The Richmond & Danville Railroad was chartered in Virginia in the United States in 1847. The portion between Richmond and Danville, Virginia was completed in 1856.
The railroad played a vital role during the American Civil War.
After the war, it grew to become the Richmond and Danville Railroad System, eventually covering 3,300 miles in 9 states. In 1894, the R&D became part of the the Southern Railway Company. In 1980, it changed its name to Norfolk Southern Railway, and became part of today's Norfolk Southern Corporation.
Whitmell P. Tunstall: a dream and a charter
The very existence of the Richmond & Danville Railroad was largely due to the efforts of one man, Whitmell Pugh Tunstall (1810-1854) of Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Tunstall was educated at Danville Academy and the University of North Carolina.
A railroad was a revolutionary idea in the 1830's. Many people had no confidence in them. However, the greatest opposition in the southern portion of Virginia came from those who ran the Roanoke Navigation Company and its system of canals along the Roanoke River in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. They feared a rival in the transportation business.
A lawyer by profession, Tunstall was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 1832. He was a member of the Railroad Convention that met at Danville October 5, 1835, and at Richmond June 11, 1836. He served in the Virginia General Assembly in both houses. He was a delegate in the House of Delegates from 1836 to 1841, a senator in the State Senate in 1841 and 1842, and a delegate again from 1845 to 1848. He introduced a bill on April 13, 1838, to charter the R&D with an impassioned speech. No action was taken, In the Virginia legislature, he fought tirelessly for almost a decade. It was not until 1845 that petitions were again introduced. Finally, after a struggle of nine years, the charter was granted on March 9, 1847. Records reveal Tunstall's dedication to the cause in this statement made to a friend, "Tis the proudest day of my life, and I think I may now say that I have not lived in vain."
Construction, antebellum period
Whitmell P. Tunstall became the Richmond and Danville Railroad's first president in 1847. All along its route, agents seeking right-of-way for the roadbed frequently met with strong opposition from landowners who did not want their land disturbed or who did not consider the fee to be paid them adequate. There were numerous court suits to settle the disputes.
When faced with such opposition, Mr. Tunstall frequently sent word to the recalcitrant landowners that, if a satisfactory settlement could not be reached, the builders would be obliged to "tunnel under" the objectors' farms. Objections quickly faded away.
Construction on the 140-mile long line began in 1849 under the supervision of Col. Andrew Talcott , who was later to become the R&D's general manager. By 1850, the new railroad had reached Coalfield Station, near the coal mines in an area known today as Midlothian in western Chesterfield County. There, it competed with the mule-powered Chesterfield Railroad. Lawsuits followed, but the older railroad, the first in Virginia, was quickly supplanted by the competition.
By the end of 1851, the new line had reached Jetersville in Amelia County. Two years later, it was completed to a point near Drake's Branch , and had been graded to South Boston in Halifax County.
Stricken with typhoid fever, death claimed the life of Whitmell Pugh Tunstall on February 19, 1854, 2 years before the R&D was completed to Danville in 1856.
Serving in the US Civil War
Known as the "first railroad war," the American Civil War (1861-1865) left the South's railroads and economy devastated. In 1862, the Richmond and York River Railroad played a crucial role in George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. After the war, it was to be acquired by the Richmond and Danville Railroad.
The Richmond and Danville Railroad was an essential transportation link for the Confederacy throughout the war. It provided the production of south-central Virginia to Richmond. When the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad was cut in 1864, the R&D's connection with the Piedmont Railroad was the only remaining connection from Richmond to the rest of the South.
During the Civil War, the Confederate Army was handicapped by a lack of supplies when there often were plenty of supplies in the depots, but the quartermaster corps of the southern army was unable to deliver the goods efficiently. In once case, however, the war finally forced the states-rights Confederate government to over-rule objections by North Carolina. That state had blocked construction of a rail connection from Greensboro to Danville, fearing that after the war trade from North Carolina's Piedmont would continue to flow to Richmond via the R&D.
Following successful Union attacks on April 1, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to abandon Petersburg and head west and south in an attempt to join Gen. Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina.
After evacuating Richmond the next day, on April 2, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet left Richmond on the R&D. The departing Confederates set fire to the bridge across the James River between Richmond and Manchester. They traveled to Danville, where they attempted to set up a temporary government.
On reaching Amelia Courthouse, during the morning of April 4, 1865, Lee's first thought was for the commissary stores. He found ordnance supplies in abundance, but no food. Lee waited 24 hours in vain there for R&D trains to arrive with badly needed supplies. Union cavalry, meanwhile, sped forward and cut the Richmond & Danville at Jetersville . Lee had to abandon the railroad, and his army stumbled across rolling country towards Lynchburg. On the morning of April 9, 1865, "Palm Sunday", Lee met Grant in the front parlor of Wilmer McLean's home near Appomattox Courthouse to surrender.
Reconstruction, Richmond & Danville Railroad System (1865-1894)
At the close of the War Between the States the railroad was in a deplorable condition, tracks torn up and bridges burned. A former Confederate soldier, Colonel Algernon S. Buford, proved to be a great leader during the impoverished years following the War.
Algernon Sidney Buford, Bon Air
Algernon Sidney Buford, of Chatham, Virginia is best known for his presidency of the Richmond and Danville Railroad during its massive post civil war expansion into the Southern Railway system (now part of Norfolk Southern). Long before that, Buford spent a number of years as a young professional in Chatham, Virginia.
Buford was a graduate of the University of Virginia, and apparently came to Chatham in order to enter the practice of law. His choice was understandable, since, several illustrious attorneys had established practices in the town, including Whitmell P. Tunstall, who had been the creator and first president of the R&D.
Buford was related to Tunstall. He was Tunstall's nephew-in-law and in manner of speaking, his brother-in-law as well. He married Emily Winifred Townes, daughter of George Townes and Eliza Barker Tunstall. Eliza was the older sister of Whitmell P. Tunstall, and had reared him after the death of their mother,
Also like Tunstall, Buford had represented Pittsylvania County in the Virginia House of Delegates during 1853 and 1854.
During the American Civil War, in 1863, Buford was in charge of the Virginia Depot, on 13th street, south of Cary, (Shockoe Slip), in Richmond, and became known after the War as Colonel Buford. .
Col. Buford is honored by the naming of the thoroughfare Buford Road in Bon Air, Virginia. Buford personally (as well as through the Richmond and Danville Railroad) was much involved in the development of Brown's Summit (renamed Grand Summit, then Bon Air). He was among the first investors and officers in the Bon Air Land and Improvement Company. Other R&D officials involved in the development of Bon Air were General Thomas M. Logan , Col. Andrew Talcott , and Talcott's son, Thomas Mann Randolph Talcott .
Buford builds the R&D System 1865-1892
With the support of Virginia Governor Francis H. Pierpont, on September 13, 1865, Buford became president of the 140-mile Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D). Damage from the war, including the bridge across the James River between Manchester and Richmond was repaired.
Over the next 20 years, as R&D President, Buford extended the trackage to three thousand miles. The R&D's early acquisitions included the Piedmont Railroad in 1866, and the North Carolina Railroad in 1871.
In 1872, the R&D extended aid to the Atlanta and Richmond Air-Line Railway to help it complete its road between Charlotte and Atlanta. The line was to become a key link in the "Piedmont Air Line,” a system of railroads across the southeast.
In 1878, the R&D acquired the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad .
In 1880, the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company was chartered to acquire railroads which the R&D could not acquire directly due to a limitation in its charter. One of these was the former Richmond and York River Railroad . The Terminal Company quickly purchased over 700 miles of existing railroads and acquired the franchises for a number of projected lines including the Georgia Pacific Railway and the Rabun Gap Short Line Railway.
In 1881, the R&D leased the Piedmont Air Line system, by then renamed Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway , forming the Richmond and Danville Railroad System.
In 1885, the R&D bought the Lawrenceville-to-Suwanee line in Georgia from the Lawrenceville Branch Railroad. This line was sold to the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway in 1908, and was abandoned in 1920.
The R&D leased the 61-mile Northeastern Railroad of Georgia in 1886. In 1887, the Terminal Company gained control of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway .
In 1888, the Terminal Company purchased the entire capital stock of the Georgia Company, which held a controlling interest in the Central Railroad and Banking Company. In 1889, the 566-mile Georgia Pacific Railway was completed and began operation from Atlanta to Greenville, Mississippi. It had been leased to the R &D in January of that year.
In 1890, the Terminal Company acquired a controlling interest in the Alabama Great Southern Railroad.
By 1890, the R&D System covered 3,300 miles of track in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. However, the R&D System had become financially unstable during all the growth.
Southern Railway System 1894; Norfolk Southern 1982
In 1892, the R&D and subsidiaries entered receivership. Reorganized by J.P. Morgan and his New York banking firm of Drexel, Morgan and Company, they emerged in 1894 as the Southern Railway Company, which controlled over 4,000 miles of line at its inception.Samuel Spencer became Southern's first president.
In 1980, Southern Railway Company changed its name to Norfolk Southern Railway, and became part of today's Norfolk Southern Corporation.
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Last updated: 08-25-2005 02:09:22
