Founded as the Alexandria & Harper’s Ferry Railroad on March 20, 1847, the line became the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad Company on March 15, 1853, began construction near Alexandria on February 25, 1855, and ran its first train from Alexandria to Leesburg on May 17, 1860. Railroad construction and some service were interrupted by the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, but service from Alexandria to Leesburg was restored on June 1, 1867. Renamed the Washington & Ohio Railroad Company on March 29, 1870, the railroad was completed to Purcellville on April 1, 1874, then passed rapidly through several ownerships and names, becoming the Washington & Western Railroad in 1882, the Washington, Ohio & Western Railroad in 1883, leased by the Richmond & Danville Railroad in 1886, and purchased by the Southern Railway Company on June 28, 1894, after which it became the Bluemont Branch. Early in 1900 the line reached its terminus at Snickersville, later called Bluemont. On July 1, 1912, it became the Washington & Old Dominion Railway Company, and later that year converted from steam to electric power. On April 16, 1936, it took its final name, the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Company. Service west of Purcellville ended in February 1939, passenger service was discontinued in April 1941 and resumed a year later because of World War II, all passenger service ended on May 31, 1951, and in the early 1940’s the railroad changed from electric to diesel power. Freight service ended and the line was abandoned on August 27, 1968. The railroad had been created in Alexandria to answer Baltimore’s shipping competition, especially the diversion of Shenandoah Valley farm products through the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and its junction with the Winchester & Potomac Railroad, while also seeking access to Ohio Valley coalfields. Northern Virginia businessmen hoped to recapture that trade, but financial problems kept the line from reaching those farmlands and coalfields, and it ended instead at Bluemont, Virginia. To survive, it carried farm products from Fairfax and Loudoun into Washington, hauled mail for the federal government, provided freight service for towns and communities along the route, carried commuters to Washington, and promoted excursion travel to Loudoun Valley resorts. Though only modestly successful for most of its history, it boomed during the fuel-shortage years of World War II, then declined rapidly with improved roads and motor vehicles. In 1978, after six years of negotiations with Virginia Power, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority bought the right-of-way from Shirlington to Purcellville for a multi-use trail completed in 1988.