The Fast Flying Virginian - A C&O Train Traditional Geocache
The Fast Flying Virginian - A C&O Train
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and its Fast Flying Virginian train are part of our railway heritage which you can witness! Find this traditional cache in the railroad town of Clifton Forge on the edge of the C&O Railway Heritage Center's grounds. From this point you can observe the replica of a 1892 passenger station, locomotives, train cars, and other historical structures and items.
Permission for this location was granted by the C&O Historical Society which owns the Heritage Center. While the C&O Historical Society is a non profit organization, they do charge an entrance fee for the Heritage Center. This cache is OUTSIDE of that fee perimeter.
For a person who loves trains, railroad heritage means a lot. Many people unfortunately never set foot on a train or have the thrill of feeling the ground shake as they watch a locomotive speed by or hear that stirring whistle. A friend in the historical society for the old Chesapeake & Ohio Railway has a very personal connection: his grandfather was the engineer on the locomotive of the Fast Flying Virginian! He remembers waving as his grandfather’s train arrived and left and even sitting in the locomotive cab. This cache is to celebrate that heritage.
The Fast Flying Virginian (FFV) made its first run in 1889 and was one of the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railway's most prestigious passenger trains. It was the first train in the system to operate with a dining car, and the original FFV was one of the first trains in the country to feature cars with enclosed "vestibules", enabling safe and convenient passage from car to car. The FFV traversed a beautiful route, running from Washington to Cincinnati, going over the Blue Ridge and North Mountains thru Clifton Forge to West Virginia, along the New River Gorge, and finally crossing the Ohio River into Cincinnati.
Besides its passenger trains like the FFV which moved both people and mail, freight trains were an even larger portion of the C&O business. The freight trains were critical to our growing nation’s need for energy and became a major transporter of coal from the premier West Virginia and Kentucky bituminous coal fields.
To support both, extensive upgrades were made during the Great Depression providing jobs and positioning the C&O to carry massive numbers of men and materials to support World War II and the nation’s post war growth.
Unfortunately for the FFV, while the freight business continued to flourish, the public embraced the automobile and the airplane, and passenger trains became less popular. The final blow came in 1967 when the U.S. Postal Service canceled all their mail contracts with the railroads. Many passenger trains became no longer financially viable. Sadly the FFV made its final run on May 12, 1968.
As with many industries there were many mergers within the railway industry. Today the C&O no longer exists as an independent entity. Its freight assets became part of the huge mega-railroad, CSX, and its passenger train assets became part of Amtrak.
Clifton Forge was a vibrant railroad town and an important place on the C&O. It was where locomotives were serviced and readied for the trip West over the Allleghany Mountains and East over the Blue Ridge Mountains. There was a large shop facility for the overhaul and repair of locomotives. It had a passenger coach yard, a large rail yard for classifying coal and other freight, an icing facility, and other required features. It is still a railroad town today.
There is so much the country owes to the C&O, and in Clifton Forge and the C&O Heritage Center you can learn more about this history.
C&O Historical Society
C&O Heritage Center
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
rire terra