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C&O Milepost 160.4
Station Number: 160
Code Number: 0228
Telegraph Callsign: G
Gordonsville was named for Nathaniel Gordon. In 1787 Gordon purchased 1,350 acres of land and built a house at the crossroads of the Fredericksburg Road (now Gordon Avenue) and the Richmond Road (now Rt. 15/33). By 1794 he was running a tavern at the crossroads and the site soon became a stage coach stop. The Gordon establishment was famous for its chicken dinners. A Post Office was established there in 1813, with Gordon as the first postmaster. The new Post Office was called Gordonsville, though the original plantation had been called Newville.
In the 1840’s Gordonsville was the western terminus of the Louisa Railroad and the westernmost railhead in Virginia. Through the early part of the 1850’s it was Orange County’s largest and most populous town. This was due, in part, to the fact that the town was situated at the junction of the Virginia Central and the Orange & Alexandria railroads. In addition, the town stood at the intersection of two major turnpikes from the valley of Virginia. This location gave Gordonsville a strategic importance during the Civil War. U.S. Army troops tried several times to capture the town, but it remained in rebel hands throughout the war.
During the 1860’s the Exchange Hotel in Gordonsville was a luxurious stopping place for Virginia Central passengers. It was built in 1859 and officially opened in 1860. In March of 1962, the Exchange Hotel was converted into a military hospital, the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital. During Reconstruction (1865 to 1872), the hotel served served as a Freedmen’s Bureau, where education and care were provided to the newly freed slaves. After that, the hotel flourished again. The Exchange Hotel still stands, and today is a Civil War museum.
Gordonsville’s prosperity was adversely affected in the 1880’s when the Virginia Midland (formerly the Orange & Alexandria) built a line to the west of the town that provided a shorter route to Charlottesville for traffic from the north. The line was begun in 1879 and the first train ran from Orange to Charlottesville in January 1881. The towns of Barboursville and Somerset on the new Virginia Midland line pulled trade away from Gordonsville. As a result, the town’s fortunes declined, but it remained an important passenger and freight station for the C&O.
In the late 1860’s and early 1870’s, Gordonsville women sold food to C&O passengers through the open windows of the wooden cars. It was possible for the hungry traveller to purchase biscuits, coffee, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, bread, pies, and chicken without leaving the train. As a matter of fact, Gordonsville was known as the Chicken Leg Center of the Universe in the 1870’s. As late as 1914, hungry travelers could still buy food through the open windows of C&O trains. When dining cars became popular, dressed chickens were stock piled at Gordonsville and the Gordonsville name was used on menus.
In 1872, Scribner’s Monthly published an account of a train trip along the C&O from Newport News to Allegheny. In it, Jed Hotchkiss describes Gordonsville thus:
Here at mid-day the trains come from every point with an ear-shattering shriek of the steam-pipe...Gordonsville is a straggling village, built along a rocky turnpike by turns the dustiest and muddiest of highways, a jumble of carsheds, churches, and country stores. Its trade, apart from the fried chicken, is considerable in sumac, live-stock, agricultural implements, and Arctic soda-water drawn from Polar fountains (Hotchkiss, 1872, p. 149).
The C&O had steam locomotive servicing facilities in Gordonsville. These facilities included a 120 ton platform type coaling facility, two water tanks (one wood and one steel), and water columns. Changes were made to the water station in 1924 and 1925. A passing track (I’m guessing this was the one west of town) was built in 1927. A portion of the depot platform was retired in July, 1930. The coal house was retired in 1933. Bridge number 1605 over Main Street and its tracks were changed in June, 1937. The 1937 Side Track Record shows a large number of tracks in Gordonsville. There were 3 passing sidings: a 2871' one to the east (track number 877), a 5596' one to the west (track number 889), and a 4256' one to the north (track number 879). Gordonsville also had 2 commercial tracks. One (track number 878) was 1801' long. The other (track number 882) was 482' in length. Track number 888 was a wye track and track number 841 was an 841' set off track. The remaining tracks (numbers 880, 881, 883, 884, 886, 887, and 890) were all crossovers. A portion of the freight house was retired in 1939. In May, 1945 the brick signal tower, G cabin, was constructed. The wood tower remained until it was retired in February, 1946. The passenger station was remodeled in 1948. In 1949 further changes were made to the water station. According to the C&O’s 1950 Industrial Directory, Gordonsville had a team track, a shop track with a 4 car capacity, and a mill track (also with a 4 car capacity). The C&O also had two stock pens in Gordonsville. The team track served the Piedmont Knitting Company (a textile plant) and the Producers Cooperative Exchange (which shipped flour, feed, seed, and hay). Holliday Brothers (a coal and building supply company) had its own private siding and the Orange-Madison Cooperative Bureau was served from a house track. It’s unclear to me at this point which of the tracks described by the Industrial Directory correspond to which tracks from the Side Track Record. The water tanks were retired in place in 1956. I don’t know when the wooden one was taken down, but the steel one is still standing as of 2025. In February, 1956 the tool house from Green Springs was moved to Gordonsville and installed behind the freight house as a garage. In late 1958 a track (number 2782) was built off of the west passing siding to serve a pulpwood yard for the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. The cattle pen was retired in December, 1963. According to a report in the August, 1973 C&O Historical Newsletter, the agency in Gordonsville was combined with the first trick operator’s duties as of May 1, 1973. All of the agency functions were conducted out of G cabin and the depot was closed. According to that same report, crossover 887 and most of the passing siding (track 879) were out of service and were being removed. Those tracks may have been out of service, but they definitely weren’t removed; see the photo of the mill below. That said, according to the Valuation Maps, crossover 886 and a portion of the passing track (number 879) were retired in 1975. One of the commercial tracks (number 882), crossover 881, and a portion of passing track 877 were retired in 1977. Crossover 880 and a portion of the remaining commercial track (number 878) were retired in 1988. Passing tracks 877 and 879, commercial track 878, and crossover 884 were retired in 1993.
Photos |
The Passenger Depot |
The first passenger depot in Gordonsville was part of the current freight station (see below). That station was replaced around 1870 with a two-story depot inside the wye. The new station included a telegraph office and served both the C&O and the Orange, Alexandria & Manassas (successor to the O&A). That station was replaced in 1904 by this unique station, also built inside the wye. The new station resembles other stations built around the same time (e.g., Doswell, Va; St. Albans, W.Va). It served the C&O until the advent of Amtrak in 1972. The train sheds were removed, I believe, in 1975 and the station itself was torn down in 1978. This view of the station is from a postcard dated September 20, 1910. The point of view is a common one. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This is another postcard view of the depot and is roughly contemporaneous with the previous image. That’s St. John’s Hotel on the left, with just a bit of the porch roof for Magnolia House visible. (From the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This shot — from May of 1968 — seems to have been taken by someone on the stairs to G cabin. The man in the photo was identified as a flagman by the eBay seller, but I’m not sure that’s correct. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This is the Piedmont Sub side of the depot in October of 1970. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This is the Washington Sub side of the depot in October of 1970. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
A view of G cabin and the depot from a train pulling into the station in October of 1971. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This photo shows the depot as seen from the rear of Amtrak train #98 in January of 1973. (Photo by LaVerne Brummel, used with permission)
This photo shows the depot from Amtrak’s version of the George Washington in February, 1974. (Photo by LaVerne Brummel, used with permission)
The next three photos show the depot in 1975 after the train sheds were removed. This one is from the Piedmont Sub side. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This shot is from the Washington Sub side. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
The Gordonsville depot partially obscured by G cabin. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This photo from August, 1978 show the Gordonsville depot shortly before it was torn down. (Photo by G. R. Harper, used with permission)
Another shot of the depot without the train sheds. This provides a great view of details of the bay window. (Photo by G. R. Harper, used with permission)
The Schedule Board |
While the depot itself is gone, the schedule board still exists and is housed in the Exchange Hotel. I thought it odd that it was still showing the schedule for July 26, 1969. Then I received an email from Lynne Lewis who explained, “Back in December 2000 (as I recall) I was at the [Exchange Hotel] Museum for a Christmas activity and noticed the blank schedule board. I asked about it and the guide said that they had always wanted to post the schedule for the last trains on the last day of passenger service. Well, my father was in the RR business all his life, and so I posed the question for him. A few weeks later I had the answer and it is on the board as you photographed it, although with the caveat that there was no guarantee that either direction actually stopped that day - but it was certainly the last possible train one could have caught out of Gordonsville. Now all we have to do is find someone who remembers whether it stopped that day or not :-)” (2002 photo)
The Waiter-carriers |
Perhaps one of the best-known images of the waiter-carriers is this woodcut originally published with Hotchkiss’ article in Scribner’s Monthly in 1872. It is the only image that I am aware of that even gives a hint of what the 1870 depot might have looked like.
This photo, one of the few taken of the waiter-carriers, is from an old postcard. There was no date of the photo on the card, but it was postmarked 1907. The photo must be older than that, though: notice the truss rods on the passenger cars. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
I had never seen this image of the waiter-carriers until the postcard it is on was auctioned on eBay. I had to have it. Like the previous photo, this one is undated, but the card is postmarked 1911. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
Signal Towers |
This photo is from a postcard dated October 18, 1916. The wooden signal tower in the foreground is an example of a C&O standard for wooden towers. It was later replaced by a brick cabin. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
For some time it was unclear when the brick G cabin was built; most of my sources indicated a build date in the late 1930’s. Then I received an email from O. B. Omohundro, Jr, who wrote, “The wooden tower ... was in use up to the late 40s. When the brick tower (G Cabin) was built, a gentleman by the name of Tom Taylor, who owned the Old Oaken Bucket hotel on main street, bought the wooden tower and moved the upper part of it to form the office of Taylor’s Pontiac. This section of the old tower still exists today although if you don’t know the history, you probably would not recognize it.” He later spoke to Mr. Taylor’s son about the tower and then sent me this: “His son says that it was moved about 1945 and the picture is marked 1950. The address on North Main is 208, but the roof is about all you will recognize of the original building.” I’ve since been able to confirm this information: the C&O Valuation maps show that G cabin was built in 1945 and that the wooden tower was removed in 1946. This photo shows the top of the tower in its new location. (1950, from Garnett A. Taylor, used with permission)
This photo shows the tower — still recognizable — in July of 1975 (J. G. Madden photo. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This photo shows the tower as it appears now. All that’s recognizable is the roof. (2003 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
The concrete foundation for the wooden tower still stands inside the wye on the Piedmont Sub side. (2001 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
This photo of G Cabin was taken on November 23, 1985. My first vist to the Piedmont Sub as a railfan occurred earlier that year. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
This is G Cabin as it appeared on July 1, 1990. It is a fine example of the C&O’s standard brick cabin. Note that all the train order semaphores were still in place. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
By 1995 things hadn’t changed much. Do note, however, that the train order semaphore blades are gone. (Photo by Larry Z. Daily)
After 66 years G Cabin no longer officially exists. The Buckingham Branch RR has renamed it East Gordonsville. (2011 photo by Gary Smith. Used with permission)
This is the view from the top floor of G cabin. In this modern photo, all of the old C&O signals have been removed. There have also been a lot of changes to the town itself, visible to the left, since the days of the C&O. (2013 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
The Freight House |
The C&O’s freight house in Gordonsville was very near the passenger depot. It is one of a few former C&O structures still standing in Gordonsville. One interesting possibility that has been mentioned is that this building may have the original depot for the town. Historic Gordonsville members located a deed from 1840 that indicates 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 the Exchange Hotel, may have been the original passenger depot. (1995 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
This circa 1990 photo shows the siding that used to serve the freight house and the mill (see below). By the time I was taking photos with an eye toward modeling Gordonsville, the siding had been removed. (Photo circa 1990 by Mark Herrmann, used with permission.)
I visited the Piedmont Sub quite a lot during the early 2000’s and I always visited Gordonsville. It always looked a lot like this photo from September 18, 2002. It never occurred to me that one day in the future the signals would be taken out and the freight house moved and rebuilt. (Photograph by George W. Hamlin. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
Historic Gordonsville successfully acquired the freight house from CSX. One condition of the sale, however, was that the building be moved 50 feet from active tracks. This is the station in its new location. The original location was where all the weeds are in the foreground. (2004 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
This photo from May12, 2022 shows the freight house after restoration. I’m not sure how I feel about what was done. I spent a lot of time studying the building in its original form. I found that each of the windows was a slightly different size and that there were three spacings of the boards on the trackside wall (more on the streetside wall). My opinion — which is worth exactly what you’re paying me for it — is that those inconsistencies said something about the history of the structure. That information is now lost. (May 12, 2022 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
Trains in Gordonsville |
C&O F-18 484, a 4-6-2 Pacific, rounding the wye at Gordonsville on the Washington Subdivision side. Number 484 was Built in Richmond in 1923 and was retired in 1952. That means that the photo must have been taken between sometime between 1946 when G cabin was built and 1952 when the F-18's were retired. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
The next six photos are all of a June 7, 1953 National Railway Historical Society excursion train. This train was the last steam powered train into or out of Washington, D.C. Even though I’ve created a new page to cover excursion runs on the Piedmont Sub, I’ve kept these here because they also provide unique views of parts of Gordonsville that are important.
This photo, from June of 1953, is one of my all-time favorite eBay purchases. There’s just so much to like about this shot. First, it shows the platform that once ran along the leg of the wye connecting the Piedmont and Washington Subs. It’s also the only color image that I’ve ever seen of the wooden water tank. Oh, and who could ignore streamlined Hudson number 490? In the distance you can see one of the water columns and, beyond that, a couple of MOW sheds. It’s also obvious that the entrance to the station area from what is now Depot Street didn’t exist in 1953, but that there was parking inside the wye. Does anyone know where the access point was located? (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
C&O E8 4025 is only about a year and a half old in this June, 1953 photo. When I first posted this photo, I couldn’t figure out what train this would be. It’s clearly on the track connecting the Piedmont and Washington Sub legs of the wye, which would suggest that the train is on its way to Washington from Richmond, but my April, 1953 passenger timetable doesn’t show a train on that route. I finally made the connection between this photo and the one above: this must be part of the excursion trip. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
In this shot, the train is stopped on the track connecting the Piedmont and Washington Sub legs of the wye. Note the train order semaphore. (Photo by Doug C. Jones. From a negative in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
In this shot the train is on the Washington Sub leg of the wye. Doug was obviously standing on the stairs for G cabin. Note the wooden water tank in the background. (Photo by Doug C. Jones. From a negative in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
Another shot of the train from the stairs of G cabin. That’s Magnolia House (see below) on the right. (Photo by Doug C. Jones. From a negative in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
A passenger train from Washington pulling into Gordonsville on June 7, 1953. I don’t believe this train was part of the excursion seen in the previous photos. (Photographer unknown. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
A C&O local, led by GP9 5981, rounds the wye at Gordonsville sometime in 1967 (for another shot of this train, see the Operations page). The freight station, the signal mast, and the crossing signal all seem to be wearing fairly fresh paint. (Photo by Norman Blackwood. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
It’s April 21, 2004, and Amtrak Train 51 led by P42DC number 70 is entering Gordonsville from Orange. (Photo by George W. Hamlin. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
Bridge #1605 |
The C&O built this bridge over Rt. 15/33 in the 1930’s. It was a replacement for an earlier single track bridge (see below). This photo was taken in August of 1995. Sometime prior to this photo, the bridge had been raised to accommodate truck traffic (note the reddish colored bridge shoe under the center of the bridge). Shortly after that, CSX painted it powder blue. (1995 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
This drawing shows the general shape of the pre-1930’s bridge over Main Street. It was prepared from some C&O drawings that Gary Smith found and copied for me. One was dated 1930, the other (possibly) 1929.
Steel Water Tank |
This water tank is evident in photos dating back to the 1950’s. There was also a wooden tank visible in some of the earlier photos. Both tanks stood inside the wye. Water columns once stood along each leg of the wye. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
As noted above, the steel water tank existed in the 1950’s. The wooden tank was to the left. Note the mill in the background; it seems to have wood siding. By the time that I was taking photos in the 1990’s it was covered in metal siding. (Photo by Doug C. Jones. From a negative in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
The Hotels |
This is the Exchange Hotel as it appears today. It provided a resting place for C&O passengers throughout much of its existence and served as a hospital during the Civil War. Today it is a museum. (1998 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
The St. John’s Hotel was owned by James Keegan and was built in 1866. It was a long, four-story building with a wide, columned veranda facing the tracks across from the passenger station. The St. John’s Hotel was quite famous and operated as a hotel well into the 20th century. This view is from a postcard from the early 1900’s. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
Magnolia House was built as a hotel in 1871 and opened in 1872. It was bought by James Keegan in 1885 and was converted to residence. It stands very close by the tracks, near the location of G cabin (to the left in the photo). (1997 photo by Jerry Simonoff. Used with permission.)
Another shot of Magnolia House. (1999 photo by Larry Z. Daily)
The Mill |
The Gordonsville Milling Company opened in 1910. Its second owner renamed it Rocklands Milling Co. in 1917. According to Nancy Haney, the current owner, the mill was also once owned by Southern States. When her father bought it in 1985 it had reportedly been vacant for 17 years. C&O track charts indicate that the mill and the freight house once shared a siding. The siding is visible in this photo (and the freight house photo above). (Photo circa 1990 by Mark Herrmann, used with permission.)
The Pulpwood Yard |
In 1958, a siding was built off of the passing siding on the west side of Gordonsville. The purpose was to serve a pulpwood yard for West Virginia Pulp and Paper. On June 27, 1986 a Chessie train is approaching that facility; the switch is just past High Street in the foreground of this photo. Note the cantilever signal bridge, which is somewhat different from the C&O standard. (Photo by Sam Bone. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
The train seen in the previous photo was led by GP40-2 4373. (Photo by Sam Bone. From a slide in the collection of Larry Z. Daily.)
The switch into the pulpwood yard is to the right in this photo from August 26, 1999. By that point, it was operated by someone other than West Virginia Pulp and Paper. (Photo by Larry Z. Daily.)
This photo - taken the same day as the previous one - shows the view into the pulpwood yard. (Photo by Larry Z. Daily.)
The Town |
This view of Gordonsville’s business district is from a postcard postmarked 1908. Note that old single track bridge 1605 is just visible in the background. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
I believe this view of Gordonsville’s business district is from a more recent (1940’s) postcard. If I’m correct, that’s the new bridge in background. It looks like it’s painted black with white lettering. (From a postcard in the collection of Larry Z. Daily)
Maps |
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This map was prepared using C&O Drawing #D. E. 2472, dated March 24, 1950. The purpose of the original was to document grade crossings within the corporate limits of Gordonsville. |
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This map was prepared from U.S.G.S. topological maps, C&O track charts dated 1963, C&O Side Track Records dated 1937, a copy of the Side Track Records updated through the 1990’s, and C&O Valuation maps, also updated through the 1990’s. |
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