Washington and Old Dominion Railway - 1911 dated $1,000 Uncanceled Gold Bond
Inv# RB7072A Bond
PMG Graded Bond, 53 EPQ About Uncirculated.
The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad, commonly known as the W&OD, was an intrastate short-line railroad located in Northern Virginia. It was a successor to the bankrupt Washington and Old Dominion Railway and several earlier railroads, with the first one commencing operations in 1859. Tragically, the railroad closed its doors in 1968.
Originally incorporated as the Alexandria and Harper’s Ferry Railroad, construction on the line commenced in 1855 under the leadership of Lewis McKenzie. The AL&H Railroad, which was the predecessor of the W&OD, aimed to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River to reach the coal fields in the western part of Hampshire County, Virginia, which are now part of Mineral County, West Virginia. The AL&H Railroad began operating to Vienna in 1859, starting from a terminal near Princess and Fairfax Streets in Alexandria’s present-day Old Town neighborhood.
In 1860, the AL&H Railroad reached Leesburg in Loudoun County. Their plans extended the line westward through Hillsborough, Vestal’s Gap, Berryville, Winchester, and Romney. The railroad’s terminus was envisioned to be Paddy Town (now Keyser, West Virginia), where it would connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Construction may have proceeded according to these plans, as an 1864 Confederate army map indicates that the railroad’s tracks had crossed Leesburg, climbed Catoctin Mountain at Clarke’s Gap, and passed through Hillsborough.
The line, due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., experienced significant usage and disruptions during the Civil War. Following the war, in 1870, the line underwent a name change to the Washington and Ohio Railroad. To accommodate its planned route, which involved crossing the Blue Ridge through Snickers Gap instead of the more northerly Vestal’s Gap, the railroad extended its line from Leesburg to Hamilton in 1870 and to Round Hill in 1874.
A bond is a document of title for a loan. Bonds are issued, not only by businesses, but also by national, state or city governments, or other public bodies, or sometimes by individuals. Bonds are a loan to the company or other body. They are normally repayable within a stated period of time. Bonds earn interest at a fixed rate, which must usually be paid by the undertaking regardless of its financial results. A bondholder is a creditor of the undertaking.
Ebay ID: labarre_galleries