The Shadow
Saint Albans, W.Va. (VR) – The City of St. Albans has signed a memorandum of understanding with the
Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, the 53-year-old national historic organization, to develop and
showcase the 1907 C&O Railway station located on St. Albans’ 4th Avenue. With the support of Mayor
Scott James, the non-profit organization is carrying out a plan to establish and develop a satellite presence
at the St. Albans depot with the creation of museum space, the construction of an O-scale model train
layout and display, and to offer merchandise pertaining to rail & local history.
Founded in Alderson, West Virginia in 1969 and currently headquartered in Clifton Forge, Virginia, the
C&O Historical Society’s mission is to preserve and share the transportation history of the Chesapeake
& Ohio Railway, which completed its east-west connection from the Virginia coast, through St. Albans, to
the Ohio River in 1873. In addition to maintaining an extensive archive, publication department, and
business office, the C&OHS’s primary museum, the six-acre C&O Railway Heritage Center, opened in
Clifton Forge in 2009. The St. Albans depot is the organization’s first permanent museum location outside
of Clifton Forge.
The move to bring in an established historical group was initiated by Mayor James and supported by a
unanimous city council vote this year. The C&O Historical Society, which has over 2,200 members
worldwide, has agreed to make the investment in the city-owned property with the help of its numerous
members in the Kanawha Valley. The partnership supports many of the tourism-development goals set
forth by Mayor James.
St. Albans Mayor Scott James celebrated the arrangement and its possibilities, “The City of St. Albans is
excited to be working with the C&O Historical Society in making the St. Albans Train Depot a destination
spot for not only our local citizens but railroad enthusiasts from all over. The work that the C&O
Historical Society has done to date on the depot has made a tremendous improvement on the facility!
The city is currently applying for grants to design and to fix the depot up to its original construction,
including the passenger platform.”
The first public event in St. Albans for the C&O Historical Society since the agreement came during the
Saint Albans Area Chamber of Commerce’s “Rails” Train Day Celebration on September 24. During the event, C&OHS members welcomed hundreds of visitors to a cleaned and reorganized station that featured
railroad memorabilia, a working N-scale “T-Trak” railroad layout, and history-themed items sold in
support of the organization’s mission.
“The city’s ‘Rails’ festival was overwhelmingly positive for us,” said C&O Historical Society President Mark
Totten. “We received a tremendous reception from visitors who were excited by the news of our
collaboration with Mayor James and the City of St. Albans. This festival served as our ‘soft’ opening and
gave us a tremendous amount of momentum we will use moving forward with our goals in Kanawha
County.”
Long-time C&O Historical Society member and volunteer Herbert Parsons, who operated the T-Trak
model train display at the St. Albans depot throughout the day, agreed that the organization’s debut in the
Kanawha Valley was a success. “I heard positive comments from everyone that stopped by our T-Trak
layout. The kids all seemed to like watching the trains run.”
Also on hand with the C&OHS at the St. Albans depot were group members and C&O/Amtrak retirees
Leonard L. Claytor and Howard Goodloe. Mr. Claytor and Mr. Goodloe volunteered for the
organization’s “soft” opening in St. Albans and also shared railroad stories with interested visitors. In one
case, their participation served as a reunion, when Mr. Claytor was tearfully embraced by the daughter of
one of his late coworkers from the railroad, Mr. Albert Utterback. The moment showcased how much
railroad employees became second families to each other.
The C&O Historical Society’s presence in St. Albans also gave a local resident the opportunity to find out
more about his family’s railroad connection. One visitor to the station was able to learn about his
grandfather’s specific job on the C&O Railway after showing a family photo to C&OHS volunteers.
Previously, the gentleman only knew his grandfather worked for the railroad at Hinton, West Virginia.
After C&OHS historians analyzed the photograph of his grandfather posing with his coworkers, it became
apparent what he did for the railroad, his job description, what his workday was probably like, and about
Hinton’s role in the railroad’s overall operation. The St. Albans resident is also allowing this never-seen
photograph to be scanned and added to the C&OHS digital archive, where it can be preserved in their
database and available to future researchers.
The wooden railway depot, completed by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in 1907, is a one-of-a-kind
structure that served the region for decades throughout the 20th century. Replacing older structures that
served passengers and offered freight service, it is preserved today by the City of St. Albans. With the
“Rails” festival wrapped, the C&O Historical Society says they will now work toward building exhibits,
their permanent model layout, developing special events, and having the depot open to the public on a
regular day each month.
C&O Historical Society President Mark Totten concludes, “This positive collaboration between the city
and our non-profit organization is an exciting formula where we can not only share our history locally, with a new audience, but also offer a variety of opportunities that utilize this historical Chesapeake & Ohio
structure. We are honored to have this formal presence in St. Albans, West Virginia, and we are excited
to continue working with Mayor James to meet our mutual goals. We are incredibly grateful to the mayor
and the St. Albans city council for making it possible.”
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit corporation dedicated to interpreting the
American Railway experience using C&O Railway’s history through drawings, documents, and artifacts
which the Society collects, preserves, and makes available to as broad an audience as possible.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society was organized in January 1969 and in 1975 was incorporated
as a non-profit eleemosynary organization within the meaning or subparagraph 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code.
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