Eastern Railroad Discussion > DT&I connection to the Virginian

I was intrigued to learn that Henry Ford had plans for the DT&I to connect to the Virginian at Deepwater, WV, but regulatory hurdles proved too much to overcome.  There apparently isn't much information on the details of this plan.  How far did this effort make it?  Would this have been a new line separate from the C&O or NYC through the Kanawha Valley, or would it have employed trackage rights on either of those?  If a separate line was planned, was any surveying done for the route?

It would be interesting to know what the regulatory huddles were.
—Mac

Probably a big ol' bag of cash handed to a regulator by one of the other railroads...

It should have been easy enough to get to the west virginia secondary, and thence to deepwater, but who knows what all went on....

Or perhaps N&W quietly blocked any possibility of such a connection happening.  

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Or perhaps N&W quietly blocked any possibility of
> such a connection happening.  

I think it likely that any or all of the three coal roads put the quietus on that....they all could haul coal to Detroit by themselves...well Virginian had to interchange...but C&O had direct access for sure....there was just no mood to give DT&I access to that market...it may have doomed the DT&I southern lines completely....nevermind the track rights and such that would have made it possible....if no one will give you those rights....it's all supposition I guess....but the competitive concerns seem overarching. 

The connection was the after thought of an aborted attempt in July 1920 to secure trackage rights over B&O from Washington Court House to Chillocothe to bypass Summit Hill. At Chillicothe then over N&W to Glen Jean, then to rejoin the DT&I to Jackson. For whatever reasons, this plan was not carried out and apparently never got much beyond the proposal stage.

The next idea Ford had was a route out of Jackson to Huntington and Charleston, WV, then a direct connection to Deep Water to access the Virginian. This route was to be electrified and the idea was to connect the DT&I with the Fordson owned coal fields. Remember Ford was a leading light in vertical integration manufacturing and owned the coal mines. The Virginian would allow a Ford owned route to tidewater ports for the export of his automobiles and a Ford owned route from the coal fields to Detroit. The Virginian was either supposed to be merged into the DT&I or a direct buyout with an estimated price tag of $50 million. It appears this never got beyond the talking stage as the ICC by then was into its "consolidation plans" where the Virginian would become part of a larger C&O/ N&W / NYC family of railroads.

Ford's big heartburn with the regulatory issues of the day were the Transportation Act of 1920 and what it stipulated for profits and the wage reductions provisions (Ford actually rasied wages while other roads decreased them under the legislation) and the profit caps. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/24 07:48 by train1275.

Here's a link from a while back that discusses the DT&I in the Chilicothe / Waverly area once they got trackage rights on CSXT to get off Summitt Hill in late-70's early 80's.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2672592

I caught one of those mid-day GT/DT&I trains in Chillicothe in the Eighties. We were waiting for a seat at the Bob Evans restaurant by the tracks (looking at Google it is now a Donatos Pizza Shop). It was a very pleasant surprise. We were in town for an SCCA PRO Rallye that would mostly be staged in the Zaleski State Forest and several strip mine roads (PRO Rallies were run at night on unpaved roads). Before heading out to the forest and mines we competed in Yoctangee Park on its paved roadways and even a stretch across the grass along the DT&I, providing a spectator stage for the townfolks. I have many memories of the railroads in and around Chillicothe. The N&W and Chessie trains were frequent and ran at speeds undreamed of compared to the sluggish former roads that made up Conrail that I was accustomed to seeing. I was always intriqued about the rural nature of the DT&I south of Chillicothe and only knew it was Ford's idea to move coal north but wasn't aware that he ultimately wanted to connect to the Virginian, an equally fascinating railroad.
​Great post and link to the photos from downtown Chillicothe!
Gonut