Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Richwood Subdivision

The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Richwood Subdivision was a historic 121-mile railway extending from Clarksburg to Richwood, West Virginia.

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The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Richwood Subdivision was a historic 119-mile railway extending from Clarksburg to Richwood, West Virginia. Though much of the route has since been abandoned, it played a vital role in the region’s timber, coal, agriculture, and manufacturing industries.

History

Early Formation and Predecessors (1875–1889)

The origins of the Richwood Subdivision lie with the West Virginia & Pittsburgh Railroad (WV&P), initially incorporated on January 30, 1876. ⁵ The WV&P would eventually consist of two primary entities: the Clarksburg, Weston & Midland Railroad (CW&M) and the Buckhannon River Railroad. ¹¹

The CW&M was officially incorporated on April 10, 1889, consolidating several smaller, early railroad efforts: ¹¹

• Weston & West Fork Railroad: Formed on March 4, 1875, to build 24.9 miles of track between Clarksburg and Weston.
• Clarksburg, Weston & Glenville Railroad: Incorporated on August 6, 1878, to complete the Weston & West Fork’s work. By September 1879, it opened 24.9 miles of narrow-gauge track between Clarksburg and Weston.
• Buckhannon & West Fork Railroad: Incorporated on April 10, 1882, completing 15.8 miles of narrow-gauge track from Weston to Buckhannon.
• Buckhannon River Lumber Company: Incorporated on October 15, 1885, constructing a 13.3-mile narrow-gauge line from Buckhannon to Indian Camp Run (Calico Run) in 1886.
• Weston & Elk River Railroad: Formed on February 20, 1889, to build a line south from Weston toward Charleston via the Elk River. This line was never built.

The second component of the WV&P, the Buckhannon River Railroad, was formed shortly after on August 13, 1889, but was never constructed. ¹¹

Expansion Under the WV&P (1890–1898)

Under the WV&P banner, the network expanded further south. In 1890–1891, the line was extended from Weston to Sutton via Flatwoods. The following year, it reached Camden-on-Gauley. ⁴

In 1892, the WV&P built a freight depot at Lost Creek to serve the massive, unbroken tracts of cattle grazing land controlled by the Goff, Gore, Haymond, Lowndes, Lucas, Maxwell, and Reynolds families. ¹²

By 1898, however, the WV&P fell into receivership. On June 1 of that year, it was acquired by Johnson N. Camden and Clarence Cary. The new owners shifted the railroad’s projected southern terminus to the mouth of the Williams River near present-day Cowen in Webster County, targeting the area’s lucrative virgin timber forests.

The B&O Era and Industrial Boom (1899–1930s)

On August 31, 1899, ⁵ the B&O leased the WV&P, taking control of its 17 locomotives, 18 passenger cars, and 530 freight cars. ⁴

Under B&O control, the newly renamed B&O Richwood Subdivision was finally completed to Richwood in 1901. This provided a crucial connection between the B&O and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad (C&O). ⁵ At the time of the railroad’s arrival, Richwood, then known as Cherry Tree Bottoms, had a population of just 27. ⁶ Named for the region’s abundant timber, the town incorporated in 1901 and exploded in growth.

By 1930, Richwood’s population had surged to nearly 7,000. ⁷ It became an industrial powerhouse, boasting the Steele-Wallace Clothespin Factory (the largest in the world at the time), the Cherry River Boom & Lumber Company, the Cherry River Paper Company, the J.D. Wescott & Son broom and chair factory, and the Wm. F. Mosser Company (the largest sole leather factory). ⁸

Meanwhile, other towns along the line flourished:

• Lost Creek: The depot became the largest cattle shipping point on the entire B&O network in West Virginia. ¹² By 1923, it was the largest cattle shipping point east of the Mississippi River, requiring 275 cars to transport between 4,000 and 5,000 cattle. By the 1930s, the surrounding county was one of the premier beef-producing regions in the eastern United States.
• Richwood: Following the Great Depression, coal mining operations expanded significantly around Richwood. ⁷
• Weston: Developed into a center for glass manufacturing, drawing companies due to the availability and affordability of local natural gas, which made production highly competitive. ¹⁴

In 1948, the B&O petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to reroute its traffic between Jane Lew and Weston. The goal of this proposed shift was to bypass the steep grade over Fisher Summit by utilizing the Monongahela Valley Traction interurban alignment. The commission ultimately granted the request, and the newly realigned route officially entered service in 1952.

In 1963, the C&O took financial control of the B&O, ² resulting in the Richwood Subdivision being reorganized as the Cowen Subdivision. ¹⁷ By the 1970s and 1980s, the primary industries that had long sustained the route began to fail. Increased foreign competition forced Weston’s glass manufacturing companies to close sequentially. ¹³ Despite these early signs of regional industrial decline, the Cowen Subdivision initially maintained robust coal traffic, boasting 7,516 loadings (in 50-ton equivalent cars) for the month of August 1973. ²⁰

Corporate consolidation continued in 1980 when the Chessie System and the Seaboard Coast Line—which controlled the Louisville & Nashville, the Clinchfield, and the Georgia railroads—merged to form the CSX Corporation. ² Although total mine numbers were fluctuating, coal operations temporarily persisted; in September 1983, it was reported that 12 active mines on the subdivision had produced 6,373 loadings (in 30-ton equivalent cars) during that April. ¹⁹ However, the local coal industry soon collapsed because of high-sulfur coal that was mined locally, resulting in the loss of 500 mining jobs in Richwood between 1984 and 1985. ⁷ By 1985, the subdivision’s output had shifted to 10 active mines generating 128,610 total loadings for the year. ²¹

In 1986, the various merged corporate entities were officially rebranded under the single identity of CSX Transportation (CSX), during a year when the Cowen District’s remaining eight active mines produced 68,694 carloads. ¹⁸ The corporate restructuring culminated in April 1987, when the B&O was formally absorbed into the C&O, which was subsequently merged completely into CSX in August of that year. ² Despite this turbulent transitional period, the Cowen Subdivision remained active, handling three daily trips with each train ferrying an average of 70 to 80 cars and moving roughly 9,000 tons of coal. ¹⁷

Final Abandonments and the Rail-Trail (1989–1999)

With origination traffic severely depleted, CSX began abandoning the remainder of the Richwood Subdivision. On August 25, 1989, the section between Weston and McWhorter was discontinued. ¹³ In 1990, with no sign of the Richwood coal mines reopening, CSX abandoned the line between Cowen and Richwood. ⁹ On December 31, the original WV&P corporation was finally and fully merged into CSX. ⁵ In 1999, CSX abandoned the section between McWhorter and the former B&O St. Louis mainline in Clarksburg. ¹⁰

Following the 1990 abandonment between Cowen and Richwood, the Cranberry Tri-Rivers Rail-Trail committee purchased the right-of-way for $189,000. This was made possible by a $69,000 grant from the Georgia-Pacific Company, which operated a large mill in Richwood. In exchange, Georgia-Pacific retained the rights to use the trail as a logging haul road during the off-season.

In September 1998, the state dedicated the six-mile Tri-Rivers Trail. ⁹ Following the Cherry and Gauley Rivers between Richwood and Enoch Branch near Allingdale, the multi-use path features a long trestle over the Cranberry River and the 640-foot Sarah’s Tunnel. Future plans aim to extend the trail from Enoch Branch to Cowen along the former mainline, and from Bolair to Cowen along an old coal mine spur.

Modern Operations (2000s–Present)

The active remnants of the B&O Richwood Subdivision were reorganized as the CSX Cowen Subdivision, which ran south from Grafton to Philippi, Buckhannon, Burnsville, and Cowen.

On March 25, 2005, Watco Companies’ Appalachian & Ohio Railroad (A&O) took over operations of the Cowen Subdivision. ^{1 22} This sale also included the former Pickens Subdivision from Hampton Junction to Alexander, providing the A&O with strategic connections to the West Virginia Central Railroad at Tygart Junction, the Beech Mountain Railroad at Alexander, and the Elk River Railroad at Burnsville.

In its first year, the A&O anticipated moving 90,000 carloads. ¹ Coal comprised 95% of the traffic, destined for power plants in the North and Mid-Atlantic states. However, the A&O’s tenure was brief. On May 15, 2006, operations were transferred to Four Rivers Transportation, which was renamed P&L Transportation in 2012, a company jointly owned by the P&L Railway and CSX. ^{3 22}

In 2014, the Evergreen Mine in Cowen ceased operations and was permanently closed. Subsequently, in 2023, the Brooks Run surface mine at Erabacon was officially mothballed. The loss of these final mining operations ultimately left the Cowen Subdivision effectively idled for all trackage extending south of the Weyerhaeuser oriented strand board factory in Heaters.

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Sources

1. “A&O.” Watco, 2005. Article.
2. Volin, Rudy. “Perryville and Havre De Grace, Md.” Trains, 6 July 2006.
3. “A&O Railroad.” Appalachian and Ohio Railroad, 2006. Article.
4. “Richwood Branch – B&O RR.” West Virginia Railroads, Past and Present, 13 Jun. 2012. Article.
5. “West Virginia & Pittsburgh Railroad.” West Virginia Railroads, Past and Present, 28 May 2015. Article.
6. “Richwood, West Virginia.” West Virginia, Cyclopedia, 17 Jun. 2012. Article.
7. City of Richwood Comprehensive Plan. 2016, West Virginia University Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Clinic. Article.
8. Gioulis, Michael. Downtown Richwood Historic District. National Park Service, 2001. Article.
9. Kirkman, Kenney. “Here and There.” Turntable Times, Apr. 1998, pp. 1–2.
10. Robie, Dan. “Parkersburg to Clarksburg–Waist of the B&O Main part II.” WVNC Rails. Article.
11. “Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road.” La Belle Woodworking. Article.
12. Nesbitt, Becky and Jeff Wyne. Lost Creek Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot. National Park Service, 2004. Article.
13. Chris. “Weston, W Virginia.” Trainorders.com, 1 Dec. 2002. Forum.
14. City of Weston Comprehensive Plan. 2014, West Virginia University Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Clinic. Article.
15. Poggie, John J., et al., editors. “The Lost Setting: Roanoke, West Virginia.” Anthropological Research: Process and Application, State University of New York Press, 1992, p. 234.
16. Rice, Donald L. “Coal & Coke Railway.” e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, 30 Jan. 2012. Article.
17. Potter, Jay. “What Moves Chessie’s Trains.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, vol. 19, no. 5, May 1987, pp. 7-8.
18. Young, Everett N. “Coal Loadings for 1986.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, vol. 19, no. 7, July 1987, p. 16.
19. Young, Everett N. “Coal Slump.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, vol. 15, no. 9, Sept. 1983, p. 12.
20. Young, Everett N. “Caboose Notes.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, vol. 6, no. 2, Feb. 1974, p. 9.
21. Young, Everett N. “Coal News.” Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Magazine, vol. 18, no. 5, May 1986, p. 19.
22. Iverson, Lucas. “Appalachian and Ohio Railroad profile.” Trains, 20 Jan. 2023.

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