Farmville and Powhatan Railroad

Beach Station
The Village of Beach Station was built around 1890 was a stop on the Farmville and Powhatan and was opened on the year that the Farmville and Powhatan bought the Brighthope Railway.
Location	10410 Beach Road, Chesterfield, VA U.S.A.
Owned by	George Perdue
Line(s)	Main
Distance	70 miles from Farmville, Va.
Tracks	1
Train operators	Farmville and Powhatan Railroad and Tidewater and Western Railroad
Construction
Structure type	with a railroad depot, some railroad shanties, a general store and the owner's house.
History
Opened	c.1891 (c.1891)
Closed	c.1905 (c.1905)
Services
General Store and Postal mail. Store continued after rails were removed.
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Designated	000000002008-02-22-0000February 22, 2008
Reference no.	08000067
Virginia Landmarks Register
Designated	December 5, 2007
Reference no.	020-5386

In 1886, Randolph Harrison, of the Virginia department of Agriculture, cited Cumberland Mining Company, stating that businessmen would soon open a hotel at Lithia Springs, Farmville, VA for people seeking the healing waters. The Brighthope railway would be extended to bring them there. But instead, the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad Company built the narrow gauge rails through Cumberland County and the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad Company bought the Brighthope Railway, so the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad made the connection. In 1890, Beach Station was built around 1890 with a railroad depot, some railroad shanties, a general store and an owner's house, the George Perdue House as a stop on the line.

The Farmville and Powhatan Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad was formed On March 10, 1884, in five years beginning building tracks from Farmville to Cumberland and Powhatan. The Farmville and Powhatan bought the Brighthope Railway in which was in foreclosure on July 23, 1889. On March 3, 1890, the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad was connected to the Brighthope Railway three miles west of Winterpock, taking the eastward part, all but seven miles, of the Brighthope Railway to Bermuda Hundred. After this line was built from Farmville to the Petersburg Area, the Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System, which took days to make the same journey, would no longer be used.

Trains mostly hauled coal, lumber and then grain and tobacco and other farm products as well as a little furniture. There was one passenger only train and one train with passengers and cargo which each ran Weekdays and Saturday. The trains had five first class passenger cars for passengers. The trains carried U.S. Postal mail on two mail, freight and express mail cars. The company had 7 engines and 210 cars in 1890, but only five engines in 1896.Postal Telegraph Company operated the telegraph over the rails and charged customers for telegraphs. The railroad company employed 169 people including over 50 trackmen, who maintained the tracks; 18 who worked at the station as well as carpenters, machinists and other laborers.