The Virginia-Creeper (Virginia-Carolina Railway)

The Virginia-Creeper (Virginia-Carolina Railway)

Damascus, Va.
Railroads
Laurel Railway
Virginia-Carolina Railway
Norfolk and Western Railroad
Abingdon Branch
Mixed trains

"In 1912 the Virginia-Creeper Railway was bought by the Norfolk and Western and extended on to West Jefferson in North Carolina. The line has been in operation under Norfolk and Western ownership continuously since that time, and Damascus is the only railhead for the Shady Valley, Mountain City,and southeast Washington County areas."

"The Blue Ridge Mountains in Southwest Virginia are formidable topographic features to be reckoned with. Here they are even higher than the highest mountains in the Mountain State of West Virginia, with Virginia's Mount Rogers soaring over 5,700 feet above sea level. It was through these mountains that the Virginia-Carolina Railway, with later help by the N&W, built a mountain railroad with 105 bridges in 76 miles, a railroad that crossed the mountain range at White Top station at an elevation of 3,576 feet above sea level, the highest common carrier railway passenger station east of the Mississippi River."

"[T]his line became the storied Abingdon Branch of the N&W that was immortalized by the photographs of O. Winston Link and other photographers and writers."

Louise Fortune Hall
Gordon Hamilton

A History of Damascus, 1793-1950, p. 17

"The N&W Lifeline: A Winter Drama," Nuggets From the Archives, NWHS Arrow, a publication of the Norfolk and Western Historical Society, vol. 21, no. 2, April, 2005, p. 18

Washington County Public Library

1912-1956

Bicentennial History of Washington County, Virginia, 1776-1976
J. Allen Neal (Chapter XXIV: "Railroading"

Historical Society of Washington County, Va.

Hall Collection-Washington County PL

The Virginia Creeper: Remembering the Virginia-Carolina Railway, Doug McGuinn

A brief history of the "Virginia Creeper" : the famed Abingdon branch of the Norfolk and Western Railway / by Thomas H. Blevins

The "Virginia Creeper" : remembering the Virginia-Carolina railway / by Doug McGuinn

The Virginia Creeper Trail companion : nature and history along southwest Virginia's national recreation trail / Edward H. Davis, Edward B. Morgan

The last steam railroad in America : from Tidewater to Whitetop / photographs by O. Winston Link ; text by Thomas H. Garver.

"The Mixed Train: 108 bridges and 3 per cent and 40,163 pound effort," Trains, David P. Morgan, Editor, published by A.C. Kalmbach, July, 1957, vol. 17, no. 9

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