The Bluemont Line (Historical Marker)
GPS Coordinates: 38.8305544, -77.0556279
Closest Address: 300 East Raymond Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22301

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:
The Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad was formed in 1847 to carry the agricultural produce of the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia coal to the port of Alexandria. Financial difficulties, however, meant that the line never got farther west than Bluemont, Virginia, rendering it only marginally profitable throughout its existence. As a result, the line went through many changes of ownership, including operation by the Southern Railway from 1894 to 1912 and by the Washington & Old Dominion Railway (W&OD) until the track was abandoned in 1968.
(sidebar)
The Bluemont line of the W&OD was a sedate, low-volume carrier of produce, dairy products, mail and some passengers between Loudoun County, Alexandria and Washington, D.C. Consistently undercapitalized, the line was disparagingly referred to as the “Virginia Creeper” or the “Weary, Old & Dilapidated,” but by the 1960s, it was beloved by rail enthusiasts for its wide variety of rather elderly equipment.
Erected 2008 by City of Alexandria.
Addition Marker Inscriptions:
Produced for the Town of Potomac Centennial in 2008 by the City of Alexandria.
Research and text by Leland Ness
The marker is at the one end of the unpaved trail on the former railroad right-of-way between present-day Jeff Davis Hwy (US 1) and Raymond Avenue, now known as Mt. Jefferson Park & Greenway. It also marks the beginning of a paved trail that continues down the former railroad right-of-way to Commonwealth Avenue.
More about this marker. (captions):
(lower left) Originally a steam railroad, the line added electrical power during 1912-1916, and then switched to diesel in 1942. Here electric motor car No. 43 gingerly passes over the underpass being excavated for Russell Road (just south of Glebe Road) in 1916 en route to Alexandria Junction. National Archives
(center top) Under Southern Railway ownership, four to six passenger trains passed each direction daily between Washington and Bluemont via Alexandria Junction. Most of these operated on something approaching a commuter schedule, arriving in D.C. before 9 AM and leaving the city after 4:30 PM, giving the residents of St. Elmo and other suburbs an opportunity to commute into D.C.. In 1912, however, the new owners of the line diverted most of the passenger traffic to Rosslyn, bypassing the St. Elmo and Alexandria Junction stops. This photo shows the passenger shed that stood just north of Hume Avenue at Alexandria Junction about 1918. Ames Williams Collection, Alexandria Library
(center bottom) In 1932, the last remaining passenger service at the Alexandria, Alexandria Junction and St. Elmo stops was dicontinued. Alexandria Junction, which extended from Hume Avenue to Jefferson Davis Highway, remained in service for the few freight trains that moved between the main lines at Potomac Yard and the Bluemont line out to Purcellville. This photo faces north, with Raymond Avenue in the foreground, about 1960. Ames Williams Collection, Alexandria Library
(upper right) The W&OD passed over the Washington-Virginia Electric Railway's right-of-way (now Commonwealth Avenue) using a raised embankment on the eastern side. Their St. Elmo stop sat at the top of this embankment, with stairs leading down to the electric railway's similarly named stop, enabling passengers to transfer from one line to the other. Ames Williams Collection, Alexandria Library
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Here follows a newspaper article from the "Del Ray Citizen" about the railroad:
The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad in Del Ray
by Jim Stone
Del Ray is known historically as a railroading community, primarily because the area was settled by workers at the massive Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac rail yard on our eastern boundary. In addition to the RF&P, Del Ray was crossed by two smaller railways: the Washington, Alexandria & Mt. Vernon, a streetcar line that ran north-south along Commonwealth Avenue, and the Washington & Old Dominion, which carried freight and passengers between Alexandria and the foothills of the Blue Ridge.
The Washington, Alexandria & Mt. Vernon ceased operations in 1930 and has vanished with hardly a trace, but the W&OD had a lasting impact on Del Ray's geography. Begun in 1847 as the Alexandria and Harper's Ferry Railroad, the company first laid its tracks through what is now Del Ray by 1855. Its route shaped the street grid, and it is still clearly visible for most of its length through the neighborhood.
From the southeast, the W&OD entered Del Ray on on a quarter-mile-long viaduct over Potomac Yard and Route One. The recent demolition of the viaduct abutment at the foot of Mt. Ida and Custis Avenues came as welcome news to many neighborhood residents, but its loss will be mourned by railroad buffs. West of the viaduct, the trains served the industrial facilities along Jeff Davis Highway, passing through what is now the dog exercise area behind Randolph Avenue.
The Alexandria Junction station was located just to the northwest of the viaduct where the W&OD line once connected with the main north-south route to Washington. Before 1912 the line had been a branch of the Southern Railway for many years, but the crucial connection at Alexandria Junction was destroyed after the newly formed W&OD Railway Company leased the line. Mt. Jefferson Park and a bike path now occupy the site. The city's new bike plan calls for extending the path from Raymond Avenue to Route 1, and eventually over a new bridge to the Potomac Yard development.
A few blocks northwest at Commonwealth and Mt. Vernon Avenues, the St. Elmo station served as a transfer point for the Washington, Alexandria & Mt. Vernon streetcar line. The tracks traversed Commonwealth and the trolley line on a bridge, but crossed Mt. Vernon at grade level.
The new town homes adjacent to the Calvert Apartments have obliterated part of the old right-of-way, but the remainder of the route through the neighborhood is still traced by the dirt path behind the businesses on West Glebe Road. One final reminder of the W&OD can be seen on Russell Road near Glebe, where a concrete bridge abutment marks the point were the tracks exited Del Ray on their way westward toward Bluemont.
Passenger service on the W&OD ended in 1941 because of severely declining revenues, but it resumed two years later under orders of the Office of Defense Transportation as a war emergency measure, continuing until May 31, 1951. After many years of marginal operation, the railroad was abandoned entirely in August 1968. The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority purchased most of the right of way west of Alexandria between 1977 and 1982, creating the W&OD Railroad Regional Park, one of the best and most popular bike trails in the Washington area. The Friends of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail support this valuable regional resource.