Clifton Forge, VA (CLF)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$192,275

Station Ridership

FY 2011

3,060

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The station at Clifton Forge was built in 1902 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O, succeeded by CSXT), as a coal freight and passenger depot for their successful operations in the New River Gorge. At three full stories, it towers over the trains that pass by on its tracks. The station building itself is across the street from the platform where the passing trains make their stops.

The station is also across the street from the C&O Historical Society. This society has devoted itself to preserving the C&O Railroad’s place in the coal mining history of not only the town of Clifton Forge, but the entire region. The Historical Society houses maps, timetables, and records going back to the mid-19th century.

Planned Mobility First work includes a new wheelchair lift and enclosure as well as improvements to walkways and parking stalls.

Currently, the C&O Historical Society is planning to construct replica historic railroad structures a short distance from the current facility, including a signal tower, a passenger depot, and an engine house. They would like to move the depot out of the waiting room in the CSX office building to a building with better parking and away from the present loading area in a working switching yard. Their planned facility is a replica of the 1891 depot, adapted for 21st century uses, and includes a waiting room with historic benches, an agent's office both historical and functional, an ADA-compliant bathroom and a large multipurpose space that can be used as an exhibit space or a classroom.

The land in the southern Shenandoah Valley that Clifton Forge now occupies was originally part of a 1770 land grant from the Governor of Virginia to Robert Gallaspy. A settlement developed on both sides of the Jackson River in this part of the Alleghany Highlands, from Slaughter Pen Hollow to Smith Creek. By 1826, the area had begun to grow both from the completion of the road over North Mountain and from the iron industry there in Alleghany County. William Lyle Alexander of Lexington owned a forge in the Rainbow Rock Gap and he named the forge Clifton in honor of his father’s estate in Lexington: thus, Clifton Forge. The city incorporated under that name in 1884, two years after the C&O named its new depot at the east end of town, “Clifton Forge.”

Clifton Forge has had ties to the railroad industry since 1857, when the Virginia Central Railroad extended its line from Staunton to the Jackson River. From there, the tracks extended west, and when the line to Richmond was completed in 1881, the town prospered. The C&O used Clifton Forge as a maintenance facility for its steam locomotives and crew change point, and the area around the C&O shops came to be called West Clifton, which merged with Clifton Forge in 1906. At its peak, the railroad employed over 2,000 people in Clifton Forge. The town is still a major focus city for CSX operations in the region.

The town is home to one of the first state parks in Virginia, Douthat State Park. This 4,500 acre park was built during the late 1930’s by members of the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps. Clifton Forge is also surrounded by the George Washington National Forest, which covers 1.8 million acres of land in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Approximately one million acres of the forest are remote and undeveloped and 139,461 acres have been designated as wilderness areas.

The Homestead, a 3,000-acre renowned five-star resort and National Historic Landmark, lies about 20 miles north of the town in Hot Springs, Va. Originally built in 1766, the current buildings date from 1888 to 1892. The Homestead and its three famous golf courses have hosted numerous national golf tournaments since 1928.

The Clifton Forge station also serves several local colleges, including Washington and Lee University, Southern Virginia College, Roanoke College, and the Virginia Military Institute.

The facility has a waiting room which is opened and closed by a caretaker. Amtrak does not provide ticketing or assistance with baggage at the Clifton Forge station.

Clifton Forge has tri-weekly train service.