Chesapeake and Ohio 1309
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway 1309 is a steam locomotive built in 1949 for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) where it pulled coal trains until retirement in 1956. It was the last steam engine built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the North American market. In 1976, it was moved to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum for static display. The engine was purchased in 2014 by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad which began restoration with the intention of returning it to service as the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 1309.
Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway
Charlottesville gained its first railroad in 1850, when the Virginia Central Railroadformerly the Louisa Railroadarrived as it progressed westward towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Orange and Alexandria Railroad, chartered in 1848, entered into a contract in the early 1850s with the Virginia Central to use the Virginia Central's track from Gordonsville to Charlottesville for its extension southward towards Lynchburg. This line began operations to Charlottesville in April 1854. Thus, two major railroadsthe Virginia Central in an east-west direction and the Orange and Alexandria in a north-south directionconverged at Charlottesville, ensuring the town's prosperity. In 1868, the Virginia Central was reorganized with the Covington and Ohio Railroad to form the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, which was renamed as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in 1878. After a series of mergers, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad was incorporated into the newly formed Southern Railway in 1894. Charlottesville became a significant junction of the two railroads, with two railroad stations in operation. One was on the C&O line and the second, the Union Station, was just west of the C&O station at the junction between the C&O and Southern railroads.