Collection is open for research.
Permission to publish material from Virginian Railway Photographs must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Virginian Railway Photographs, Ms2013-015, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The collection was donated to Special Collections in June 2011.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Virginian Railway Photographs was completed in March 2013.
Created in 1907 from the merger of two existing railroads, the Virginian Railway Company (VGN) operated as an entity until 1959, at which point it became part of the Norfolk & Western Railway. A brief history of the VGN can be found on the Norfolk and Western Historical Society
The collection contains 85 photographs of the Virginian Railway and 2 images from a Virginian Railway Company Annual Report. Photograph subjects include locomotives, people (none identified), and railway accidents. Dates on the photographs range from 1948 to 1959. 42 of the photographs are neither dated nor identified. Identified photographs are of trains at specific stations and rail cars associated with Lima Locomotive Works, Incorporated. One particular photograph cites the place, date, and even time of the train passing by in the image.
Many of the photographs depict train accidents, but do not provide identifying information about the accidents. Several individuals also pose next to these scenes. A group of these accident photos contain the date January 1958, possibly when the images were either taken or developed.
The collection is arranged in three folders. The first folder includes photographs that are identified with notations on the back. The second folder consists of photographs with approximate or exact dates. The third folder contains photographs with no identifying information.