Ashland VA in 1913

Imagine the Ashland, Virginia cameras had been up in 1913. You would have seen 3 station tracks, a track wye the traces of which can still be seen today east of the station, and a lot of steam trains. Back then, the tracks were owned by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company (RF&P). The third station track occupied the space that is now the northbound lane of Center Street. It was a siding track used by local trains and it was the track connected to the wye.

On weekdays (then including Saturdays), 26 passenger trains passed Ashland, two of which originated here and two terminated here. On Sundays, 20 passenger trains passed. Many trains passing Ashland had through cars to Florida and other southern locations, including to Key West on the recently (1912) opened Florida East Coast Railroad extension along the Keys. Note that the railroad to Key West is still missing on the RF&P map (see pictures at the bottom of this page).