Most railroads built in Virginia before the
Civil War connected farming and industrial centers to ports such as
Alexandria and
Norfolk. Towns west of the
Blue Ridge Mountains needed rail transportation to connect with port cities but were hampered by the ability to cross the rugged Blue Ridge. When the newly formed
B&O Railroad (estab. 1827) was planned to cut across the northern end of the lower
Shenandoah Valley, the
Virginia General Assembly chartered the W&P Railroad in 1831. Routes were then surveyed by the
Army Corps of Topographical Engineers from 1831 to 1832. Construction of the W&P began in 1833 with
Moncure Robinson as head engineer. It was completed by 1836, beginning its first operations on March 14 of that year, when the locomotive "Tennessee", "the first ever seen in the
valley of Virginia", made its first trip from Harpers Ferry to Winchester "in style". This was also the first ever intersection of two railroads in the United States. The W&P was a
standard gauge road with rails of
flat bar constructed upon ties cut from white oak and locust. The main line ran with another of
sidings and
turnouts. The railroad terminated at the corner of Water and Market Streets in Winchester. The Winchester depot immediately became a key economic hub serving merchant traders in Winchester for commodities such as wheat, hide, fur, tobacco and hemp. The north end of the rail line also served the thriving industrial town of
Virginius Island, which sat astride the
Shenandoah Canal on the south side of Harpers Ferry. This connection to the B&O caused much concern politically, since this potentially enabled all farming and industrial produce in the
Great Appalachian Valley region of Virginia to ship out of ports in
Baltimore, Maryland and
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rather than through Virginian ports. Therefore, this railroad was not authorized for connections further south. Those southern portions of the Shenandoah Valley were served later by other railways such as the
Manassas Gap Railroad, which connected
Mount Jackson, Virginia to the Manassas Junction on the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and the
Virginia Central Railroad, which connected
Staunton to
Richmond.
John Brown's raid The W&P was threatened during the events following
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, and was a possible avenue for either an invasion into Virginia, or for a rescue operation of
John Brown and other prisoners. The Governor of Virginia sent this notice to
John W. Garrett, President of the Baltimore & Ohio, concerning
Virginia Militia shutdown and control of both the W&P and B&O in connection with the raid in 1859.
Civil War By the start of the Civil War in 1861, W&P owned six
locomotives:
Ancient,
Pocahontas,
Farmer,
President,
Virginia and
Potomac, all of which had a
4-4-0 wheel arrangement, except for
Farmer, which was
4-2-0. Rolling stock included four
passenger cars, one
mail/
baggage car, forty
freight cars and eight repair cars. Officers of the company included William L. Clark, President and Chief Engineer Thomas Robinson Sharp. On June 18, 1861, the W&P Chief Engineer Sharp was commissioned a Captain in the
Confederate States Army and was instrumental in various railroad operations, constructions and raids for the Confederacy and the
Army of Northern Virginia, especially under
Stonewall Jackson.
1861 The W&P was of potential value to the Confederates for any need to attack Harpers Ferry and did serve a useful role in the movement of Virginia Militia troops to defensive positions in and about Harpers Ferry. Although it could potentially be used to feed Confederate forces into the defenses of western Virginia via the B&O, by running along the northern border of the Confederate states, it would have been vulnerable to attack, possibly stranding large units to the west. So, due to its very northern location, and mere spur-like connection to the B&O, its overall potential usefulness to the Confederacy was not great. The W&P was a key asset used during the
Great Train Raid of 1861, when
Stonewall Jackson raided the B&O, removing, capturing, or burning a total of 67 locomotives and 386 railway cars, and taking 19 of those locomotives and at least 80 railroad cars onto Confederate railroads. After initially trapping this rolling stock on the Virginia-controlled portion of the B&O, Jackson immediately "helped himself to four small locomotives not too heavy for the flimsy flat-bar rails of the Winchester & Potomac, and had them sent to Winchester," Through this event, the Chief Engineer of the W&P, Thomas R. Sharp, became heavily involved with what was later referred to as the "railroad corps" of the Confederacy, disassembling and moving other locomotives, cars, rails, ties, and machinery from the B&O to Winchester for storage and subsequent removal deeper into Confederate territory. His success in the raid at the end of May 1861 by taking the four small locomotives over his railroad to Winchester earned him a commission as a Captain in the quartermaster service on June 18, 1861, and the new task of removing as many as possible of the remaining locomotives and rail cars still stranded up in
Martinsburg. After the big summer campaigns of 1861 were mostly finished, Stonewall Jackson returned to Winchester and continued in his devotion of energy to "uprooting track west of Martinsburg" and were "able to deliver 3,000 tons of Baltimore & Ohio rails to the Winchester & Potomac Railroad in December, 1861."
1862 In the opening months and winter of 1862 most of the Baltimore & Ohio rolling stock and rail ties that had been captured and stored in Winchester, with the help of W&P railroaders, were evacuated and used in various other Confederate railroads, such as the
Centreville Military Railroad. The W&P at that point, however, had very little transportation value for either Confederate or Union forces for the rest of the war, and was not used by the Confederacy anymore after the spring of 1862, when it was seized by Union forces under Major General
Nathaniel P. Banks. Both the western portion of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the W&P Railroad were effectively under the control of Banks in the spring, and were going to be used as part of a plan developed by Major General
George B. McClellan to support Union operations in that area. McClellan's plan was to connect the Manassas Gap Railroad and the W&P with a line between Winchester and Strasburg, creating a "complete circle of rails" from the Union capital at
Washington, D.C. to the
Shenandoah Valley by either the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad or the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Sometime in 1862, likely when McClellan occupied and controlled the W&P, its locomotives
Ancient and
President were captured, and later sold after the war. The
Ancient was sold to J. Neilson in 1865, and the
President was sold to the
West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad. Late in May, as Stonewall Jackson was busy routing the
Fifth Corps under Banks, the B&O was shipping troops forward to Banks. "A troop train, in fact, arrived at Winchester (on the W&P) just as Banks began his retreat. Three companies got off and the remainder of the regiment rode back to Harpers Ferry." As Banks retreated from Winchester, the Confederates occupied the northern Shenandoah Valley, burned the W&P's principal bridges, and tore up all the track. After Jackson evacuated the area in early June, the
Union Army began repairing the W&P, but heavy rains washed the bridges out, and the W&P was not restored to service until June 20, 1862. On June 22, 1862 a train carrying soldiers from New York and the 3rd Delaware Volunteer Infantry over turned between Wadesville and Summit Point, WV. One New Yorker, John P. Kopk was killed and fifty two were injured. Most of the injured were from the 3rd Delaware. https://www.nytimes.com/1862/06/23/news/winchester-serious-railroad-accident-train-off-track-number-soldiers-killed.html In August 1862, as Major General
John Pope was busy retreating and being defeated by General Lee in the
Northern Virginia Campaign, Confederate intelligence learned that the W&P and the Baltimore & Ohio were being used to bring reinforcements to Pope. Reverend J. W. Jones of
Charles Town, West Virginia, reported that the Northern government was using the railroad for that purpose, and this was confirmed three days later when Major General
J.E.B. Stuart captured papers and letters belonging to Pope in a raid on his headquarters. Also in August, Confederate lieutenants George Baylor and Milton Rousss of Company B,
12th Virginia Cavalry, led a small raid attacking the W&P between Summit Point and Cameron's Depot, capturing eight Union soldiers, $4,000 in cash and food supplies. Following the
Battle of Antietam in the 1862
Maryland Campaign, the
Confederate States Army once again controlled the northern Shenandoah Valley for a brief time. The Confederates wanted to remove all the new rails laid down on the W&P, but due to a lack of wagons, were unable to take it. Therefore, General
Robert E. Lee ordered Major General
Lafayette McLaws' division to once again destroy the W&P in order to foil any attempt by McClellan to follow the
Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan, meanwhile, on October 10, was making arrangements with the Baltimore & Ohio to reconstruct the W&P with heavier duty
T-rails, locomotives and trains for planned future
Union Army operations. The Baltimore & Ohio evaluated McClellan's plan, and replied that they did not have either the ties or rails to do the job, and that it would take at least six weeks to do the job, recommending that the Manassas Gap Railroad be repaired instead. McClellan then abandoned his plan to upgrade the W&P on October 12, and after a reconnaissance by Brigadier General A. A. Humphreys on October 19, the Union Army discovered that the W&P had been destroyed by the Confederates, making the upgrade plan even more unfeasible. By the end of 1863 the W&P had been practically and nearly completely destroyed by the actions of armies on both sides, and the Confederates, who remained in loose control of the Valley, had no desire to repair or use the railroad, but rather desired to keep it out of service.
1864 In March and April 1864 Union forces, observed by Colonel
John S. Mosby, were surveying the W&P and began repairing the road and laying rails, in preparation for advancements into the Valley. This report was relayed by Major General
J.E.B. Stuart to General Robert E. Lee, saying, "It is stated that preparations are making to rebuild the [W&P] railroad from Harper's Ferry to Winchester, which would indicate a reoccupation of the latter place. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is very closely guarded along its whole extant. No ingress or egress from their lines is permitted to citizens as heretofore, and everything shows secrecy & preparation." The W&P Railroad was not actually re-opened by the Union for service until later in 1864. After Major General
Philip Sheridan pursued Lieutenant General
Jubal A. Early south in the Shenandoah Valley, clearing the north end of Confederate forces, the Union Army set about, once again, and for the last time, repairing the W&P, reconstructing of roadway to serve Sheridan.
1865 The W&P remained in Union Army control through the first half of 1865, and was the next to last of the Virginia railroads to be turned over to the Virginia Board of Public Works, sometime after June 30. Throughout the
Reconstruction era, northern railroad companies were able to charter new lines and construct railroads that connected the entire Shenandoah Valley north into
Pennsylvania, and south into
Tennessee and
North Carolina. In 1896 the
United States Supreme Court ruled in a lawsuit, overturning a previous judgment in favor of W&P Railroad Company for $30,340, for the value of the iron rails that were removed in 1862 during the Civil War. The W&P claimed that its stock owners were loyal citizens during the war, and that the United States had taken possession and control of the valley up to Winchester, and then had removed its strap and T-rails over to the Manassas Gap Railroad for service, as well as storage in
Alexandria, and they were never returned. Furthermore, W&P had paid Manassas Gap $25,000 (~$ in ) in 1874 for rails that had been put on to the W&P. == 20th century ==