For 15 years, the Washington-Virginia Railway (W-V Railway) controlled two of the three electric railways in Northern Virginia, along with its own Alexandria and Suburban Motor Vehicle Company (A&S). The W-V was chartered in 1910 to operate an electric line from Bluemont to Vienna, which it never did. A 1912 merger with the Washington Utilities Company was reversed the following year by federal regulators, and the latter company shut down.
Rosslyn, Mount Vernon and Camp Humphreys lines Washington-Mount Vernon line History Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway In 1890, the Alexandria and Fairfax Passenger Railway was chartered to provide a faster way to reach
Mount Vernon than the steamboats that had been used since Mount Vernon opened to the public three decades earlier. In 1892, it changed its name to the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway and began operating between Alexandria and Mount Vernon. Desiring to become an interurban railroad, it updated its charter and extended the line to Rosslyn in 1896. Along that extension it reached a point called Arlington Junction on the towpath of the abandoned
Alexandria Canal near the present-day corner of S. Eads and S. 12th Streets in Arlington where it also built tracks to the
1872 Long Bridge allowing access to Washington, D.C. Once across the Long Bridge, it first used the
Belt Line Street Railway Company's old horsecar tracks to reach a station on 14th Street NW in downtown. In 1902, the railroad moved its station, as the Belt Line's tracks were circling the block containing the site of a planned new District Building (now the
John A. Wilson Building). The new station at 1204 Pennsylvania Avenue NW extended along Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and D Street, NW, from 12th Street, NW, to Street, NW, near the site of the present
Federal Triangle Metro station and on the opposite side of 12th Street from the Old Post Office building. In May of that year, the tracks between Arlington Junction and Four Mile Run were doubled to allow for storing rush hour cars during the day. This span was removed in 1967. By 1906, the railway had transported 1,743,734 passengers along its routes with 92 daily runs. The route became known as the "Road of the Presidents." Passengers and others could read a 122-page
Hand-book for the Tourist Over the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon Electric Railway that described in detail the railway's routes and stations as well as the landmarks, history and geography of the area through which the railway traveled. In 1907 they finished work on a new terminal at Mt. Vernon. Located near the present entrance, it was a large building with a large restaurant that offered al fresco dining on the balcony. The rise of the automobile, bad decisions, and economic hard times would lead to the demise of the railway. In early 1918, A year after the U.S. entered
World War I, the Army created
Camp Humphreys to train engineers. At the time the only way to reach it was by boat so in July the railway, via a separate corporation named the
Mount Vernon and Camp Humphries Railway (chartered with this misspelling), agreed to build a 5-mile extension to the camp. Money was forwarded to them by the War Department and the U.S. Railroad Administration and they purchased 49 new cars with it. While they originally planned to finish the work in 60 days, they were only able to build about 4 miles, and only electrify a few hundred feet, before they ran out of financing. Meanwhile, a standard gauge railroad connection from the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad opened in July and the Richmond-Washington Highway was paved in October, reducing the need for the electric rail. When the war ended on Nov 11, 1918, the incentive to invest in the line largely disappeared and, as a result, the line sat disused for years. At the end of 1920, the US Government cut a deal to finish the line and operate service on it, paying rent to the streetcar with an option to buy it. By that time the company was already reorganizing. During the spring of 1921, troops at the engineering school finished the line. The corps of engineers bought a single yellow, Brill-Mack rail gasoline rail car and trailer and ran the line for about a year, before stopping service because it was too costly. The project left the railway with a million dollars of debt. The debt, competition from automobiles resulting from the paving of the highway and the construction of new roads, led the company into
receivership in 1923. The next year it ended all freight operations, as that had lost money for years. At the time, many correctly predicted that it would lead to the end of the Washington-Virginia railway, though the A&S was given permission to go to Washington 10 months later.
Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington Railway In 1927, the two railways were separated and sold at auction, the Washington-Mount Vernon line (AKA the Mount Vernon Division) becoming the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington Railway. At the same time the A&S was sold to the Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington (AB&W) Transit Company. On February 4 they petitioned the state for authority to abandon the 8 miles of line, following which the federal government paid $150,000 for it. A few days after announcing the abandonment, the owners announced a deal to sell the tracks, trolley wires, incidentals and rolling stock, including a once state-of-they art luxury car used to carry Presidents and other dignitaries to Mount Vernon, for scrap metal. Scrapping of the line began on 1 March 1930. In May 1930, the railway was sold to Robert L. May and merged with the bus service, with both reducing service and raising prices. In 1926, the federal government began planning for
Federal Triangle. By 1931 it was decided that the DC terminal and a portion of tracks for the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington railway would need to be removed to make way for the project. The company sued to prevent this, but lost their case and an appeal to the Public Utilities Commission to use a different route. In early 1932, after being threatened with having their charter stripped and being promised compensation, they agreed to end service to Washington. The last trolley between Arlington Junction and downtown Washington ran on January 18, 1932, two days after the
George Washington Memorial Parkway opened. Its operations were replaced with buses from Arlington Junction to a new bus terminal in DC and the tracks between the Bridge and Arlington Junction removed to widen Route 31. For a brief time it operated as the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Arlington railway, but it was granted permission to suspend service which it did on April 9 of that year. The tracks and other equipment in Alexandria and Arlington were removed except on the paved streets of Alexandria, and in the fall Alexandria negotiated for the removal of the tracks in the city. However, in 1934, finding the cost out of reach, Robert L. May negotiated the transfer of the right of way to the city in exchange for not having to remove them. Not much of the line remains. Some streets follow the right-of-way and the path of the trolley turnaround at Mount Vernon remains as a traffic circle at the south end of the Parkway, while the former rail yard in southern Arlington now serves as a
Metrobus yard. In 2026 an new park constructed on the former site of Arlington Junction, was opened as "Arlington Junction Park". No infrastructure from the streetcar remains, but the Park includes historical information on it.
Route After crossing the Potomac River, the trolleys entered Arlington County (named Alexandria County before 1920) to run southward near and along the present route of
Interstate 395 (I-395). They then reached Arlington Junction. At the Junction, the line's route diverged from that of a line that traveled west to Fairfax City and which connected to others that served
Arlington National Cemetery, Rosslyn and Nauck. After leaving Arlington Junction, trolleys on the Washington-Mount Vernon line continued south along the present route of S. Eads Street while traveling largely on the grade of a
towpath on the west side of the defunct
Alexandria Canal. Near Arlington's present southern border at
Four Mile Run, the railroad and its affiliates constructed an
amusement park (
Luna Park) and a
rail yard containing a car barn and a power plant. The Mount Vernon line's trolleys then continued southward along Commonwealth Avenue until reaching
King Street near
Alexandria's Union Station. The line's trolleys then turned to travel east on King Street until they reached a station at Royal Street, in the center of
Old Town Alexandria next to
Market Square. They then turned again, traveled south on S. Royal Street and crossed Hunting Creek to enter Fairfax County on a bridge containing a concrete and steel center span and trestle. The railway also operated a city line that ran from the ferry wharf at King and Union to the
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station at Cameron and Fayette, travelling along King, Columbus and Cameron. were (with locations of sites in 2008):
Remnants of the Washington-Mount Vernon line • Roads • Wittington Boulevard, Fairfax County. Coordinates: • East Boulevard Drive, Fairfax County. Coordinates: • Potomac Avenue, Fairfax County. Coordinates: • Commonwealth Avenue, Alexandria. Coordinates: • South Eads Street, Arlington. Coordinates: • Metrobus yard • Former rail yard at S. Eads Street (east side) and S. Glebe Road (north side), Arlington. Coordinates: • Metrobus • The A&S bus company, sold to the AB&W in 1927, was purchased by the Metro Bus system in 1973 and rolled into that. • Cars - The last remaining trolley car from all of the Northern Virginia trolleys was the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway's #51, a snow sweeper purchased in 1905, which was owned by the
National Capital Trolley Museum until it was destroyed by a fire in 2003.
Rosslyn branch The Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway constructed the Rosslyn branch (aka the East Arlington Branch), which traveled from Arlington Junction to the Virginia end of the Aqueduct Bridge in Rosslyn, primarily as a way to compete for Arlington Cemetery patronage. Following the merger that created the Washington-Virginia system, service to the cemetery was primarily provided by the Falls Church line, so in May 1921 the W-V sought and received permission to discontinue service on the Rosslyn Branch between Rosslyn and Mt. Vernon Junction. The only opposition came from workers at the Government Experimental Farm located on the east side of the track. The tracks were removed in the 1930s and the right of way was taken for use by the Pentagon, its nearby traffic interchanges and an expansion of Arlington National Cemetery.
Route After leaving Arlington Junction, the Rosslyn branch traveled northwest along a route that was south of the future site of The Pentagon, crossed Columbia Pike and entered Mt. Vernon Junction. At that junction, the Rosslyn branch met the South Arlington branch, which the Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railroad constructed. After leaving Mt. Vernon Junction, the Rosslyn branch crossed the southern boundary of the federally-owned "Arlington Reservation". The site of the crossing was at that time near the southeast corner of Arlington National Cemetery, which was within the Reservation. After entering the Reservation, the branch turned to travel north along the eastern side of
Arlington Ridge Road (formerly named the Alexandria & Georgetown Turnpike), which was outside of the Cemetery near the Cemetery's eastern wall. While traveling next to Arlington Ridge Road, the branch passed the Cemetery's
McClellan and
Sheridan Gates. An expansion of the Cemetery later encompassed this portion of the Road, whose route no longer exists within the Cemetery. Construction of the branch permitted visitors from Washington, D.C., to reach the Cemetery by rail for the first time. However, after leaving the trolleys outside of the Sheridan Gate at the branch's Arlington station, visitors needed to ascend a steep hill to reach most of the Cemetery's well-known features and burial sites. After passing its Arlington station, the branch crossed the north boundary of the Reservation and turned to travel northwest until it met Rosslyn's Chadwick Avenue (now named N. Lynn Street), on which it traveled north. The branch ended near the Aqueduct Bridge at the railway's Rosslyn terminal.
Rosslyn branch stations The stations of the Rosslyn branch were (with locations of sites in 2008):
Fairfax and Arlington lines During its forty years of life, this interurban trolley company operated under a variety of names, as it expanded, reorganized, and contracted.
Washington & Arlington — 1892–1896 On February 28, 1891, the
United States Congress enacted a statute that incorporated the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railway Company in the District of Columbia, with authorization to reach
Fort Myer and the northwest entrance of
Arlington National Cemetery (the cemetery's Fort Myer Gate) by crossing the
Potomac River on a new bridge that the company would build at or near the "Three Sisters" islets. "Arlington" in the name referred to the cemetery and the
house; Arlington County did not exist yet. The system started in October 1892 as a
horsecar line with tracks from Rosslyn up the hill to the cemetery's Fort Myer Gate; this would later become the Nauck Line. The following spring it opened a 0.75 mile long section of line using underground electric conduit operation of its own design. But another conduit system, introduced a few months later, became the standard in DC and in June 1893 the bank foreclosed on them, shutting down operations for two years. In 1894, the assets were sold at auction. The railroad finally gained access, indirectly, to Washington, when the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad began running a "bridge car" from Rosslyn to Georgetown in 1906. In 1907, the W.A. & F.C. built the South Arlington branch from Clarendon to a point where it met the Washington, Alexandria and Mt. Vernon Railway's Rosslyn branch, called Mount Vernon Junction, and used systems tracks to reach downtown Washington via the Long Bridge. In 1907, the railway was involved in a crash with an automobile that killed the motorman and injured several employees and passengers. The subsequent lawsuits forced the railway into receivership. In 1908 it was sold to the Washington, Alexandria & Mount Vernon.
Washington – Virginia — 1910–1927 In late 1910, the WA&FC and Washington, Alexandria & Mount Vernon were merged to form the Washington-Virginia (W-V) Railway, whereupon the WA&FC became the W-V's Falls Church Division. In 1927, the two rail companies were split and sold at
auction and the bus company was spun off and sold to Robert May's
Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Transit Company.
Arlington & Fairfax Railway — 1927–1937 In 1927, the Arlington & Fairfax was organized by local governments and citizens to take control of the 24.27 miles of WA&FC lines after the W-V went bankrupt. At the same time they purchased 30 secondhand cars. In 1932, the W, A and MV line lost the right to travel into D.C. which cut the A&F off as well. On January 17, 1932, the last Arlington & Fairfax streetcar departed from 12th & D Streets, NW, abandoning all direct service to Washington, D.C. In April the company started running buses, as the Arlington and Fairfax Motor Transportation Company subsidiary, from Clarendon straight into Washington and they proved so popular that on August 1 the company abandoned rail service between Clarendon and Arlington Junction. In late 1932, they announced plans to remove the South Arlington Branch (tracks between Clarendon and Arlington Junction) which they did by 1934, and in 1935 they sold that part of the right-of-way that was not part of Ft. Myer. In 1936 - after an experimental run in late 1935 - the company began to transition from electric cars to
auto-railers, small buses that can run on rails on flanged wheels or on roads with rubber tires image. The auto-railer's were made by
Detroit's
Evans Products Company, which, in exchange for a 51% stake in the A&F, spent $30,000 to rehabilitate the infrastructure, and supplied six auto-railers for immediate use. These first replaced cars on the Nauck line in the summer of 1936 and then on the Fairfax line between Vienna and Fairfax in December, making the A&F the first railroad in the United States to use them. At the end of the year, the company defaulted on its debt and was sold at auction in January 1937. A building at Arlington Junction – about 500 feet southwest of the current intersection of Army-Navy Drive and Eads – that served as a dispatcher's office, substation and passenger waiting room was removed in 1975.
Arlington & Fairfax Auto Railway — 1937–1939 In 1937, the company was sold to a committee of three Arlington residents, who changed the name to the Arlington & Fairfax Auto Railway and committed to completing the transition to auto-railers. As part of the same transition, the Evans Auto-Railer Company took on a role in managing the system. Later that year the transition to auto-railers was complete, with Evans spending $125,000 to replace Arlington's remaining streetcars. The auto-railers went to Rosslyn where riders had to switch to DC transit. The Arlington & Fairfax tried several times to gain permission to continue into downtown DC, but were repeatedly blocked by the established DC transit companies. In August 1939 the railway, citing an inability to cover operations costs and competition that prevented raising fares, announced that they were in default and that they were seeking permission to cease operations. The last auto-railer ran before midnight on September 9, 1939, and the service was replaced by buses of the
Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company.
Nauck line (Fort Myer line) Originally constructed by the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railroad, the Nauck line (aka the Fort Myer or Green Valley line) of the Washington—Virginia Railway ran south from Rosslyn through
Fort Myer to an initially lightly developed area in South Arlington near Four Mile Run. After leaving the railroad's Rosslyn terminal near the Aqueduct Bridge, the line travelled south through Fort Myer Junction along the present routes of N. Lynn Street and N. Meade Street. The line then turned to the southwest and crossed the northern boundary of the Arlington Reservation and Fort Myer near today's Wright Gate. Within the Fort, trolleys on the line climbed a hill along the present route of McNair Road near the western wall of Arlington National Cemetery to reach a station (Arlington Fort Myer) located within the Fort at the present intersection of McNair Road and Lee Avenue, near the Cemetery's Fort Myer Gate (Chapel Gate of Fort Myer). After disembarking at the Arlington Fort Myer station, visitors could enter the Cemetery near its highest elevation. This permitted visitors to avoid the ascent required when entering the Cemetery through the Sheridan Gate after traveling on the Rosslyn branch to that branch's Arlington station. After the Rosslyn branch closed in 1921, the Nauck line provided the only rail service that visitors could use to reach the Cemetery. After leaving the Arlington Fort Myer station, the line traveled south through Fort Myer before turning southwest to cross the South Arlington branch of the railroad's Fairfax line at Hatfield Junction. Passengers could transfer between the two lines at the railroad's adjacent Hatfield station. Soon after leaving Hatfield Junction and continuing to travel southwest, the Nauck line crossed the west boundary of the Reservation and the Fort, a short distance north of the Fort's Hatfield Gate. The line then crossed the present path of Washington Boulevard (
Virginia State Route 27), south of the Boulevard's crossing of
Arlington Boulevard (
U.S. Route 50) The Nauck line then traveled southwest and south while partially following the present routes of S. Uhle Street and Walter Reed Drive. After crossing S. Glebe Road (now
Virginia State Route 120), the line traveled downhill near the west side of S. Kenmore Street to end at a
railway turntable near the intersection of 24th Road S. and S. Kenmore Street. The line terminated a short distance north of the Cowden (Nauck) station of the
Southern Railway, and later, of the W&OD Railway's Bluemont Division.
Nauck line stations The stations of the Nauck line (Fort Myer-Arlington Branch of the Washington-Virginia Railway) in Fairfax City through
Oakton,
Vienna,
Dunn Loring,
Falls Church, and
Ballston to
Downtown Washington, D.C., and
Rosslyn by way of
Clarendon. After crossing the present route of Fairfax Boulevard (
U.S. Routes 29 and
50), the line crossed a branch of
Accotink Creek and Chain Bridge Road (now
Virginia State Route 123). The line then traveled northeast through Fairfax County a short distance east of Chain Bridge Road, crossed another branch of Accotink Creek, passed through Oakton, and reached the town of Vienna. The line continued northeast in Vienna about a block southeast of Maple Avenue W. (Virginia State Route 123's present name in Vienna). After crossing Center Avenue S, the line's trolleys turned to the northwest on one of three legs of a triangular
wye and crossed Maple Avenue E. After leaving the wye, the trolleys stopped at the line's Vienna station. The Fairfax line's Vienna station was located in the center of town on the southeast side of Church Street NE, a short distance southeast of the tracks of the Southern Railway's Bluemont Branch, which became the W&OD Railway's Bluemont Division in 1912. The Southern's Vienna station (which remains intact on the southwest side of the
W&OD Trail) was a block northwest of the Fairfax line's station. As the Fairfax line's tracks ended near Church Street, trolleys left their station by reversing direction. They then recrossed Maple Avenue E and traveled southeast on a second leg of the wye that paralleled the Southern's tracks, with which there was an
interchange. Freight and work cars usually bypassed the station and avoided reversing by turning from the northeast direction to the southeast on the third leg of the wye. After leaving the wye, the line continued east in Vienna on Ninovan Road, paralleling the Southern's route. The line then crossed the Southern's tracks on a bridge built near Franklin in 1904. After the crossing, the line traveled east in Fairfax County along the present routes of Electric Avenue and Railroad Street (now parts of
Virginia State Route 697) and within a
railroad cut that is now in South Railway Street Park. The line then crossed the present route of the Capital Beltway (
Interstate 495), travelled along the present route of Helena Drive, crossed the present route of
Interstate 66 and continued to travel within Fairfax County until it reached the City of Falls Church. The line continued eastward through Falls Church until it crossed W. Broad Street (now
Virginia State Route 7). The line then travelled near the north side of the Southern Railway's tracks, following the present route of Lincoln Avenue until it reached Arlington County (named Alexandria County before 1920). After crossing
Four Mile Run and
Lee Highway (now part of U.S. Route 29), the line continued to travel eastward north of the Run and the Southern Railway while traveling near and along the present route of Fairfax Drive, which
Interstate 66 (I-66) and the
Washington Metro's
Orange and
Silver lines have partially replaced. The Fairfax line then left the Southern's route, which continued southwest to Alexandria. Further along, the line left that of the present route of I-66, which travels northeast to Rosslyn. The Fairfax line then traveled along the present paths of Fairfax Drive and the underground tracks of the Washington Metro. Between 1912 and its closing, the line traveled under a
plate girder bridge at Waycroft that the W&OD Railway had constructed near the west end of
Ballston for its Thrifton-
Bluemont Junction connecting line, which I-66 later replaced north and northeast of Ballston. After entering Ballston, the line passed a complex containing a car barn, rail yard, workshops, electrical substation and general office that the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railway had built in 1910 at Lacey near the present intersection of North Glebe Road (now Virginia State Route 120) and Fairfax Drive. The North Arlington branch continued to follow the route of Fairfax Drive (now partially replaced by Clarendon Boulevard) through and past Clarendon. The branch then traveled downhill on the present route of Fairfax Drive along the north side of
Rocky Run, which U.S. Route 50 now covers. Approaching Rosslyn, the North Arlington branch turned to the north at Fort Myer Junction and joined the Nauck line. The combined lines then continued north along the present route of N. Lynn Street, joined the Rosslyn branch, and ended near the Aqueduct Bridge at the railroad's Rosslyn terminal. Beginning in 1906, travelers on the North Arlington and Rosslyn branches and the Nauck line could transfer at the Rosslyn terminal to the
Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad (later the Great Falls Division of the W&OD Railway), which ran a "bridge car" that crossed the Potomac River into Georgetown on the Aqueduct Bridge. After the Rosslyn branch closed in 1921 and the Aqueduct Bridge closed in 1923, travelers on the North Arlington Branch and the Nauck line would transfer in Rosslyn to the electric streetcars of the
Capital Traction and (later)
Capital Transit Companies, which crossed the Potomac on the Francis Scott Key Bridge. After leaving Clarendon, trolleys on the South Arlington branch largely followed the future routes of Washington Boulevard and Southgate Drive. The branch crossed the Nauck line at Hatfield Junction and joined the Rosslyn branch at Mount Vernon Junction (which received its name because the Rosslyn branch was a part of the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway when the South Arlington branch first reached it). After leaving Mount Vernon Junction, the branch's trolleys traveled on the Rosslyn branch's tracks until they reached Arlington Junction, where they joined the Washington-Mount Vernon line. After entering the tracks of the Washington-Mount Vernon line, the South Arlington branch's trolleys (some of which had originated in Fairfax City) crossed the Potomac River on the 1872 Long Bridge and, later, on the Highway Bridge. Their trips ended at the downtown Washington station. Another one was apparently sold to Ben L. Cross and used as a diner near
Centreville, Virginia; that was demolished by 1971. After the company went bankrupt in 1939, it sold its fleet of auto-railers to many buyers within the United States. The W&OD Railroad purchased four that remained in Arlington for several years. The W&OD used two (W&OD 96 and 97; former Arlington & Fairfax 113 and 114) for general maintenance and repairs; the railroad built on top of 97 a platform that its workers used until 1944 to repair the track's overhead electric lines. In 1995, the
Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad acquired a former Arlington & Fairfax auto-railer that had a platform on the roof that the railroad used for working on the overhead wires in
East Chicago, Indiana. The
Arcade & Attica Railroad purchased two others. A third was sold to the
Coudersport & Port Allegany Railroad in 1940 and scrapped in 1953. In 1946, a portion of the right-of-way in Arlington County was purchased for the construction of Fairfax Drive, which bears the railway's name. In 1947, the Arlington and Fairfax Motor Transportation Company, the surviving portion of the Arlington and Fairfax Auto Railroad Company, merged with the Arnold Lines (a.k.a.
Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company). The company's remaining assets transferred to the "A & F Corporation". The A & F Corporation was legally dissolved during the following year. In 1958, a fire damaged the Lacey car barn, which was located at the northwest corner of N. Glebe Road and Fairfax Drive. The building was already marked for demolition to make room for a bowling alley, but the fire sped up its demise. The car barn was built in 1910, when the line was double-tracked, to replace one that was located several blocks east at the northwest corner of N. Stafford Street and Fairfax Drive. Surviving remnants of the Fairfax line include: • Station • Oakton Station, 2923 Gray Street (between Pine Street and Oakton Drive), Fairfax County. Now a private residence. Includes rail and a raised trolley roadbed. • Roads • Railroad Avenue, Fairfax City. Coordinates: • Farr Avenue, Fairfas City. • Ninovan Road SE, Vienna. Coordinates: • Electric Avenue, Vienna and Fairfax County. Coordinates: • Railroad Street, Fairfax County. Coordinates: • Helena Drive, Fairfax County. Coordinates: • Lincoln Avenue, Falls Church. Coordinates: • I-66 between N. Sycamore Street and N. Kennebec Street, Arlington. Coordinates: • I-66 between N. Harrison Street and N. Edison Street, Arlington. Coordinates: • Fairfax Drive, Arlington. Coordinates: • Bridge remnants • Poured
concrete railroad bridge
abutment on north side of
Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail between Electric Avenue and Ninovan Road, Vienna. Built in July 1904, according to engravings on its east side. Coordinates: • Stone railroad bridge abutment on south side of Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail between Electric Avenue and Ninovan Road, Vienna. Coordinates: • Abutments and
wing walls of demolished railroad bridge over branch of
Accotink Creek between
Fairfax Village Drive and Cardinal Road, Fairfax City. Coordinates: • Poured
concrete railroad bridge over branch of Accotink Creek near the intersection of Chain Bridge Road and Fairfax Boulevard, behind the
29 Diner in Fairfax City. Coordinates: • Embankment • Approximately 1/3 of a mile of embankment remains between Railroad Avenue and Farr Avenue in Fairfax. It contains a social trail. • Approximately half of a mile of embankment remains between I-66 and a parking lot at 10402 Eaton Place in Fairfax. It contains a social trail. • Trails • Unpaved trails and trolley cut between Gallows Road and Morgan Lane in South Railroad Street Park, Dunn Loring, Fairfax County. Capital Transit continued to run streetcars across the bridge until 1956, when they stopped service rather than pay to install new tracks as part of the project to widen the Key Bridge. The last streetcar in the Commonwealth of Virginia left Rosslyn on August 26, 1956. The tracks around Rosslyn Circle were removed in late 1959.
North Arlington branch stations The stations of the North Arlington branch (Clarendon-Fairfax branch of Washington-Virginia Railway) Eastbound trolleys using the branch while traveling to downtown Washington began their trips on the Fairfax line and entered the branch at Clarendon. The branch traveled from Clarendon southeast along the present route of Washington Boulevard and crossed the western boundary of the Arlington Reservation and Fort Myer. After entering the Fort, the South Arlington branch crossed the Fort Myer-Nauck line at Hatfield Junction. The branch then traveled south until leaving the Fort and other federal property within the Reservation when crossing the Reservation's southern boundary near the Fort's present South Gate. The branch then traveled east along the present route of Southgate Road, now immediately south of
Henderson Hall, Fort Myer and Arlington National Cemetery. After passing the Cemetery's southeast corner, the branch reached Mt. Vernon Junction, where it joined the Rosslyn branch, which was originally a branch of the Washington, Alexandria and Mt. Vernon Electric Railroad.
South Arlington branch stations The stations of the South Arlington branch of the Washington—Virginia Railway with locations of sites in 2008) were:
Remnant of South Arlington branch • Roads • Washington Boulevard, Arlington. Coordinates: ==Historic designations==