Virginian Railway: Map, Rosters, History, Electrification

Last revised: October 16, 2026

The Virginian Railway was built to carry West Virginia coal to tidewater. The Deepwater Railway and the Tidewater Railway were combined in 1907, and the railroad was completed to Norfolk in 1909. Reporting mark VGN. Headquarters were in Norfolk. The Norfolk & Western absorbed the company on December 1, 1959, because it wanted the easier profile east of Princeton. The steam roster and the diesel roster are separate pages. The electrified line, from Roanoke to Elmore, is on this one.

Coal was the whole point of the construction. The Chesapeake & Ohio stood to the north and the Norfolk & Western to the south, and both refused the newcomer a traffic and rate agreement. The backers answered by building their own railroad through Princeton, Roanoke, and Victoria to Norfolk, and their own coal piers.

Virginian Railway boxcab No. 113, class EL-1a, under the wires at Princeton, West Virginia, circa 1957

Boxcab No. 113, class EL-1a, at Princeton, West Virginia, circa 1957. Richard Cook photograph. These locomotives typically worked in sets of three. The electrified railroad ran from Roanoke to Elmore.

On this page: Deepwater and Tidewater · The grade · Passenger trains · Electrification · Diesels · Norfolk & Western · At a glance

Deepwater and Tidewater

The project began as the Deepwater Railway, a short line meant to gather coal from a district lying between the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Norfolk & Western. Westbound coal would have been handed to the Chesapeake & Ohio at Deepwater. The much larger eastbound movement would have been handed to the Norfolk & Western at Matoaka, mostly for that railroad’s own piers at Norfolk. Neither neighbor would make the agreement. H. A. McBride, writing “Coal Carrier” in Trains for January 1950, put the Deepwater at that stage at 4 miles, between Deepwater and Robson.

The men behind the short line built the Tidewater instead, through Princeton, Roanoke, and Victoria, and they built their own piers. The two companies were combined in 1907. The railroad reached Norfolk in 1909. Roanoke, already the Norfolk & Western’s city, became the division point: the Western Division ran from Roanoke to Deepwater, and the Eastern Division ran from Roanoke to Norfolk. Roanoke was also the eastern end of the electrification.

The Virginian Railway herald. Author’s work. It was often applied to the long hood of the company’s Fairbanks-Morse diesels.

A second version of the Virginian Railway logo. Author’s work.

The grade

In the 61 miles between the Chesapeake & Ohio and New York Central connections at Deepwater and the yard at Elmore, the maximum grades were 1.65 percent westbound and 2 percent eastbound. The hill that mattered was east of Elmore. Clark’s Gap Mountain was thirteen miles of crooked 2 percent, with a maximum of 2.07 percent, straight up to Algonquin. Every eastbound load of coal had to be dragged up that hill. The railroad double-tracked it early.

East of Clark’s Gap the trains dropped down a 1.5 percent grade from just east of Princeton to the New River at Glen Lyn. The steel bridge there is 2,155 feet long and stands 129 feet above the river, and it also crosses the Norfolk & Western. Where the Norfolk & Western crossed Alleghany Mountain on seven miles of 1.0 percent, the Virginian got through on nine miles of 0.6 percent. East of Roanoke the line followed the Roanoke River. The ruling grade there was 0.2 percent. The Norfolk & Western’s was 1.2 percent. A class MC Mikado could take 100 loads, 7,500 tons, from Roanoke to Norfolk. The locomotive assignments on Clark’s Gap, and the rest of the steam classes, are on the steam roster.

The builders had left room. Clearances were liberal, and the coal cars that became the railroad’s trademark were 120-ton gondolas on six-wheel trucks. The piers were at Sewalls Point, which is the spelling on the company’s own maps. The place is commonly spelled Sewell’s Point now. In 1931 a bridge across the Kanawha River at Deepwater gave the railroad a New York Central interchange and let the passenger trains reach Charleston’s Smith Street Union Station, which the Baltimore & Ohio and the New York Central also used.

Historic system map of the Virginian Railway, Deepwater to Sewalls Point

A historic system map of the Virginian Railway. Author’s work. A few short coal spurs are omitted. Sewell’s Point is spelled as the company’s official maps spelled it, Sewalls Point.

Passenger trains

The passenger trains were a small part of a coal railroad. Nos. 3 and 4 carried parlors, diners, and Pullmans until August 1932, and then they ran coach-only. In the last years a baggage-coach rented from the Norfolk & Western did the work. H. Reid, in “Of Black Upholstery And Commanding Exhaust,” Trains, August 1956, dates the last runs to January 29, 1956. The Tidewater Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society helped fill the trains that day, and the extra passengers needed another coach. The August 1952 public timetable is on its own page. The six Pacifics that handled the trains are class PA, Nos. 210–215, on the steam roster.

Electrification

By 1925 the railroad had decided that steam could not move the coal efficiently west of Roanoke. The line from Roanoke to Elmore was electrified with three-unit jackshaft locomotives. They were phase-converter machines, rated at 6,000 horsepower and 231,000 pounds of starting tractive effort. The June 1925 issue of Railway & Locomotive Engineering gives the same starting figure, a continuous rating of 135,000 pounds, and 6,000 horsepower continuous, and it notes that the starting effort was more than twice that of the railroad’s largest steam locomotives. The power plant was at Narrows, Virginia, on the New River, and it burned coal. The overhead was tied to the Norfolk & Western’s electrification, and the two railroads borrowed power from each other. The current was 11,000-volt single-phase alternating current.

The boxcabs were side-rod locomotives. A phase converter turned the single-phase supply into three-phase current for the induction motors. The railroad classed a single unit EL-1a, a pair EL-2a, and a three-unit set EL-3a. No. 113, in the photograph at the top of this page, is an EL-1a. The sets were hard on the track. In 1948 General Electric delivered four rectifier locomotives, Nos. 125–128, class EL-2B. Each was a semi-permanently coupled set, arranged B-B+B-B+B-B+B-B, and each set was rated at 6,800 horsepower.

Ten EL-C rectifier locomotives, Nos. 301–310, were built in October 1956. They came to the Norfolk & Western with the merger and were sold to the New Haven in 1962 as class EF-4. They are electrics, and they stand outside the diesel count. The class history is the EL-C page. Electric operation on the former Virginian ended on June 30, 1962.

Ex-Virginian EL-C electrics led by Norfolk and Western 239 nearing Princeton, West Virginia, in September 1960

Ex-Virginian EL-C electrics, led by Norfolk & Western 239, nearing Princeton, West Virginia, in September 1960. Harold Cavanaugh photograph. The Virginian had been part of the Norfolk & Western since December 1, 1959.

An official 1944 system map of the Virginian Railway. Author’s collection.

Diesels

The railroad bought 66 diesel locomotives. Sixty-five of them were Fairbanks-Morse road units, and those 65 took Norfolk & Western numbers on December 1, 1959. Forty H16-44s, Nos. 10–49, became Norfolk & Western 110–149. Twenty-five H24-66 Train Masters, Nos. 50–74, became 150–174. The sixty-sixth locomotive was General Electric 44-tonner No. 6, built in December 1941 as New Haven 0806. It did not receive a Norfolk & Western number. Serials, builder dates, and the later sale of No. 6 are on the diesel roster. Drury’s chapter places the merger two years after the lines were dieselized. Steam was still being scrapped in 1960, so the change was the end of steam as main-line practice.

Norfolk Southern SD70ACe No. 1069 in yellow and black Virginian paint, eastbound on freight 162 between Salisbury and Statesville, North Carolina, October 20, 2012

Norfolk Southern SD70ACe No. 1069, eastbound on freight 162 between Salisbury and Statesville, North Carolina, on October 20, 2012. Dan Robie photograph. The yellow and black is the Virginian’s livery, worn here by a successor locomotive.

Norfolk & Western

The Norfolk & Western absorbed the Virginian on December 1, 1959. The prize was the profile east of Princeton, the 0.2 percent along the Roanoke River against the Norfolk & Western’s 1.2 percent. The 65 Fairbanks-Morse diesels took the numbers above. The ten EL-C electrics stayed with the electric roster and went to the New Haven in 1962. The wires came down, for this railroad, on June 30, 1962. Much of the main line is still the way Norfolk Southern prefers to move eastbound coal. The steam classes, from the 1909 switchers through the 1946 Berkshires, are on the steam roster, and the ten 2-10-10-2s have their own page.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Headquarters	Norfolk, Virginia
Reporting mark	VGN
Gauge	4 feet, 8½ inches
States	Virginia and West Virginia
Formed	Deepwater and Tidewater combined in 1907. Completed to Norfolk in 1909
Purpose	West Virginia coal to the piers at Sewalls Point. The Chesapeake & Ohio and the Norfolk & Western both refused a traffic and rate agreement
Main line	Deepwater to Sewalls Point and Norfolk, by Elmore, Princeton, Roanoke, Victoria, and Suffolk
Clark’s Gap	Thirteen miles east out of Elmore, maximum 2.07 percent, to Algonquin. Double-tracked early
East of Roanoke	Ruling grade 0.2 percent along the Roanoke River. The Norfolk & Western’s crossing was 1.2 percent
Electrification	Roanoke to Elmore, in service by 1925. 11,000-volt alternating current. Power plant at Narrows. Electric operation ended June 30, 1962
EL-C	Ten, Nos. 301–310, built October 1956. Sold to the New Haven in 1962 as class EF-4. Class page
Passenger	Nos. 3 and 4 coach-only after August 1932. Last runs January 29, 1956. August 1952 timetable
Steam	Drury’s post-1900 class grid. Steam roster. The 2-10-10-2s are class AE
Diesels	66 locomotives. The 65 Fairbanks-Morse units took Norfolk & Western numbers on December 1, 1959. No. 6, the 44-tonner, did not. Diesel roster
Absorbed	Norfolk & Western, December 1, 1959

Sources

E. W. King, Jr., “Virginian,” in George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pp. 320–323. The 1907 combination, the 1909 completion, the grade profile from Deepwater to Norfolk, Clark’s Gap at a maximum of 2.07 percent, the Glen Lyn bridge, the 0.6 percent and the 0.2 percent, the 7,500-ton train of 100 loads, the 1925 electrification from Roanoke to Elmore, the 6,000-horsepower phase-converter locomotives and 231,000 pounds of starting tractive effort, the Narrows plant, power borrowed both ways with the Norfolk & Western, the 120-ton gondolas, and the 1959 merger two years after the lines were dieselized, because the Norfolk & Western wanted the easier profile east of Princeton.
H. A. McBride, “Coal Carrier,” Trains, January 1950. The Deepwater described as 4 miles between Deepwater and Robson.
H. Reid, “Of Black Upholstery And Commanding Exhaust,” Trains, August 1956. The last passenger runs on January 29, 1956.
Railway & Locomotive Engineering, June 1925. The three-unit boxcab sets at 231,000 pounds starting tractive effort, a continuous rating of 135,000 pounds, and 6,000 horsepower continuous.
Norfolk & Western Historical Society, The Arrow, Vol. 39, No. 1 (January/March 2023), the installment on the end of Virginian electrification. The last electric train ran on the evening of June 30, 1962.
Norfolk & Western diesel roster on this site. Sixty-five Virginian diesels took Norfolk & Western numbers on December 1, 1959: H16-44s 110–149, former Virginian 10–49, and H24-66s 150–174, former Virginian 50–74. Ten EL-C electrics, 301–310, built in October 1956, were sold to the New Haven in 1962 as class EF-4.
H. Reid, The Virginian Railway (Kalmbach, 1961), and the published rosters Drury names: Railroad, April 1937, p. 71, and July 1951, p. 106; Trains, January 1950, p. 25. The Norfolk & Western Historical Society, nwhs.org, is the society named in the chapter.

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