The Sportsman was a named passenger night train of the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond ...

. It was the Chesapeake & Ohio's long-standing train bound for

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Phoebus, Virginia Phoebus (known as Chesapeake City from 1871-1899) is a formerly incorporated town located in Elizabeth City County on the Virginia Peninsula in eastern Virginia. Upon incorporation in 1900, it was named in honor of local businessman Harrison Ph ...

on the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

, opposite Norfolk, Virginia. It was unique among C&O trains for its route north from the C&O mainline in southern Ohio. For most of its years it had a secondary western terminus in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

at its

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

History

The train was begun in 1930. In its early years it appeared on

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections in ...

timetables as meeting with Pere Marquette trains at Detroit, for reaching Saginaw and Bay City. In its conception it was designed to connect resort areas of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...

and towards travelers to the Michigan lakes region, its direct region service accessed mountain resort destinations in Virginia and West Virginia. However, by the 1940s the C&O's emphasis was on attractions in West Virginia. This emphasis was evident in the relatively low population towns in West Virginia such as Hinton and White Sulphur Springs (which is near

The Greenbrier The Greenbrier is a luxury resort located in the Allegheny Mountains near White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, in the United States. Since 1778, visitors have traveled to this part of the state to "take the waters" of ...

) as receiving emphasis in abbreviated timetables shown in the condensed timetables sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio timetables, and in the text accompanying the train's schedule in a 1948 C&O timetable.

Multiple sections

In number assignment, the Phoebus-Detroit section was #47, the Detroit-Phoebus section was #46. The Washington-Cincinnati section was #5 and the Cincinnati-Washington section was #4. Northwest of

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon a southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio a ...

, as #5, the train accommodated sleepers carried by the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

to Chicago and St. Louis. Eastbound, these trains were labeled #4.

1950s changes

By late 1951 the open-section sleepers on the ''Sportsman'' were replaced by modern

roomette A roomette is a type of sleeping car compartment in a railroad passenger train. The term was first used in North America, and was later carried over into Australia and New Zealand. Roomette rooms are relatively small, and were originally gen ...

s. The C&O moved the eastern terminus in its Hampton Roads area trains west from Phoebus to

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Unit ...

in the mid-1950s, thus, the eastern destination of the ''Sportsman'' became Newport News. Demand in central Kentucky on the Ashland- Lexington-

branch declined, and the C&O eliminated that section from the train by 1956.

Declining years

The more scenic views was the eastbound direction's daylight hours. And the opposite was the case with the C&O's ''FFV'' or ''

Fast Flying Virginian The ''Fast Flying Virginian'' (''FFV'') was a named passenger train of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. The ''FFV'' was inaugurated on May 11, 1889, and ran until May 12, 1968; this was the longest running C&O named passenger train. The train oper ...

,'' which had a similar route, excepting the Detroit assignment of the route. The C&O consolidated routes in 1962 and eliminated the westbound route of the ''Sportsman'' and the eastbound route of the ''FFV.'' The northwestern end of the route duplicated the B&O's Detroit-Washington ''Ambassador'' train. The C&O reduced service to the point where the ''Sportsman'' only ran one direction. The C&O finally dropped the ''Sportsman'' from the schedule in 1968. While the C&O had dropped the ''Sportsman'' from its schedule, it continued to run coaches from Newport News to Detroit as #47, and coaches in the reverse direction as #46, both as part of the itinerary of the '' George Washington.'' And with the folding of #46/47 into the ''George Washington,'' the sleeping car option to or from Detroit was eliminated. However, in 1969 schedule the eastbound coaches only ran from Detroit to Huntington. Passengers wishing to continue their trip east would need to transfer at Huntington to another coach. In the final months before C&O passenger operations were folded into Amtrak, the #46/47 was only operating Ashland to Detroit and weekends only. These numbers and service north from Huntington to Columbus, then Detroit, was terminated on April 30, 1971."Project 1971," U. S. Passenger Trains operating on the eve of Amtrak, Reference: Journey to Amtrak; Harold A. Edmonson, Ed.; Kalmbach Publications; ©1972 https://www.streamlinerschedules.com/project1971.html

References

{{C&O Named Trains Railway services introduced in 1930 Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Named passenger trains of the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Kentucky Passenger rail transportation in Michigan Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Virginia Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C. Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Railway services discontinued in 1968