, Randleman, Asheboro and Southern Railroad
North Carolina Midland Railroad
Atlantic and Danville Railway
Yadkin Valley Railroad

Maps

in
at D. H.Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804

Notes

References

at Google Books
Interstate Commerce Commission. Southern Ry. Co., Volume 37, Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Reports, November 6, 1931. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1932. .
Confederate Railroads website
Dan River Tour website
Civil War Richmond
College of William and Mary, Railroads in Antebellum Richmond
Scott Reynolds Nelson (1999) Iron Confederacies: Southern Railways, Klan Violence, and Reconstruction
Virginia Places, Sectional Rivalry page
Lee's Retreat - A Driving Tour
An Abbreviated History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia - Transportation and Routes
US Civil War, Appomattox Campaign
The Stranger's Guide and Official Directory for the City of Richmond Electronic Edition
Iron Confederacies Timeline