Alexandria to Bluemont - Washington & Old Dominion

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The Washington & Old Dominion is probably the best abandoned railroad in the Washington area as far as being able to find it. It has been converted into a walking/hiking trail from Alexandria to Purcellville. I remember seeing this abandoned right of way in the mid 70s - it was one of the lines that spurred my interest in abandoned railroads. The WOD ceased operation on August 27, 1968, its last major business being the hauling of material for the construction of Dulles Airport and the community of Reston. The rails were removed soon after this. The first part of the railroad was constructed in 1853 and it reached Leesburg by 1858. At one point it was called the Washington & Ohio and had designs on extending to the Ohio River at Parkersburg, WV. It only made it as far as Bluemont, VA in 1900. It came under the control of the Southern Railway in 1894, and then the WOD bought the Alexandria to Purcellville section from Southern in 1945. The C&O bought the WOD in 1956 and owned it until abandonment. The line went from Alexandria (at the Potomac Rail Yard) to Arlinco, Barcroft, Bluemont Junction, Falls Church, Dunn Loring, Wedderburn, Vienna, Hunter, Sunset Hills, Herndon, Sterling, Ashburn, Trap Rock, Leesburg, Paeonian Springs, Hamilton, Ivandale, Purcellville, Round Hill and Bluemont. At one point there was a branch from Bluemont Junction to Lacey, Douglas, and Rosslyn.

The abandoned ROW of the W&OD in Herndon, VA.  The former railroad ROW has been used as a walking trail and a power line ROW.

The W&OD station in Herndon, VA.  Not the semafore signal.

Reston, VA, and the former W&OD ROW after a snowstorm in January 2003.  Facing E near the intersection of Sunset Hills Road and Isaac Newton Square.

Near the same intersection in Reston, VA, facing W.