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[[Image:Virginian Herald.png|right|]]
 
The '''Virginian Railway''' was a [[Class 1 US railroad]] located in [[Virginia]] and [[West Virginia]]. It was built primarily to transport high quality "smokeless" [[coal]] from southern West Virginia to port at Sewall's Point, [[Hampton Roads]], Virginia.
 
Beginning in the mid-1890's[[1890s]], [[William Nelson Page]], a civil engineer from [[Ansted, West Virginia]] headed an effort to develop the rich untapped coal fields lying between the [[New River (West Virginia)|New River]] Valley and the lower [[Guyandotte River]], an area not yet reached by the [[Chesapeake and& Ohio]] Railroad (C&O) and [[Norfolk and& Western]] Railway (N&W) and their related interests. He acquired a small logging railroad which was converted and expanded to become the intrastate (within West Virginia only) Deepwater Railway, planned to connect with the existing lines of the C & O along the [[Kanawha River]] at Deepwater and the Norfolk and WesternN&W at Matoaka. A silent partner in the venture was financier, industrialist and philanthropist [[Henry H. Rogers]], who had made his initial fortune with the [[Standard Oil]] Trust.
 
When the C&O and N&W refused to negotiate with the upstart Deepwater Railway to make connections and share rates, Page (and his silent partner Rogers) didn't give up as apparently was anticipated by the two big railroads. Instead, they set about planning and building their own route out of the mountains to market!
 
The planning and land acquisition was done largely in secret. One group of 35 surveyors posing as fishermen (on a Sunday in February!) mapped out a crossing of the New River at Glen Lyn, Virginia, as well as the adjacent portion of the line from West Virginia through [[Narrows, Virginia]]. Deals were struck with the cities of [[Roanoke, VA]] and [[Norfolk, VA]], each home-turf for the Norfolk and Western, and as land was acquired, entire new towns were planned. One of these became [[Victoria, Virginia]], named for [[Queen Victoria]], then the monarch of England, who it is said was greatly admired by Henry Rogers.
 
With land and route secured, in [[1905]], Page, Rogers, and their close associates formed another intrastate railroad, this one in Virginia, the Tidewater Railway, and began building what would become their connection to the sea at Hampton Roads. By the time the larger railroads realized what was happening, their new competitor could not be successfully blocked.
 
In [[1907]], the under construction Tidewater Railway changed its name to the Virginian Railway (VGN) and acquired the Deepwater Railway. William N. Page was the first president of the VGN. The Norfolk portion of the new Virginian Railway was completed just in time to serve the 1907 [[Jamestown Exposition]]. Celebrating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the Exposition was held on land just north of Sewall's Point in Norfolk County. The site is now part of the United States' Norfolk Navy Base. US President [[Theodore Rooosevelt]] was an honored guest. [[Mark Twain]] and Henry Rogers also paid a visit, in the latter's yacht ''Kanawha''.
 
Using construction techniques not available when the larger railroads had been built about 25 years earlier, and paying for work with Roger's own personal fortune, the new VGN was built to the highest standards. An engineering marvel of the day, the final spike in the Virginian Railway was driven on [[January 29,]] [[1909]], which was Rogers' sixty-ninth birthday.
 
The following April, Henry Huttleston Rogers was feted at [[Norfolk, Virginia]] in celebration of the new road, and its new $2.5 million coal pier at Sewall's Point. [[Mark Twain]] spoke at the Norfolk dinner. On a subsequent trip west on an inspection tour a few days later, smaller celebrations were held at other locations along the new road. These locations included Roanoke,VA, Princeton,WV, and Mullens WV.
 
Rogers did not live to see the VGN begin regular service on [[July 1,]] [[1909]]. In poor health for several years following a stroke in 1907, he reportedly had refused to slow down as requestd by friends, family and his doctor. He died suddenly on [[May 19,]] [[1909]], barely 6 weeks before through service on the VGN was established on July 1, 1909. Huddleston Virginia is reportedly named in honor of his mother, using an older family spelling of his middle name.
 
Mr. Rogers left his heirs and employees with a marvelous new railroad. For 50 years, the VGN sought (and achieved) best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont, and flat tidewater terrain. 134 miles in the mountains were electrified in [[1925]] at a cost of $15 million. The profitable VGN experimented with the finest and largest steam, electric, and diesel [[locomotive]] motive power. It was well-known for operating the largest and best equipment, and became nicknamed "the richest little railroad in the world."
Mr. Rogers left his heirs and employees with a marvelous new railroad.
For 50 years, the VGN sought (and achieved) best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont, and flat tidewater terrain. 134 miles in the mountains were electrified in 1925 at a cost of $15 million. The profitable VGN experimented with the finest and largest steam, electric, and diesel [[locomotive]] motive power. It was well-known for operating the largest and best equipment, and became nicknamed "the richest little railroad in the world."
 
There were many attempts by the C&O, the N&W, and others to acquire the profitable little Virginian Railway. Eventually the N&W succeeded in [[1959]], ushering in the modern era of major railroad mergers as the Interstae[[Interstate Commerce Commsission]] came to accept that railroads needed to be able to compete more successfully against other modes of transport (i.e. highways and air travel) rather than just against each other.
 
When the VGN lost its identity upon purchase by the Norfolk & Western in 1959, author/photographer H. Reid wrote "There will always be a Virginian." So far, time has proven him correct, and it is still a favoriate among the many fallen flags of railroading in the US.