Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

Next stop is Thurmond.

The C&O, the Chesapeake and Ohio, finished building its tracks in 1873, connecting the Chesapeake Bay with the Ohio River.

And deep in West Virginia on the New River stood a town of railroad legend called Thurmond.

From the C&O archives, these numbers for Thurmond, West Virginia in one year, 1916: tons of coal shipped out, 3,575,000.

whereas the railroad's cost per unit of traffic increased sixty per cent mr hines further pointed out that certain situations over which he had no control greatly increased the cost of transportation for the government for example the increase in rates granted in june of nineteen eighteen should have been granted long before that time if it had been granted in january instead the net advantage to the roads would have been about four hundred and ninety four million dollars Again, we all remember the coal strike which took place in the fall of 1919, the results of which were not chargeable to the government, but which cost the government $114 million net in operating the carriers.

Further than this, the deficit of about $400 million which occurred in operating the railroads in 1919 was in very large part occasioned by the extraordinary slump in freight business in the first six months of that year mr hines estimated the deficit in these six months at two hundred and ninety two million five hundred thousand as against a total deficit for the year of about four hundred million the deficit during the first six months is not properly chargeable to government operation because the war was over and the slump in traffic would have been there just the same whether the roads themselves or the government were operating the carriers all told while the operation of the roads by the government was a costly procedure it would seem that under the circumstances results were as good as could have been expected under war-time conditions it was necessary that the public generally should pay for the cost of forced transportation under trying conditions and the method chosen to make this payment was probably just as good as if not better than any other that was possible individual showings during government control it is very interesting to study the results of the various railroad companies during the twenty-six months of government control because it is a pertinent indication of the strength and earning capacity of the various properties a road must not be judged of course on this showing alone because in the case of many influences over which the managers of the property had no control tended toward a poor showing however those roads which in spite of generally increased costs and in spite of inadequate increases in freight rates we're able to earn amounts equal to or even exceeding the amounts of the government rental are clearly shown to be strong properties at least during the period of government control the fact that during nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen both the atchison and union pacific earned amounts greater than the government rental is a most interesting commentary on the financial strength of these two systems the michigan central also is in this class as well as the nickel plate the pierre marquette and the big four the oregon short line which is really part of the union pacific also in both years earned more than its guarantee the western pacific too falls into this class probably only because it had just passed through a receivership period of small earnings The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Atlantic coastline, the Louisville and Nashville, the Southern, the St. Louis and San Francisco, and the St. Louis Southwestern were among the roads which earned more than their guarantee in one of the two years.

The Southern roads generally made a very good showing because of the fact that the army camps were located in the South, occasioning large increase in traffic during those years.

The New York Central earned almost its guarantee during both years, but made a better showing in 1919 than in 1918.

But if you talk about our railroad collections, the one that kind of looms over everything else, It's actually in the museum.

It's our 1941 Chesapeake and Ohio Allegheny locomotive, which is one of the largest, most powerful steam locomotives ever built anywhere.

And I haven't talked to anyone who's visited the museum and didn't see that locomotive and didn't come away with some kind of an awestruck impression of it.

I walk through there every day and not a day goes by when I don't pass somebody standing there taking a picture with it or whatever.

It seems to me you just don't have a mass-produced automobile, let alone even on the scale that exists today in the 21st century, without the infrastructure of railroading to be able to facilitate that.

And especially when you think of kind of the miles of track that existed even within the Rouge plant, let alone all of the external connections required.

yeah absolutely right and i mean that was a big consideration when henry ford purchased land for the rouge plan obviously he wanted it near water so he could have ore and materials come in via boat but he was also looking at railroad access in the rouge if you look at a map it's located basically right where three main lines intersect with the uh Chesapeake and Ohio, the Michigan Central, and then the Wabash not too far away.

And, of course, Henry built his own spur off the Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton.

Okay.

They were building the C&O Railroad through here.

Okay.

So they had thousands upon thousands of migrant workers moving through here.

Find fall your way at Ross.

to Midwest and Eastern markets, then the Chesapeake and Ohio, and finally, near century's close, it was the Norfolk and Western that collectively opened the state for business.

Now with the means to move it, the coal-rich West Virginia boomed from north to south.

From a state of 440,000 people in 1870, West Virginia nearly crested a million by 1900.