Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The photographs (Series IX) have been scanned and copies have been placed in a binder at the beginning of the collection. Please consult the binder instead of the originals.

Use Restrictions

Reproduction of certain photos in the collection requires permission.

Preferred Citation

Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, Records, 1834-1997. Accession 36460, Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 23219.

Acquisition Information

This collection came to the Library of Virginia as two accessions in 1999 and 2000. The bulk of the collection is a gift of Commonwealth Atlantic Property, 66 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 710, Alexandria, Va. 22314, March 1999 (Accession 36460).

Provenance

At an earlier date, photographs, broadsides, and a few miscellaneous items of the R.F.& P. Collection had been donated to the Science Museum of Virginia along with other R.F.& P. artifacts. In July 2000 the Science Museum transferred those predominantly visual records to the Library of Virginia (Accession 37441). Since all items of Accession 37441 are integral parts of the R.F.& P. company records, they have been interfiled with Accession 36460, and one Accession number, 36460, is used to identify and describe the entire collection.

Biographical/Historical Information

The following is a brief outline of the R.F.& P.'s complex, 157 year history. The Company has been the subject of several publications, which should be consulted for more in-depths presentations:

The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad (R.F.& P. R.R.) was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly of Virginia on 25 February 1834. It was at the time the sixth railroad to be chartered in Virginia. The company's purpose was to provide rail service from Richmond to the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. In 1835 the General Assembly authorized the subscription to two fifths of the Company stock. The State was proportionally represented with two Directors out of five on the Company's Board. Throughout a large part of the company's history the State of Virginia guarded its interest in the R.F.& P. by prohibiting other railroads to parallel the route of the R.F.& P. In 1836 the tracks from Richmond to South Anna were completed, in 1837 the extension to Fredericksburg. Service for the Post Office began in 1838, increasing the line's traffic. In 1842 construction of the line was finished up to Aquia Creek, eliminating the use of a stage coach. From Aquia Creek the Washington & Fredericksburg Steamboat Co. provided the transportation to Washington. The R.F.& P. R.R. bought half of the Steamer Co.'s stock in 1845. With the goal of an eventual all-rail connection between Richmond and Washington in mind, the Alexandria & Fredericksburg R.R. Co was incorporated in 1851. With the completion of its line to Quantico in 1872, a continuous rail connection from NC to Baltimore had been established. The Potomac R.R. Co. lines were completed the same year and provided connecting service between the R.F.& P. R.R. and the A.& F. R.R. Co. For a few years, the new all-rail line was used alternating with the route that included the Potomac Steamboat Co., the successor of the Washington & Fredericksburg Steamboat Co., until in 1877 the R.F.& P. terminated its steamboat contract and turned its shares back over to that Company.

During the Civil War, the R.F.& P. R.R. operated largely in the service of the Confederate Army. The damage inflicted to equipment, tracks, bridges and buildings was considerable.

In the mid 1880's the company prospered again. In 1887 the Richmond Byrd St. Station was opened to accommodate the increased traffic volume of the R.F.& P.R.R. Co. and the Richmond and Petersburg R.R. Co. (R.& P. R.R. Co.). In 1888 a timely freight service for fresh fruit and vegetables was inaugurated, a business that should grow fast and steadily well into the 20th century. The same year authorization for a branch line was granted to these two railroad companies, so the growing volume of freight could be directed away from the city.

The R.F.& P. R.R., traditionally a short line railroad, had always relied on agreements with other railroad lines providing service south of Richmond and north of Washington, and in 1900, after several smaller lines had been grouped together, those railroads were: Seaboard Air Line R.Y. (from Portsmouth and southeast), Atlantic Coast Line R.R. (south of Richmond) and the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. (from Quantico to Washington, controlled by the Pennsylvania R.R. Co.). In 1901, Seaboard Air Line R.Y., Atlantic Coast Line R.R., the Pennsylvania R.R., the Southern R.Y. Co., the Chesapeake and Ohio R.Y. Co., as well as the Baltimore and Ohio R.Y. Co. agreed to form the Richmond-Washington Co. That Company acquired the entire stock of the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. and the majority of R.F.& P.'s voting stock. The six partner would all be treated equally and have the same rights in the dealings with the R.F.& P. The R.F.& P. and Washington Southern R.Y. Co. came under common management at his point, and operated jointly as the "Richmond-Washington Line." For the next two decades the R.F.& P. kept expanding and modernizing at a rapid pace. The Richmond Terminal R.Y. Co. was chartered in 1916 with the purpose of constructing and operating a passenger terminal, and in 1919 Broad St. passenger station (architect: John Russell Pope) was completed. R.F.& P. and Atlantic Coast Line R.R. both owned equal amounts of the Richmond Terminal Co.'s shares.

Starting in December 1917, the R.F.& P. R.R. and the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. came under Federal Control for 26 months, and played an important role in the transportation of military personnel and equipment.

Three years later, in 1920, the Washington Southern R.Y. Co., which had been managed jointly with the R.F.& P. since 1901, was completely merged into the latter. A large freight terminal was added to the Acca Freight Yards in 1924, tracks were improved and cars and locomotives modernized. The growing competition of automobiles on shorter distances prompted the R.F.& P. in 1928 to halt its less and less efficient steam train service between Richmond and Ashland and to replace it with a passenger bus service. Thus the Suburban Motor Coach Co. was incorporated the same year, the R.F.& P. R.R. being the main shareholder. Soon passenger bus travel was introduced between Washington and various places south of Alexandria, and the R.F.& P. Transportation Co. was chartered in 1929. It was fully owned by the R.F.& P. R.R. and the Suburban Motor Coach Co. merged into the R.F.& P. Transportation Co. in March of the same year. In August 1929, the R.F.& P. Transportation Co. and the competing Richmond- Washington Motor Coaches (owned by the Greyhound Co.) merged to form the Richmond-Greyhound Lines, Inc. Service was soon expanded to reach from Washington to Norfolk. During the Depression years, the R.F.& P. struggled with reduced passenger and freight service revenues, challenges which the company tried to meet by reducing it's passenger fares as well as attempting to join the developing market for truck service business.

Starting in 1931 the R.F.& P. Transportation Co. experimented with truck freight service between Richmond and Washington, but discontinued the operation due to lack of profits in 1939.

Traffic of passengers and freight reached a high during WWII, and considerable investments were made to modernize engines and rail yards. After 1945 passenger travel decreased steadily, and Amtrak finally serviced that part of the operation in 1970. With the foundation of the Richmond Holding Company in 1957 the R.F.& P. had started to pursue another business avenue. Although the R.F.& P. had always been involved in Real Estate deals, and was the sole stockholder of the Richmond Land Corp. (inc. 1901), it had done so only for the purpose of securing and developing land for the expansion of its rail service. Now the Real Estate and Land Development Business should become an enterprise in its own right. Other important development of the 1960's and 1970's were the opening of Bryan Park Terminal (1962), the purchase and subsequent development of the Dahlgreen Railroad line and adjacent properties (1964), and the move to the new Main Office building at Acca Yard (1976). At this point, the Richmond Terminal R.Y. Co. was dissolved, and Broad Street Station - no longer in usage - was sold to the Commonwealth of Virginia. By the early 1980's ownership of the Richmond-Washington Co. and with it of the R.F.& P. had changed: now the Commonwealth of Virginia, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, Southern Railway, and Chessie System Railroad all shared the capital stock. R.F.& P.'s most important rail freight connections at that time were Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and Conrail. Despite continued modernization and collaboration with other carriers, earnings of the real estate branch outgrew those of the freight sector by the mid 1980's. Those changed realities let to a major company restructuring in 1988 with the founding of the R.F.& P. Corporation, a publicly owned, Virginia-based holding company that controlled the R.F.& P. R.R. and R.F.& P. Properties, a real estate investment, leasing and development company. Already before the reorganization, the CSX Corporation (formed through a merger of Chessie System and Seabord Coastline Industries in 1980), which owned the majority of the Richmond-Washington Co., and thus controlled the R.F.& P. Co., had been interested merging the R.F.& P.R.R. Co. entirely into its own enterprise. At this time the Commonwealth of Virginia, through the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) still held a 20% interest in the R.F.& P. After one failed merger attempt in early 1990, CSX and the VRS, which owned about 27 % of R.F.& P. Corporation stock by now, came to the following agreement in August of 1991: the VRS, through its subsidiary Systems Holdings, acquired 99 percent of the R.F.& P. Corporation's shares. It then sold the R.F.& P. R.R. to CSX Transportation, which fully merged it into its own railway line. This transaction factually ended the 157 year history of the R.F.& P. R.R. The remaining part of the R.F.& P. Corporation, the Real Estate business came under the control of the VRS, and was subsequently sold to Commonwealth Atlantic Properties.

Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Co.
Incorporated 1851 as Alexandria & Fredericksburg Road Co.; taken over by the Pennsylvania R.R. in 1870. Merged with the Alexandria & Washington R.Y. Co. to form the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. in 1890.

Alexandria & Washington Railway Co.
Inc. 1854. Like the Alexandria & Fredericksburg R.Y. Co., it became a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania R.R. Co. Merged with the Alexandria & Fredericksburg R.Y. Co. to form the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. in 1890.

Fruit Growers Express Co.
Inc. 1920 as a successor of Fruit Growers Express; shares were owned by several railroads in need of refrigerated cars transporting fruit and vegetables from the South to the North. R.F.& P. initially owned 4.5% the shares; it sold its 3 % remaining shares in 1982.

Lewis Ginter Land and Improvement Co.
Inc. Feb. 15, 1901. In 1957 the entire stock was purchased by the Richmond Holding Corporation (sole stockholder was the R.F.& P. R.R), who took over the assets and liquidated the company.

Potomac Railroad Co.
Inc. 1867; connected the R.F.& P. and the A & F R.Y. Co. at Quantico since 1872. Acquired by Washington Southern R.Y. Co. in 1904; transferred all rights and properties upon dissolution 1917 to Washington Southern R.Y. Co.

Potomac Steamboat Co.
Inc. 1852; successor of Washington & Fredericksburg Steamboat Co. (see below); R.F.& P. R.R., which had bought half the shares of Potomac Steamboat Company's predecessor, the Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Co., ended its participation in the steamboat company in 1872, when its all-rail line to Washington was completed.

The Pullman Co.
Inc. 1867 as Pullman's Palace Car Co., name changed to the above in 1899. In the 1940's the Pullman Company was jointly purchased by a group of Railroads, who used its cars. In the 1960's the R.F.& P. is shown to have owned .57% of its stock.

R.F.& P. Transportation Co.
Chartered by the R.F.& P. R.R. in 1929; merged with Suburban Motor Coach Co. in March 1929 and with Richmond-Washington Motor Coaches (owned by The Greyhound Corp.) later that year; the operating name was changed to Richmond-Greyhound Lines, of which the R.F.& P. owned 49% and the Greyhound Co. 51%. The bus line provided service from Richmond to Washington. The R.F.& P. Transportation Co. also offered truck freight service in the 1930?s but was dissolved in 1939.

Richmond-Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Founded in 1926 as Richmond-Washington Motor Coaches, Inc.; bought by the Greyhound Corp. In 1929, 49 % of the shares were sold to R.F.& P. R.R. and the bus operations of R.F.& P. Transportation Co. and Richmond-Washington Motor Coaches were merged and the name was changed to the above.

Richmond Holding Corporation
Founded Feb. 1957 as a subsidiary of the R.F.& P. R.R., who was the sole Stockholder; took over the Lewis Ginter Land and Improvement Co. (see above) the same year. In 1975 it merged into Richmond Land Corp. along with the South Washington Land Corp.

Richmond Land Corporation
Founded in 1915; sole stockholder of this real estate and development company was R.F.& P. 1975 both Richmond Holding Corp. and South Washington Land Corp. were merged into the Richmond Land Corp.

Richmond Terminal Railway Co.
Chartered in 1916 to build the new Broad Street Passenger Station in Richmond. The company was jointly owned by Atlantic Coast Line R.R. and the R.F.& P R.R. It was liquidated in 1976 after R.F.& P. Transportation Dept. had moved to Acca Yard, the Main Office had been relocated, and the passenger travel was serviced by Amtrak at a different station. Upon liquidation, the terminal company sold the Broad Street Station Building to the State of Virginia.

Richmond Union Terminal Corporation
Chartered 1 Mar. 1929 as Union Terminal Corporation; sole stockholders were Richmond Greyhound Lines and Atlantic Greyhound Lines. Changed its name to the above in 1941.

Richmond-Washington Co.
Inc. 1901 through an agreement of Seaboard Air Line R.Y., Atlantic Coast Line R.R., the Southern R.Y. Co., the Pennsylvania R.R., the Chesapeake and Ohio R.Y. Co., as well as the Baltimore and Ohio R.Y. Co. The company acquired the entire stock of the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. and the majority of R.F.& P.'s voting stock. The six partner would all be treated equally and have the same rights in the dealings with the R.F.& P. The R.F.& P. R.R. and Washington Southern R.Y. Co. came under common management at his point, and operated jointly as the "Richmond- Washington Line." In the 1980's CSX Corp. owned the majority of the company's stock.

Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co.
Inc. as Seaboard Railway Co. 1944, its name was changed to the above in 1945. It was supposed to carry out the plan of reorganization of Seaboard Air Line Railway Co.; merged 1967 with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to form Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.

South Washington Land Corporation
Inc. 1957 as a real estate company, with more then 80% of the shares in the hands of the R.F.& P. R.R. Was merged into the Richmond Land Corporation in 1975 along with the Richmond Holding Corporation.

Suburban Motor Coach Co.
Inc. 5 July 1928, wholly owned by the R.F.& P.; merged into R.F.& P. Transportation Co. on 4 Jan. 1929.

Trailer Train Co.
Jointly owned by a large group of railroads, who all shared usage of the trailer cars. The R.F.& P. R.R. became a member in 1959.

Virginia and Carolina Railroad Co.
Inc. 1882, with the goal to build a railroad line from Richmond, Virginia to the Virginia-North Carolina State Line in Mecklenburg County.

Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Co.
Inc. 1840 in Maryland. Starting 1842, it provided service from Washington to Aquia Creek and later Quantico, and at times, Baltimore; in 1845, the R.F.& P. bought half interest the interest, and assumed control of its operations. Predecessor of Potomac Steamboat Co. (see above).

Washington Southern Railway Co.
Inc. 1890 through consolidation of A.& F. R.Y. and A.& W. R.Y. and controlled at this time by the Pennsylvania R.R.; in 1901 the Richmond- Washington Co. bought the entire stock of the Washington Southern, and it came under common management with R.F.& P. R.R., it was fully absorbed into the R.F.& P. R.R. in 1920.

Scope and Content

The records of the R.F.& P. R.R., 1834-1997, are organized into 31 series. Series I-X relate to record groups of the R.F.& P. R.R. itself, series XI-XXXI describe the records of R.F.& P. subsidiaries, both fully or partially owned, and of companies, of which the R.F.& P. owned a smaller interest at some point during its 157 year history, or with which it was otherwise affiliated. These include: Alexandria & Fredericksburg R.Y. Co., Alexandria & Washington R.Y. Co., Fruit Growers Express Co., Lewis Ginter Land and Improvement Co., Potomac R.R. Co., Potomac Steamboat Co., The Pullman Co., R.F.& P. Transportation Co., Richmond-Greyhound Lines, Richmond Holding Corporation, Richmond Land Corporation, Richmond Terminal R.Y. Co., Seaboard Air Line R.R. Co., South Washington Land Corporation, Suburban Motor Coach Co., Trailer Train Co., Union Terminal Corporation, Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Co., Virginia and Carolina R.R. Co., and the Washington Southern R.Y. Co. Also included are some records for the Richmond-Washington Co., which at times held the majority of R.F.& P. voting stock. In some cases information for subsidiary companies can be found as integral part of the R.F.& P. files.

The main record types found in this collection are minute books and minute files (the complete run of R.F.& P. Minute books, from 1834-1981 is especially noteworthy); legal files, like charters, bylaws, agreements, cases, contracts and deeds, and real estate files; as well as a substantial amount of financial files, like annual reports, audits, balances, check registers, daybooks, journals, ledgers, property records, security records, and tax records. To a lesser extent records of operating, transportation, and technical departments, some newsletters and corporate histories, as well as photographs are included. There are only a few singular correspondence files and letter books.

The collection includes records for 21 additional companies. Some are wholly owned subsidiaries, others were merged into R.F. & P. R.R., or are predecessor companies of those who merged with the R.F.& P. Yet another group of companies was affiliated with the R.F.& P. through a partial ownership of interest. The amount of records for those associated companied varies greatly. For some there is only a minute book or a few annual reports or security records. For others, the holdings are more extensive and a variety of record groups is present. The companies that have a larger share of records in this collection are the Richmond Land Corp., the Richmond Terminal R.Y. Co., and the Washington Southern R.Y. Co.

Several items of the collection were in need of restoration, which was performed by Etherington Conservation Center, either in the in-house lab, or in the North Carolina main office. The conservation work necessary consisted mainly of repairs of broken, torn and glued pages, damaged bindings, the cleaning of moldy volumes, and the preparation custom boxes to house fragile volumes, and those without binding.

Organization

The arrangement of series attempts to reflect the company's internal structure by following the organization of main divisions in its outline and by keeping the original order of documents wherever it was still present, or where it could be reconstructed due to internal filing numbers, file labeling, etc. Headings for files or filing units were also kept as found, whenever present. The arrangement within each series and subseries will be specified in the Series Description below. Miscellaneous files are placed at the end of each respective series or subseries. The predominant description level is at the folder and volume level. Exceptions are the photographs and broadsides, which are described at the item level. While the more then 300 photographs make up their own record group, the broadsides are inventoried under the Transportation and Public Relations, Advertising, and Marketing Departments.

The collection is housed in 347 boxes (including one oversize), and two map cabinet drawers. 177 volumes are shelved. Whenever size permitted, volumes were housed in boxes for better protection (353 volumes). Volumes that are placed directly on the shelves are interfiled with the boxes, following the order of the container listing (see below).

Oversize items are filed in one oversize box (No 344) as well as in two map cabinet drawers. There are a total of 39 oversize folders, containing various numbers of oversize items. Oversize items, which were part of a regular sized filing unit, were removed from their respective folders. In their place removal notices list the item(s) separated and the oversize folder number to which they have been moved. For location and content list of oversize folders see Appendix A.

SERIES TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. General Administration, Management, 1834-1981

II. Legal Department, 1834-1986

III. Finance Department, 1834-1995

IV. Transportation Department, 1858-1929

V. Maintenance of Way Dept. (Engineering, Technology, Research), n.d., 1889

VI. Public Relations Department, Advertising, Marketing, n.d., 1945, 1984, 1997

VII. Membership in Societies and Associations, etc., 1923

VIII. Publications Department 1934-1991

IX. Photographs, n.d., ca. 1920-1990

X. Library, ca. 168?, 1875-1979

XI. Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Co., n.d. 1863-1889, 1901

XII. Alexandria & Washington Railway Co., 1887-1890

XIII. Fruit Growers Express Co., 1920-1966

XIV. Lewis Ginter Land and Improvement Co., 1901, 1939-1957

XV. Potomac Railroad Co., 1869-1917

XVI. Potomac Steamboat Co., 1845-1889

XVII. The Pullman Co., 1960-1966

XVIII. R.F.& P. Transportation Co., 1929-1939

XIX. Richmond-Greyhound Lines, Inc., n.d., 1932-1971

XX. Richmond Holding Corporation

XXI. Richmond Land Corporation, 1915-1987

XXII. Richmond Terminal Railway Co., 1916-1976

XXIII. Richmond Union Terminal Corporation / Union Terminal Corporation, 1929-1960

XXIV. Richmond-Washington Co., 1901-1971

XXV. Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co., 1947

XXVI. South Washington Land Corporation, 1957-1975

XXVII. Suburban Motor Coach Corporation, 1928-1929

XXVIII. Trailer Train Co., 1959-1966

XXIX. Virginia and Carolina Railroad Co., 1882-1886

XXX. Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Co., 1840-1871

XXXI. Washington Southern Railway Co., 1871-1925

Appendix A: Oversize Folders, Contents and Location

Appendix B: Misc. Reels 2161-2177, List of Contents

Related Material

Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad ledgers, 1834-1912 (LVA accession 53925).

Separated Material

Vol. 1-192 of the State Government Publication, Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, commonly known as Virginia Reports , covering the years 1790-1952, were transferred to the Library of Virginia's Government Document Department, where they are currently being processed and integrated into the existing holdings (Call-No.: K62 V78 [Also Fiche 42]).

Additional Descriptive Data

Adjunct Descriptive Data