Building the Virginian Railway began as a project to create an 80 mile-long (129 km) short line railroad to provide access for shipping of untapped bituminous coal reserves in southern West Virginia early in the 20th century. After facing a refusal of the big railroads (who had their own coal lands) to negotiate equitable rates to interchange and forward the coal for shipping, the owners and their investors expanded their scheme and built a U.S. Class I railroad which extended from some of the most rugged terrain of West Virginia over 400 miles (644 km) to reach the Atlantic port at Hampton Roads near Norfolk, Virginia. The result was the "mountains-to-the-sea" Virginian Railway.
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