Northern Virginia Trolleys
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| Operation | |
|---|---|
| Began operation | 1892 |
| Ended operation | January 18, 1932 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | (?) |
| Minimum radius of curvature | (?) |
| Electrification | (?) |
The earliest electric railway, or streetcar line, in Northern Virginia opened in 1892. At their peak, when merged into a single interurban system (the Washington-Virginia Railway), the successors of this and several other lines ran between downtown Washington, D.C., Rosslyn and Arlington Junction – in present-day Crystal City – and out to Mount Vernon, Fairfax City and Nauck (in Arlington County). Electric trolleys also went west from Georgetown and Rosslyn on the Washington and Old Dominion Railway's (W&OD's) Bluemont Division via Leesburg to the town of Bluemont at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition, electric trolleys of the W&OD's Great Falls Division traveled from Georgetown and Rosslyn via Cherrydale and McLean to Great Falls Park (see: Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad). Despite early success, the streetcars were unable to compete with the automobile and with each other, and, plagued with management and financial problems, ceased operations in the 1930s and 1940s.
Northern Virginia's trolleys were originally operated by three different companies that all planned to operate within the District of Columbia and were never integrated into the Washington streetcar network (see: Streetcars in Washington, D.C.). Their tracks were laid when most of Northern Virginia was undeveloped and had few streets and roads. As a result, the trolleys mostly operated on private rights-of-way that their companies leased or owned. After they began operating, a number of communities developed along their routes.
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