Richmond and Petersburg Railroad
Richmond & Petersburg locomotive destroyed in the fall of Richmond, April 1865
|
|
Dates of operation | 1838–1898 |
---|---|
Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Previous gauge | previous gauges: 5 ft (1,524 mm) and 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)[1] |
Richmond and Petersburg Railroad was a regional railroad serving east-central Virginia. It was strategically important to the Confederacy during the American Civil War, when it provided a vital supply and transportation route in late 1864 and early 1865 for Robert E. Lee's entrenched Army of Northern Virginia, which was protecting the Confederate capital of Richmond and Petersburg.
The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad was chartered in 1836[2] and opened in 1838. It was originally built between Manchester, Virginia, across the James River from Richmond and the north bank of the Appomattox River across from Petersburg. The single track railroad initially extended 22.15 miles (35.65 km), and included a siding to Port Walthall.
River bridges into both Richmond and Petersburg were added after the Civil War. In 1898, the Petersburg Railroad was merged into the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, and the resulting corporation was renamed the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad of Virginia.
As of 2006[update], most of the original line of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad is still in use as part of the A-line of CSX Transportation.
References
- ↑ The Days They Changed the Gauge
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Articles that mention track gauge 1435 mm
- Articles that mention track gauge 1524 mm
- Articles that mention track gauge 1448 mm
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- Defunct Virginia railroads
- Virginia in the American Civil War
- Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
- Railway companies established in 1836
- Railway companies disestablished in 1898
- 5 ft gauge railways in the United States