Traveling the VGN

While the Virginian was built to haul coal, it also carried passengers during its first 47 years. 

Full passenger service started in 1909, but was limited and was never a major revenue source, due to the fact that the railroad ran through mostly rural territory. Cars operated by the Virginian were often sparingly decorated, and offered few refinements.

At a peak in the 1920s, the Virginian made about a million dollars a year from passenger service. By the 1940s the Virginian was losing $50,000 a year in passenger operations but continued to run trains at the urging of state and local governments. 

Lecturers and other celebrities often used the railway system when touring. Noted educator and orator Booker T. Washington was a friend of H.H. Rogers, having met in 1894. Rogers often donated to Washington’s causes. In June 1909, Rogers invited Washington to give a lecture series along the Virginian’s route. During the trip, Washington had a private car.

Performance troops also used the railroads while on tour. Circuses and Wild West shows had become popular forms of entertainment after the Civil War. Thousands of spectators would gather. Both the circus and the Wild West show benefited greatly from the railroad, as safer and more expansive railroad networks meant that the shows could travel greater distances.

Performers and animals alike traveled on railroads like the Virginian, though only 5-10% of what the Virginian hauled was not coal.

Passenger service was discontinued on the Virginian in 1956, shortly before the Norfolk & western merger.