Monday, July 30, 2012

Milepost 375 - 377 Branches (Guyandot River Branch and Winding Gulf Branch)

 
 
Oak Hill Station - Milepost 419.3




The Virginian Oak Hill Station does not resemble other Virginian structures for a very good reason. It was built in 1903 by the White Oak Railway, the railroad facility of owner White Oak Coal Company and the Virginian may not have even been an idea in 1903. Virginian leased the station in 1912 and ultimately purchased it 1922. After the VGN/N&W merger of 1959, N&W continued to use the facility until closure in 1983. It was donated to the City of Oak Hill by Norfolk Southern in 1995.

The station, located at the corner of Virginia and Central avenues in Oak Hill, WV, is owned by the city and used by the White Oak Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. It is painted in Virginian’s standard color scheme of orange with white trim which was used from the inception of the railroad to 1945.

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The Deepwater Building, Beckley, WV

Served by means of trackage rights over C&O Ry.

 
Sponsored by John Zuro
 
 
Tom Marshall Picture

Heather Reynolds Picture
 
The Deepwater Building, standing in historic downtown Beckley, West Virginia at 128 S. Heber Street, was built circa 1904 by the Deepwater Railroad to be the headquarters of the coal sales office of Loop Creek Colliery of Page and Beards Fork, WV.  H.H. Rogers was a primary owner of both the Deepwater Railway, which became the Virginian Railway in April 1907, and Loop Creek Colliery so the connection is obvious.  In 1910 a devastating  fire consumed nearly all of downtown Beckley, save the stone, four story Deepwater Building.  In 1912 the Virginian Railway sold the structure to a partnership of two Beckley men, a lawyer and a doctor, who rented out the unused professional space to others, including the American Red Cross and the Citizens Bank of Beckley. In 1919 a fire destroyed some of the interior of the structure.  In 1920, the partnership  in turn sold the building to the United Mine Workers Union to serve at headquarters of Distract 29. In the building's second century of life, it offers residential apartments.
 
 
 
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