The charter for the new Southside Railroad was issued by the State of Virginia in 1846 with 1 million dollars of capital. The State of Virginia gave all of its stock in the Petersburg Railroad to the City of Petersburg for the construction of the Southside Railroad. The stock was given on the condition that construction must start in three years or the stock would revert to the State. The new board of directors began directing the extending of the line to Lynchburg to make a junction with the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The board purchased four and a half thousand tonnes of iron from England to be paid with cash and delivered by ship to City Point. They also purchased 20,000 sills, railroad ties, made of trees which resisted rot, Juniper, American chestnut and Post Oak to be delivered to the wharf. The board purchased land to build a depot. They hired an engineering team with one chief engineer, six assistant engineers and 17 enslaved Africans. To grade and build the whole line, they hired 16 contractors, each outfitted with a wagon, carts, teams of horses and the employ of almost 800 laborers in total. The city of Petersburg put forward over $400,000 and 44 investors invested $14,000. The City of Farmville bought a subscription of $100,000. Individual investors bought $150,000 dollars worth of stock. The company could begin grading and building the railroad to Lynchburg. Construction began from the eastern end in 1849, reaching Burkeville and a connection with the Richmond and Danville Railroad in 1852. Following a more circuitous route through Farmville in response to financial incentives from the community, the railroad constructed the famous 21 span High Bridge across the Appomattox River valley about east of Farmville. The structure was long and as high as in the center, one of the largest in the world when built. The Southside Railroad was completed to Percival Island across the James River from Lynchburg in 1854. Also in 1854, the Southside Railroad acquired the long City Point Railroad. It had been purchased by the City of Petersburg in 1847, and renamed Appomattox Railroad. Paralleling the Appomattox River from Petersburg to its confluence with the James River at City Point, the City Point Railroad provided an ideal link for the Southside Railroad to reach a deep water steamship connection on the navigable portion of the larger river.
The Southside Railroad from Petersburg west was a vital resource for the Confederacy as a supply line for Richmond and Petersburg during the American Civil War. Beyond the lines of battle until the war's last year, the principal damage it suffered was the financial weakness caused by Confederate compensation policies and currency. The Confederate States Army destroyed most of the rail around Petersburg. Half of the eight mile City Point Railroad, was completely removed and another two miles was beyond repair. Only two and a half miles from Petersburg was the track even salvageable. The United States Army rebuilt it. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant requested a railroad to help with supplies for the Siege of Petersburg, knowing from past experience that it would be needed. Grant empowered Mr. C. L. McAlpine, engineer of construction and repairs, to rebuild the City Point to Petersburg Railroad, as soon as the fighting moved elsewhere. McAlpine commenced operations when he arrived on June 18, 1864. The City Point Railroad portion of the Southside Railroad was of great value to the Union forces during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864-65. General Grant used and extended it to move supplies and troops from the port at City Point to the area south and east of Petersburg, operating it as a U.S. Military Railroad. In the last year of the Civil War, the U.S. Government rebuilt ten miles of tracks, a hospital and a bakery on the Southside Railroad and rebuilt trestle bridges. s lined up on barges. Stations & Waypoints of the Military railroad
Merger into the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio Railroad
After the War, the stockholders of the Southside Railroad elected former Major General William Mahone, chief engineer on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, as president of their road. He had some fame from his part in the Battle of the Crater. In the post-war years, William Mahone became the driving force in the linkage of N&P, Southside Railroad and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. He was president of all three by the end of 1867. Mahone wanted to combine them into a single entity and expand westward. He lobbied the Virginia General Assembly to gain the legislation necessary to form the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad, a new line composed of the 3 railroads he headed, extending 408 miles from Norfolk to Bristol, Virginia in 1870. The former Southside Railroad formed one of three original A,M & O divisions.
Southside Railroad today
The former Southside Railroad formed a major piece of the Norfolk and Western used to transport bituminous coal from the mines in southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia to port at Norfolk, where a huge coal pier was built at Lambert's Point. Over 150 years after completion, much of the former Southside Railroad route remained in active use until 2005, when the corridor was abandoned and subsequently turned over to the Virginia DCR for conversion to a rail trail linear park called High Bridge Trail State Park. Construction on the High Bridge began March 7, 2011 and the bridge was officially opened to the public April 5, 2012. The bridge itself was rehabilitated via a federal grant of 2 million dollars. It is the namesake of the park. The trail is a total of 31 miles long and runs from Burkeville to Pamplin City. Both ends terminate just before their destinations, however the park service is currently working with the railroad to acquire the end caps to complete the trail.
