Portal:Trains/Featured article/Week 39, 2005

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aerial view of Victoria, Virginia, on Page's Virginian Railway

William Nelson Page (January 6, 1854 – March 7, 1932) was a United States civil engineer, entrepreneur, capitalist, businessman, and industrialist. Page was one of the leading developers of West Virginia's rich bituminous coal fields in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as being deeply involved in building the infrastructure to transport the mined coal. He came to the area to help build the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and soon became involved in many coal and related enterprises in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. Among his many enterprises, Page partnered with financier Henry Huttleston Rogers to plan and construct the Virginian Railway (VGN), secretly built right between two of the country's larger railroads. The well-engineered and highly efficient VGN operated very profitably and came to be known as the "Richest Little Railroad in the World."

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