(Photo by Calvin Shepherd - Use By Permission)
Alderson West Virginia - A History
Railroads
Prior
to
the
coming
of
the
railroad
Alderson's
Ferry
was
a
small
farming
community.
It
was
not
close
to
any
of
the
three
county
seats;
it
had
little
industry
except
small
mills.
In
1868
the
Chesapeake
and
Ohio
Railroad
Company
was
organized.
It
was
the
product
of
nearly
ninety
years
of
arguing,
organizing,
disappointments,
intrigue,
lost
investments
and
agitation
for
public
transportation.
The
C
&
O's
immediate
predecessor
was
the
James
River
and
Kanawha
Turnpike
which
missed
Alderson
as
it
was
about
where
U.
S.
Route
60
is
now
located.
The
first
company
quickly
went into receivership and was reorganized under essentially the same management as the C & O, its present title.
This
is
an
account
of
the
first
passenger
train
over
the
C
&
O
which
appeared
in
the
Richmond
Whig,
Feb.
3,
1873:
"When
the
train
left
Richmond
on
Thursday
evening,
January
23,
1873,
Colonel
H.
D.
Whitcomb
told
the
gentlemen
who
were
on
it
with
him
that
he
would
deliver
them
in
Huntington
over
the
C
&
O
by
Wednesday
night
the
29th.
Punctual
to
the
hour,
the
headlight
of
the
engine
appeared
around
the
bend
and
she
rushed
screaming
into
town.
The
first
train
from
Richmond
to
Huntington.
To
say
that
the
occupants
of
that
train
were
welcomed
would
be
a
feeble
way
of
expressing
the
enthusiastic
display.
A
yell
burst
forth
as
they
came
up
to
the
platform
and
the
passengers
were
almost
dragged
out
by
eager hands."
This
train
was
not
the
first
train
but
must
have
been
a
sort
of
dedicatory
or
ceremonial
train.
The
company
had
a
completion
date
of
July,
1872,
according
to
a
news
account
in
the
Richmond
Dispatch,
reprinted
in
the
Greenbrier
Independent
in
January,
1871.
Probably
the
first
train
went
through Alderson in the summer of 1872.
Arriving
on
the
dedicatory
train,
General
Wickham,
VP
&
Gen.
Manager
of
the
railroad
visited
George
Alderson
on
Sunday,
and
announced
that
the
station
would
be
named
"Alderson",
dropping
the
older
"Alderson's
Ferry",
in
honor
of
Mr.
G.
Alderson
and
his
forbearer,
Elder
John
Alderson.
From
then on the name “Alderson” was now the name of the community.
It
took
six
days
for
the
passenger
train
to
travel
from
Richmond
to
Huntington.
The
dedicatory
train
must
have
arrived
in
Alderson's
Ferry
Sunday,
January 26, 1873.
The
C
&
O
made
a
town
out
of
Alderson's
Ferry.
Previously
plagued
by
poor
roads
and
isolation,
the
little
village
now
boomed.
Lumber,
tanbark,
cross
ties,
and
live
stock
could
be
shipped
to
market.
People
could
travel.
Alderson's
Ferry
was
in
communication
by
telegraph
with
the
world.
Freight could be shipped in. The village was not dependent on a road wagon and a team of horses, or oxen, for commerce or travel.
It
was
recounted
by
one
who
saw
the
first
train
come
to
Alderson
that
a
large
crowd
gathered
for
the
spectacle.
The
train
stopped,
the
wondering
crowd
gathered
close
about
the
engine,
then
the
engineer
stuck
his
head
out
of
the
cab
and
yelled,
"Stand
back,
everybody,
I'm
goin'
to
turn
her
around."
At
first
the
fuel
used
was
wood
but
with
the
railroad's
coming
the
coal
fields
on
New
River
opened
and
coal
replaced
wood.
The
C
&
O
was
completed
to
White
Sulphur
Springs
sometime
before
it
was
finished
up
the
New
River
gorge
and
Big
Ben
tunnel
built.
Materials
for
the
tunnel
were
floated
down
the
river
on
large
flat
boats
called
bateaux.
There
was
a
channel
in
the
river
for
these
boats
near
White
Sulphur
Springs.
It
ran
close to the south side bank through Alderson. Merchandise was hauled to Alderson by wagon from White Sulphur.
The
first
C
&
O
agent
in
Alderson
was
William
J.
Hancock
and
the
first
station
was
in
a
freight
car.
It
is
not
known
who
were
the
first
railroad
employees
in
Alderson.
Colonel
Whitcomb
and
Colonel
Talcott
were
evidently
in
charge
of
construction.
A
famed
old
railroad
engineer
lived
for
years
in
Alderson
and
was
certainly
on
of
the
first
on
the
line,
Captain
L.
S.
Alley.
He
was
a
real
old-timer
having
begun
as
an
engineer
in
1852
and
was one of the first to run engines through Alderson.
It
is
strange
all
railroad
men
working
as
civil
engineers,
engine-men,
conductors
or
section
bosses
were
called
"Captains".
Firemen,
switchmen
and
lesser
employees
had
no
military
title,
but
men
in
executive
positions
were
sometimes
know
as
"Major"
or
"Colonel".
Some
early
Alderson
railroad
men
were
the
following,
all
"Captains".
N.
R.
Sheppard,
W
R.
Roberts,
M.
M.
Ogg,
C.
S.
Parrott,
W.
L.
Winnall,
W.
P.
Ware
and
C.
S.
Vandergriff.
For
a
long
time
trains
stopped
in
Alderson
for
meals.
Timetable
No.
43,
November
15,
1891,
shows
that
No.
2,
the
"Atlantic
Express"
eastbound,
was due in Alderson at 7:15 p.m. and stopped thirty minutes for a meal. The passengers ate at either of the first two hotels.
All
was
not
harmonious
between
the
railroad
and
the
town.
Shortly
after
the
town
was
incorporated
an
engineer
was
arrested
and
taken
from
his
engine
for
either
blowing
his
whistle
too
long
or
blocking
the
crossing.
The
three
chief
sources
of
friction
have
remained
the
same
to
the
present:
blocking the crossing, blowing of whistles and the speed of trains through town.
On
November
16,
1893,
Town
Council
passed
an
ordinance
forbidding
trains
from
going
through
town
faster
that
four
miles
per
hour.
On
July
3,
1893,
the
speed
was
increased
to
eight
miles
per
hour,
and
it
was
then
forbidden
for
a
train
to
blow
a
whistle
in
the
corporate
limits.
On
March
3,
1899,
an
ordinance
was
passed
forbidding
any
train
to
stand
on
the
crossing
longer
than
five
minutes.
On
April
1,
1901,
Council
repealed
that
ordinance
and
made
another
forbidding
any
train
from
block
a
crossing
for
any
length
of
time.
As
recounted
elsewhere,
the
town
had
defeated
a
public
water
works
bond
issue.
The
Town
Council
asked
C
&
O
to
allow
the
town
to
use
the
water
for
public
supply.
On
December
3,
1894,
the
railroad
refused.
In
1900
C
&
O
built
a
new
water
tank,
and
J.
C.
Bright
complained
that
the
tank
obstructed
the
road
to
his
mill.
Council
immediately
passed
an
ordinance
forbidding
anyone
from
building
a
water
tank
without
permission
of
Council,
punishable
by
a
$10.00
a
day
fine.
C
&
O
got
out
of
that
threat
in
three
days.
The
railroad
wrote
Council
on
November
5,
1900
that
a
double
width
road
would
be
built
around
one
side and a single width one around the other side of the tank.
With
the
coming
of
automobiles
and
good
roads,
the
passenger
traffic
steadily
decreased.
For
a
great
number
of
years
old
No.
13
Westbound
and
No.
14
Eastbound
passenger
local
were
the
chief
means
of
transportation
for
Alderson
folks
making
short
trips
to
small
communities,
as
these
trains
stopped
at
just
about
any
place
larger
than
a
hog
pen.
In
1891
C
&
O
operated
three
eastbound
passenger
trains
and
eight
freights
a
day
through
Alderson.
There
was
daily
local
freight
service
except
Sunday.
Westbound,
there
were
four
passenger
trains
daily
and
five
freights
including
the
local
freight.
Now
Alderson
is
served
by
but
two
passenger
trains
daily
each
way,
and
local
freight
is
picked
up
every
other
day.
The
freights
continue
to
road
through,
at
least
nine
each
way
daily,
at
high
speeds
and
the
old
speed
complaints
continue.
Powerful,
high
speed
diesel
power
units
have
replaced
the
huge
steam
engines.
C
&
O.
has
tried
to
copy
the
glorious
sound
of
the
old
steam
whistle.
No
one
who
ever
heard
the
long
lonesome
sound
of
a
C
&
O
steam
whistle
far
down
the
Greenbrier
late
at
night,
and
the
steady
pounding
of
a
steam
engine
coming
into
Alderson can ever forget it.
The
C
&
O
is
one
of
the
nation's
most
efficient
and
profitable
railroads.
Alderson
and
the
C
&
O
have
been
close,
very
close
together,
since
each
its
birth.
In
fact,
the
C
&
O
has
named
one
of
its
fine
sleeping
cars
"City
of
Alderson."
A
program
dedicating
the
sleeping
car
was
held
in
Alderson
on
July
11,
1951,
attended
by
Mr.
C.
A.
Taylor, vice-president and general manager of the C & O Railway Company.
(Click on photo for larger view.)
Two
other
railroads
were
chartered
to
operate
in
Alderson.
On
March
24,
1891,
the
Greenbrier
and
Gauley
Railroad
Company
was
charted
with
its
principal
office
to
be
in
Alderson,
to
run
to
the
mouth
of
the
Cherry
River
in
Nicholas
county.
the
promoters
were
Alex
McVey
Miller,
Enoch
and
William P. Smith, of Alderson, T. H. Jarrett, Blue Sulphur Springs, and Henry Gilmer of Lewisburg.
The
other,
The
West
Virginia,
Alderson
and
Central
Railroad
Company,
was
chartered
April
11,
1891,
with
its
main
office
to
be
in
Alderson.
It
was
proposed
to
run
from
the
mouth
of
East
River
in
Mercer
County
to
some
point
on
the
Baltimore
and
Ohio,
evidently
to
connect
the
Northfolk
and
Western,
the
C
&
O
and
the
B
&
O.
This
railroad
was
to
be
financed
by
Richmond
and
Philadelphia
men.
The
only
West
Virginian
of
its
charterers
was James H. Miller, well known judge, lawyer, and Summers County historian.
Neither of these railroads ever laid a cross tie, and like many such railroad proposals of that time were "paper railroads."
Main Index
The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV Used by permission - November 18, 2008
A.
E.
T.
Scruggs
built
the
Monroe
House
in
1872
on
the
site
of
the
present
Post
Office.
There
was
covered
walkway
from
the
railroad
across
the
street to the hotel. (Click on photo for larger view.)
L
ater
in
1882,
J.
W.
Alderson
built
the
Alderson
Hotel
much
closer
to
the
railroad
and
got
the
passenger
trade.(Click
on
photo
for larger view.)
The History of Alderson, West Virginia
From The Journal Of The Greenbrier Historical Society On Alderson, West Virginia
Written by Kenneth D. Swope - Compiled and Transcribed by Barry Worrell
Railroad Picture Gallery (Click on picture for larger view)
