Product Details
Beautifully engraved antique bond certificate from the Washington and Old Dominion Railway Company dating back to the 1910's. This document, which is signed by the company President and Secretary, was printed by A. Hoen & Co. and measures approximately 10 1/4" (w) by 15 3/4" (h).
The vignette features one of the company's electric trolley cars.
Images
You will receive the exact certificate pictured.
Historical Context
In 1911, John Roll McLean and Stephen Benton Elkins formed the Washington and Old Dominion Railway. In that year, they concluded negotiations with the Southern Railway to lease the Southern's Bluemont Branch and to take over all service on the branch on July 1, 1912. The lease excluded the portion of the Southern's route that connected Potomac Yard with the former AL&H terminal in old town Alexandria.
In 1912, the GF&OD became the "Great Falls Division" of the W&OD Railway, while the Southern's Bluemont Branch became a part of the W&OD Railway's "Bluemont Division". The W&OD electrified all of its operations over the next four years, becoming an interurban electric trolley system that carried passengers, mail, milk and freight. From that time onward, W&OD trains crossed over Potomac Yard on a long trestle constructed earlier for the Southern Railway. In contrast to the Southern Railway's earlier Bluemont Branch service, the W&OD Railway's Bluemont Division did not serve Washington's Union Station.
To join its two lines, the W&OD Railway constructed in 1912 a double-tracked Bluemont Division connecting line that traveled between two new junctions in Arlington: Bluemont Junction on the Alexandria-Bluemont line and Thrifton Junction on the Georgetown-Great Falls line. The connecting line passed through Lacey (near the west end of Ballston), crossing on a through girder bridge over a competing interurban electric trolley line, the Fairfax line of the Washington-Virginia Railway. The rival line carried passengers between Rosslyn, Clarendon, Ballston, Falls Church, Vienna and Fairfax City.
The railway's electrification system distributed 650 volts direct current (DC) to its Bluemont Division cars and trains through overhead catenary lines. Single overhead lines carried the Great Falls Division's electricity over its tracks. Stationary and movable electrical substations containing Westinghouse alternating current (AC) to DC converters were located at various points along the railway's routes.
The W&OD's main passenger line ran from Georgetown and Rosslyn through Thrifton Junction, Bluemont Junction and westward to Bluemont. However, after crossing the Potomac River from Georgetown, many W&OD passengers transferred in Rosslyn to the trolleys of the competing Washington-Virginia Railway. Most of the W&OD's freight trains ran between Potomac Yard, Bluemont Junction and either Rosslyn or various locations along the Bluemont Division.
In 1923, the W&OD Railway ceased operating from Georgetown when the federal government replaced the aging Aqueduct Bridge with the new Francis Scott Key Bridge. At the same time, the railroad constructed a new passenger station in Rosslyn which became its "Washington" terminal.
The W&OD Railway fell upon hard times in the 1930s during the Great Depression. In 1932, the railway went into bankruptcy and was placed in receivership. The railway also discontinued passenger service between Bluemont Junction and Alexandria during 1932.
In 1934, the railway abandoned operations on the Great Falls Division between Thrifton Junction and Great Falls. The abandoned railway route then became Old Dominion Drive (Virginia State Route 309). In 1979, the old rail trestle of the Great Falls Division over Difficult Run was demolished after years of carrying automobile traffic on Old Dominion Drive.
In 1936, the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad, a new corporation that Davis Elkins (the son of Stephen Benton Elkins) had created, assumed operation of the remnants of the W&OD Railway, which consisted only of the Railway's Bluemont Division and the portion of the former Great Falls Division that had remained between Rosslyn and Thrifton (which was no longer a junction).
