Grafton, West Virginia

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Grafton, West Virginia: Key Appalachian Mountain Railroad Town

Grafton, West Virginia, in Taylor County at coordinates 39°20′27″N 80°01′08″W and an elevation of 1,024 feet (312 m), served as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s (B&O) primary hub for coal operations in northern West Virginia’s coalfields, a region rich in bituminous coal spanning West Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio. Its location along the Tygart Valley River made it a strategic junction for coal branches, facilitating the transport of coal that fueled B&O’s growth, contributing significantly to the railroad’s freight revenue by the early 20th century.

Early History

Before the B&O arrived in the early 1850s, Grafton was a sparsely populated area, with no formal town. The region consisted of scattered farms and frontier settlements in the rugged Appalachian terrain, reliant on subsistence agriculture and river trade along the Tygart Valley. The B&O’s mainline extension from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling reached Grafton around 1852, transforming it into a railroad town. Incorporated in 1856, Grafton’s population grew rapidly from a few families to over 1,000 by 1860, driven by rail jobs and coal mining expansion.

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

The B&O established Grafton as a key division point and coal hub, building extensive yards for classifying and assembling coal trains from branches like the Monongah Division and Tygart Valley lines. Facilities included a large roundhouse, machine shops, coaling towers, water tanks, and turntables, maintaining steam locomotives for heavy coal drags through mountainous routes. The 1911 Beaux-Arts station and adjacent Willard Hotel (1912) supported over 30 daily passenger trains at peak in the 1920s, while the yards handled thousands of hopper cars, shipping coal to East Coast ports like Baltimore and industrial centers. Grafton employed hundreds in rail and coal-related roles, becoming a vital link for B&O’s coal empire.

While Grafton was the heart of coal activities, other B&O sites complemented it: Cumberland, Maryland, as an early division point and gateway to the West; Brunswick, Maryland, with major classification yards; and Fairmont, West Virginia, for supporting coal branches. Grafton’s junction role with multiple coal feeders distinguished it as the primary hub.

Grafton Today

Today, under CSX Transportation (B&O’s successor since 1987 via Chessie System), Grafton’s yard remains active, though reduced due to coal decline, focusing on freight with modern diesels on the Mountain Subdivision. The historic station, listed on the National Register, is being restored by the Vandalia Heritage Foundation for mixed-use, including events and retail. Grafton’s evolution from a frontier outpost to the B&O’s coal powerhouse underscores its critical role, blending history with ongoing rail functions.

For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

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