The Richmond and York River Railroad Company was incorporated under an act of the Virginia General Assembly on January 31, 1853.
[4] Before and during the American Civil War, the company repaid $53,000 on the mortgage dated September 9, 1859 which secured these bonds.
[4][5] The State increased its subscription to the capital stock of the company under an act of the Virginia General Assembly passed March 25, 1858.
[10] The Richmond and York River Railroad Company defaulted in the payment of its interest charges and its mortgages were foreclosed on December 16, 1872.
[12] The purchasers were mainly interested in connecting the railroad with their steamer lines on the Chesapeake Bay and they started a regular service between West Point and Baltimore, Maryland.
[14] On April 8, 1875, the two railroads and the steamboat company entered into a traffic agreement under which the rail and water lines became part of the Piedmont Air-Line for through business to and from the Southern United States.
[14] The Virginia General Assembly authorized the railroad to issue additional bonds in an act approved March 4, 1880 in order to extend the terminal facilities at West Point.
[24] The Richmond Terminal Reorganization Committee, Charles H. Coster, George Sherman and Anthony J. Thomas, presented an agreement dated May 1, 1893, modified February 20, 1894, in which the old securities would be deposited with the committee, who would form a new corporation to issue new securities and establish a cash fund for the repair and renewal of the properties.
[24] Under an act of the Virginia General Assembly of February 20, 1894, the purchasers of the foreclosed properties, Charles H. Coster and Anthony J. Thomas, and their associates, Samuel Spencer, A.