Northern Virginia trolleys

The Northern Virginia trolleys were the network of electric streetcars that moved people around the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., from 1892 to 1941. At its peak, the network consisted of six lines that connected Rosslyn, Great Falls, Bluemont, Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Camp Humphries, and Nauck, with two of the lines crossing the Potomac River into Washington, D.C.

Two companies were founded in 1892: the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church Railway Company and the Washington, Arlington and Mount Vernon Railway. A number of communities developed along their routes. In 1910, they merged into the Washington-Virginia Railway. Its major lines converged at Arlington Junction, in the northwest corner of present-day Crystal City south of the Pentagon, and in Rosslyn at the south end of the Aqueduct Bridge, near today's Key Bridge. From Arlington Junction, the W-V's trolleys crossed the Potomac near the site of the present 14th Street bridges and traveled to a terminal in downtown Washington on a site that is now near the Federal Triangle Metro station. The W-V entered receivership in 1922, was split into two companies in 1927, and stopped operating trolleys by 1939.

A third company operated electric cars from 1911 to 1936 as the Washington and Old Dominion Railway; then from 1936 to 1941, and again briefly in 1943, as the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad. The W&OD terminated in Georgetown at a station on the west side of the Georgetown Car Barn after crossing the Potomac from Rosslyn over the Aqueduct Bridge. After 1923, the W&OD no longer crossed into D.C.; instead, Washington streetcars crossed to a turnaround loop in Rosslyn.

After early success, the trolleys struggled. They were unable to set their own prices and found it difficult to compete with automobiles and buses as roads were paved and improved. Much of the system was shut down in 1932 after the trolleys lost their direct connection to Washington, D.C., and the last trolley ran in 1941.

Most of what remains of the system was affiliated with the W&OD, whose right-of-way has been turned into two trails, a park, part of I-66, and Old Dominion Drive.