Existing Stations

Richmond’s Main Street Station was a union station built to serve the C&O and the SAL. It opened on November 27, 1901. The French Renaissance-style station was the transportation focal point of Richmond for 50 years. The SAL moved to Broad Street Station in 1959. Amtrak closed Main Street Station in October 15, 1975 after it was badly damaged in the James River floods of 1969 and 1972. A developer bought the station in 1983 with plans to turn it into a mall. Disaster struck shortly thereafter when a fire destroyed the roof. It was restored and the mall opened in 1985. The venture was not successful, however, and the mall soon closed. In 1990, the Virginia Department of Health opened offices in the station. At the time of this writing (summer 2025), Main Street Station is a transportation hub for the city of Richmond. (1974, LaVerne Brummel photo, used with permission)

The C&O built this little passenger shelter in May of 1943 to replace the passenger station at Ashcake. The shed was itself removed sometime after 1963 and stands alongside a road about ½ mile from its original location. (November 2001 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This is Hanover Station as it appears today. According to Jack Bruce a former member of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors dismantled the depot and reconstructed it as his home about a mile from its former location. (November 2001 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

The C&O and the RF&P maintained a joint passenger station at Doswell, where the two lines crossed. The original depot was destroyed during the Civil War and was replaced by a temporary building and water station. In 1870 a permanent station was built that was itself replaced in 1907. The 1907 station burned twenty years later and was replaced by this red brick, Georgian style building. Doswell station is currently in use by the Buckingham Branch as offices. This image was dated 1983. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)

This passenger shelter was moved from its location at North Anna sometime after 1963. It is now in use as a storage shed on a nearby farm. (2002 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This passenger shelter was moved from its location at Noel sometime after 1963. It is now in use as a storage shed on a nearby farm. (2002 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This is the waiting shelter that used to stand in Holliday. It has been moved a short distance from its original location and the front was closed in. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only existing example of the C&O’s standard shelter (see the Chickahominy page for a photo of one in service). Hundreds of these small shelters were built to replace stations as passenger levels on the C&O declined. (2002 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This is the C&O’s shelter from Teman The shelter was moved from its original site to a farm near Holiday, where it sat next to the Holiday shelter. In 1977 Causey and Bev Davis purchased the Teman shelter and moved it to Richmond. They restored it to the appearance shown in the photo. According to Causey Davis, they found a date of 1917 carved on one of walls during the restoration. (November 2009 photo by Causey Davis. Used with permission.)

This brick station was built in 1866 on the site of earlier stations destroyed in the Civil War. The town bought and restored the station in the mid-1980’s. This photo shows the Beaver Dam station as it appears today. It was closed when I visited, but a peek through the windows showed that the interior has been as nicely restored as the exterior. The station is listed in the National Register of Historical Places.(1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This little freight station once stood along the C&O main in Buckner. It was moved to the lot of a private residence where it still stands today. (November 2001 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This station was built to serve the town of Mineral in the mid-1880’s. It was lengthened in about 1900. At that time the interior contained a waiting room, a freight room, and two offices. The Mineral depot is still in use by Buckingham Branch maintenance crews. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

The Louisa station was built in 1899 for a total cost of $386. It is an excellent example of the C&O’s 1892 standard design. The station is owned by CSX but was leased to the Maddox Feed Store which used it as a storage building. When the lease expired, the Buckingham Branch took it over and cleaned it up for use as offices. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This is the Trevilian Station as it appears today. The U.S. Postal Service once had a Post Office in the far end in what used to be the waiting room, but the Post Office is now closed. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

The C&O’s freight house in Gordonsville was very near the passenger depot. One interesting possibility is that this building was the original depot for the town. Historic Gordonsville members located a deed from 1840 which indicates that a building “occupied as a freight depot” stood on this site. Further, the 1878 Grey map of Gordonsville shows that this building was once much larger than it is now. The “missing” section, which was on the side nearest a hotel, may have been the original passenger depot. The building has since been moved and restoration is underway. (1995 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This building was Keswick’s station until 1947. At that time a curve reduction moved the tracks away from the station. The building once housed a community center and later was the Little Keswick School. I’m not sure how it is being used now. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This is the last Keswick station. This cinderblock structure was built in 1947 to replace the previous building. After it was closed it served as a retail outlet. It is now vacant and untended. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)

This large colonial-style station was built in 1905. It was the first of its kind on the C&O. At its peak in the 1920’s the Charlottesville Station was handling 13 trains daily. The station was sold to a developer in 1984 and was converted into office and retail space. According to Garth Groff, the renovation of was completed about 1990. The platforms were enclosed with new wooden walls but the main station was not changed. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily).