Hunting Creek Trolley Station (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the station once stood. No visible remains exist.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Here follows an excerpt on Northern Virginia trolleys from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Washington-Virginia Railway:
For 15 years, the Washington-Virginia Railway (W-V Railway) controlled two of the three electric railways in Northern Virginia, along with its own Alexandria and Suburban Motor Vehicle Company (A&S). The W-V was chartered in 1910 to operate an electric line from Bluemont to Vienna, which it never did. Instead, in that same year it took control of the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway and the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railways.

A 1912 merger with the Washington Utilities Company was reversed the following year by federal regulators, and the latter company shut down.

Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway:
In 1890, the Alexandria and Fairfax Passenger Railway was chartered to provide a faster way to reach Mount Vernon than the steamboats that had been used since Mount Vernon opened to the public three decades earlier. In 1892, it changed its name to the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway and began operating between Alexandria and Mount Vernon. Desiring to become an interurban railroad, it updated its charter and extended the line to Rosslyn in 1896. Along that extension it reached a point called Arlington Junction, located near the present-day corner of S. Eads and S. 12th Streets in Arlington where it also built tracks to the 1872 Long Bridge allowing access to Washington, D.C. Once across the Long Bridge, it first used the Belt Line Street Railway Company's old horsecar tracks to reach a station on 14th Street NW in downtown. A year later, it tore those tracks out and replaced them with ones that allowed for underground power. Service to DC began in May 1896 and a few months later to Rosslyn. When the Rosslyn extension opened in July 1896, it was the longest electric streetcar line in the world.

In 1902, the railroad moved its station, as the Belt Line's tracks were circling the block containing the site of a planned new District Building (now the John A. Wilson Building). The new station at 1204 Pennsylvania Avenue NW extended along Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and D Street, NW, from 12th Street, NW, to 13+1⁄2 Street, NW, near the site of the present Federal Triangle Metro station and on the opposite side of 12th Street from the Old Post Office building. In May of that year, the tracks between Arlington Junction and Four Mile Run were doubled to allow for storing rush hour cars during the day.

In 1903 they built a loop around the block bounded by King, Fairfax, Prince and Royal in Alexandria to allow trains in either direction to turn around.

In 1905, to accommodate the construction of a new City Hall on the site of the Capital Traction Company's former power house, which had burned to the ground in 1897, the railway terminal was moved from 13 1/2 Street and E to 12th and D, NW. That same year, the double tracking of the line was extended south to Alexandria and included the bridge over Four Mile Run.

In 1906, the 1872 Long Bridge's streetcar tracks and road were moved to the Highway Bridge, a new truss bridge immediately west of the older bridge. This span was removed in 1967.

By 1906, the railway had transported 1,743,734 passengers along its routes with 92 daily runs. The route became known as the "Road of the Presidents." Passengers and others could read a 122-page Hand-book for the Tourist Over the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon Electric Railway that described in detail the railway's routes and stations as well as the landmarks, history and geography of the area through which the railway traveled.

In 1907 they finished work on a new terminal at Mt. Vernon. Located near the present entrance, it was a large building with a large restaurant that offered al fresco dining on the balcony. That same year, the Union Passenger Depot opened on the west end of Alexandria with the Mt. Vernon passing beneath it at viaduct and small spur was built to the west, which was removed in 1910.

Washington-Virginia Railway:
In 1910, the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway merged with the Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railway, which was under the control of the Washington-Virginia Railway.

The rise of the automobile, bad decisions, and economic hard times would lead to the demise of the railway.

In early 1918, A year after the U.S. entered World War I, the Army created Camp Humphreys to train engineers. At the time the only way to reach it was by boat so in July the railway, via a separate corporation named the Mount Vernon and Camp Humphries Railway (chartered with this misspelling), agreed to build a 5-mile extension to the camp. Money was forwarded to them by the War Department and the U.S. Railroad Administration and they purchased 49 new cars with it. While they originally planned to finish the work in 60 days, they were only able to build about 4 miles, and only electrify a few hundred feet, before they ran out of financing. Meanwhile, a standard gauge railroad connection from the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad opened in July and the Richmond-Washington Highway was paved in October, reducing the need for the electric rail. When the war ended on Nov 11, 1918, the incentive to invest in the line largely disappeared and, as a result, the line sat disused for years. At the end of 1920, the US Government cut a deal to finish the line and operate service on it, paying rent to the streetcar with an option to buy it. By that time the company was already reorganizing. During the spring of 1921, troops at the engineering school finished the line. The corps of engineers bought a single yellow, Brill-Mack rail gasoline rail car and trailer and ran the line for about a year, before stopping service because it was too costly. The project left the railway with a million dollars of debt. The debt, competition from automobiles resulting from the paving of the highway and the construction of new roads, led the company into receivership in 1923. The next year it ended all freight operations, as that had lost money for years. It continued to operate in receivership until 1927.

In early 1925, Robert L. May received a charter to operate a bus line between Washington and Alexandria. Prior to that the W-V railway had formed the Alexandria and Suburban Motor Vehicle Company (A&S) to run buses between Alexandria, Potomac Yard and the Virginia Theological Service. At the time, many correctly predicted that it would lead to the end of the Washington-Virginia railway, though the A&S was given permission to go to Washington 10 months later.

Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington Railway:
In 1927, the two railways were separated and sold at auction, the Washington-Mount Vernon line (AKA the Mount Vernon Division) becoming the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington Railway. At the same time the A&S was sold to the Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington (AB&W) Transit Company.

The next year, Congress passed legislation to build the George Washington Memorial Parkway and they later began negotiations to purchase the line between Alexandria and Mount Vernon as the parkway would follow the route of the railway in several places and the land at the terminus was needed for the park planned along the road. In early 1930, it was announced that the line south of Alexandria, which had long been losing money, would be abandoned, scrapped and the land sold to the federal government. On February 4 they petitioned the state for authority to abandon the 8 miles of line, following which the federal government paid $150,000 for it. A few days after announcing the abandonment, the owners announced a deal to sell the tracks, trolley wires, incidentals and rolling stock, including a once state-of-they art luxury car used to carry Presidents and other dignitaries to Mount Vernon, for scrap metal. Scrapping of the line began on 1 March 1930.

In May 1930, the railway was sold to Robert L. May and merged with the bus service, with both reducing service and raising prices.

In 1926, the federal government began planning for Federal Triangle. By 1931 it was decided that the DC terminal and a portion of tracks for the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Washington railway would need to be removed to make way for the project. The company sued to prevent this, but lost their case and an appeal to the Public Utilities Commission to use a different route. In early 1932, after being threatened with having their charter stripped and being promised compensation, they agreed to end service to Washington. The last trolley between Arlington Junction and downtown Washington ran on January 18, 1932, two days after the George Washington Memorial Parkway opened. Its operations were replaced with buses from Arlington Junction to a new bus terminal in DC and the tracks between the Bridge and Arlington Junction removed to widen Route 31. For a brief time it operated as the Mount Vernon, Alexandria and Arlington railway, but it was granted permission to suspend service which it did on April 9 of that year. The tracks and other equipment in Alexandria and Arlington were removed except on the paved streets of Alexandria, and in the fall Alexandria negotiated for the removal of the tracks in the city. However, in 1934, finding the cost out of reach, Robert L. May negotiated the transfer of the right of way to the city in exchange for not having to remove them.

Not much of the line remains. Some streets follow the right-of-way and the path of the trolley turnaround at Mount Vernon remains as a traffic circle at the south end of the Parkway, while the former rail yard in southern Arlington now serves as a Metrobus yard.

Route:
After crossing the Potomac River, the trolleys entered Arlington County (named Alexandria County before 1920) to run southward near and along the present route of Interstate 395 (I-395). They then reached Arlington Junction. At the Junction, the line's route diverged from that of a line that traveled west to Fairfax City and which connected to others that served Arlington National Cemetery, Rosslyn and Nauck. After leaving Arlington Junction, trolleys on the Washington-Mount Vernon line continued south along the present route of S. Eads Street while traveling largely on the grade of a towpath on the west side of the defunct Alexandria Canal. Near Arlington's present southern border at Four Mile Run, the railroad and its affiliates constructed an amusement park (Luna Park) and a rail yard containing a car barn and a power plant.

After crossing Four Mile Run into present-day Alexandria, the trolleys continued to travel south along the present route of Commonwealth Avenue. The Mount Vernon line then passed under a bridge at St. Elmo that carried the Bluemont branch of the Southern Railway and later the branch's successor, the Bluemont Division of the W&OD Railway. The lines' St. Elmo stations, located in Alexandria's present Del Ray neighborhood, gave travelers an opportunity to transfer between the railroads.

The Mount Vernon line's trolleys then continued southward along Commonwealth Avenue until reaching King Street near Alexandria's Union Station. The line's trolleys then turned to travel east on King Street until they reached a station at Royal Street, in the center of Old Town Alexandria next to Market Square. They then turned again, traveled south on S. Royal Street and crossed Hunting Creek to enter Fairfax County on a 3,500 feet (1,067 m)-long bridge containing a concrete and steel center span and trestle.

The railway also operated a city line that ran from the ferry wharf at King and Union to the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station at Cameron and Fayette, travelling along King, Columbus and Cameron.

After traveling through New Alexandria, where the line had originated, the trolleys continued south through Fairfax County at speeds of up to 30 miles (48 km) per hour while traveling partially along the present routes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, East Boulevard Drive and Wittington Boulevard. After crossing Little Hunting Creek, they reached a turnaround loop on which they traveled to a terminal constructed near the entrance to the grounds of George Washington's home in Mount Vernon.

At Mount Vernon, when the electric railway began service, the estate's proprietors insisted that only a modest terminal be constructed next to the trolley turnaround. They were afraid that the dignity of the site would be marred by unrestricted commercial development and persuaded financier Jay Gould to purchase and donate thirty-three acres outside the main gate for protection.