Fort Belvoir Military Railroad Historic Corridor (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

Fort Belvoir Military Railroad Historic Corridor
The Fort Belvoir Military Railroad (FBMRR) was constructed in 1918 when Camp A.A. Humphreys was made a semi-permanent cantonment as the U.S. entered into World War 1. The two main objectives for the FBMRR were to bring supplies and troops to camp for its rapid construction and war mobilization and to train engineer troops on the building of railroads, bridges, and other facilities essential to the U.S. war effort in France.

The 4.51-mile, standard-gauge railroad was built largely by combat engineers, with some assistance by civilian workers and soldiers from other branches. From January to July 1918 they laid track from the railhead junction near Newington to the center of camp.

The warehouse district buildings and Facility No. 707, just north of this location, were oriented in a linear layout for railroad accessibility. These buildings were directly associated with the supply storage, repair, and maintenance of the railroad to the south of this location. Railroad facilities were used by Belvoir Research, Development and Engineering Center to test rail equipment by simulating various shock types that would be placed on it during railroad yard switching procedures.

The FBMRR passenger service was discontinued after the Korean War but the railroad remained in use moving supplies until the last locomotive left Fort Belvoir in 1993.

Erected 2018 by Fort Belvoir and the Federal Highway Administration.

Editor's Note:
The FMBRR loading ramp is near the marker.
This is Facility No. 604, the 21st Street loading ramp.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website as written by Genna Duplisea:

Dedicated in 2018, this historical marker shares the story of a four-and-half mile railroad that was constructed during World War I. After the War Department established Camp A. A. Humphreys, the army needed a way to move thousands of troops and supplies from Washington to the camp. In order to facilitate this operation, the army constructed Fort Belvoir Military Railroad from January to July 1918. Prior to the construction of this rail line, the only way to transport men and materiel to the camp was by steamboat. The construction of the railroad had a secondary purpose, providing a training opportunity for military engineers who would construct railroads as part of their wartime duties. This standard gauge railroad ran just over 4.5 miles and the last locomotive ran on this track in 1993.

After the United States entered World War I in 1917, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers decided that all its officers and soldiers would receive training at Camp A. A. Humphreys. As a result, the military needed an efficient way to transport thousands of soldiers and a vast amount of supplies. Prior to the war, the easiest way to get from the District of Columbia to the camp, which stood on a peninsula, was by steamboat. Both military engineers and civilians worked on building the railroad, which ran from Newington Station (also known as Accotink Station by the military) to the center of the camp. Over 30,000 soldiers passed through the camp during the war.

In the 1930s, the camp was renamed Fort Belvoir after the plantation that once occupied the land. The railroad was used for safety testing and coal transport for the military, as well as passenger transportation. Commuter-class train cars were in use until 1948, with passenger service until the end of the Korean War in 1953. The military also made use of Fort Belvoir and its railroad in World War II and the Korean War. Colloquially the train was called the "Accotink Flyer" by soldiers.

In 1971 the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was authorized to close the station. Parts of the line continued to be used until 1993, when the last train ran on the tracks. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources recognized the rail corridor -- rail bed, sidings, rail yards, and associated buildings -- in its Historic Register in 2016. Fort Belvoir and the Federal Highway Administration maintain a historical marker, erected in 2018, near the location of the railroad, at the intersection of Telegraph Road and Fairfax County Parkway.


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Here follows an excerpt from Nathaniel Lee's book, "The Iron Road of Franconia" that talks about the railroad:

The other major spur that connected to the Washington Southern Railway was the Fort Belvoir Military Railroad, so named after the estate established on the property in 1740. The elegant brick mansion called “Belvoir” belonged to William Fairfax. He was the area tax collector of his day and a cousin to Lord Thomas Fairfax, from whom Fairfax County takes its name. The Belvoir mansion stood watch over the Potomac River for 43 years before a fire gutted it in 1783. During the War of 1812, American forces dug in on the slopes below the house during the four-day Naval Battle of the White House in 1914. What was left of the Belvoir mansion was destroyed by British cannon fire during the battle. The home foundations and adjacent family cemetery are on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1917, the United States declared war against Germany and entered the fighting in the First World War. The U.S. Army purchased property on the Belvoir peninsula south of the town of Accotink in order to train and prepare engineers for combat in Europe. Unfortunately, getting to the property was another matter entirely. In the closing months of 1917, Virginians were laboring through the harshest winter seen in decades.

Never intended to stand up to the snow or heavy hauling, the muddy farm roads in the vicinity were practically impassable. It took six strong horses to pull an empty wagon down the King’s Highway, and shipping was not an option either, as the Potomac River had frozen over. To assist in the mobilization efforts of troops and supplies, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the United States Railroad Administration to take over the operation of most of the country’s railroads, including the Washington Southern Railway. The construction of a dedicated military railroad was one of the first priorities.

A five-mile-long railroad spur was to be constructed between the main line of the Washington Southern Railway at Accotink Station and the site of Camp Humphreys (present-day Fort Belvoir), which was then under construction. On the morning of January 29, 1918, the Second Battalion of the 304th Engineers departed their headquarters at Camp Meade, Maryland, and arrived by train at Accotink Station three hours later, greeted by a blizzard. In true Army fashion, the men piled out of the train cars for their first ever backpack hike. Five miles of rugged forested country lay before them, and after trudging for hours through six inches of snow, they came to Camp Humphreys just as it began to darken. The barracks, when they reached them, were dirty and cold with just a folding canvas bunk to greet them.

The next day the raging blizzard continued as the men walked five miles with only a sandwich for their lunch to where their campsite was to be. There they worked in the snow all day, ate their cold lunch out in the open and brushed the snowflakes from their sandwiches as they ate. For a week thereafter, the men worked every day constructing their new camp. Mrs. George S. Kernan of the Mount Air plantation house played the kind host to the battalion on her land, and they named their encampment “Camp Merry Widow” in honor of her, while others, less grateful, give it the more obvious nickname of “Camp Mud.”

The Second Battalion began construction of the railroad from Accotink Station, while another group of engineers started to work from Camp Humphreys. Leaving the main railroad line, the proposed railroad right-of-way entered heavily wooded ground, crossed several valleys, plowed through a slight rise and passed their campsite. It then skirted the village of Accotink and crossed several more valleys and streams until it arrived at Camp Humphreys.

The work required various jobs such as cutting timber, flattening hills, filling valleys and building four trestle bridges. The largest of these bridges was some six hundred feet long. The bridge would have a six-degree turn, a two percent grade, and required especially accurate workmanship. The men measured, cut and placed the timbers for the bridge. They cut down timbers for the bridge from the surrounding forest and hauled them from where they grew. Toward the end of the work, when extra speed was called for, they installed a series of electric lights around the bridge. Work continued both day and night.

The battalion managed to complete this project and build passable roads through the area in less than seventy-five days. The battalion left Accotink and returned to their headquarters at Camp Meade, Maryland on April 14, 1918. These same men would be building bridges under German fire in France just a few months later. Victory over Germany would come in November of that year.

When the Fort Belvoir Military Railroad was finished, the power to pull the numerous boxcars, flatcars, coaches and Pullmans came from large steam engines supposedly used in building the Panama Canal. Two engines stayed busy during the First World War. When peace came, one became a stand-by engine. These locomotives ran from 1918 until about 1941 when diesels replaced them. Different engineering schools, including the Light Railway School, took advantage of the railroad as an instructional tool. There were units often learning the hands-on skills needed in building, maintaining and operating a railroad.

The Washington Southern Railway would remain under federal control for a total of 26 months. On February 29, 1920, by proclamation from the President of the United States, operational control of the railway returned to the RF&P Railroad, who officially absorbed the Washington Southern Railway into their own system and the Washington Southern name relegated to the history books.

Over the years, Camp Andrew A. Humphreys continued to grow in size. Many of the area Quaker families lost their land to the fort’s continued expansion and moved away. The name changed in 1935 to Fort Belvoir after President Franklin Roosevelt visited nearby Gunston Hall and learned of the historical associations with the Army property. The military railroad operated until 1997, a span of 79 years. The Base Realignment and Closure agreement, as well as the widening of Richmond Highway, meant the tracks and bridges were finally destroyed to bring the military and the surrounding community into the twenty-first century.