Winchester and Potomac Railroad - Founding and Early History - Civil War

Civil War

By the start of the Civil War in 1861, W&P owned six locomotives: Ancient, Pocahontas, Farmer, President, Virginia and Potomac, all of which had a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, except for Farmer, which was 4-2-0. Rolling stock included four passenger cars, one mail/baggage car, forty freight cars and eight repair cars. Officers of the company included William L. Clark, President and Chief Engineer Thomas Robinson Sharp. On June 18, 1861, the W&P Chief Engineer Sharp was commissioned a Captain in the Confederate States Army and was instrumental in various railroad operations, constructions and raids for the Confederacy and the Army of Northern Virginia, especially under Stonewall Jackson.