Virginia Tidewater & Piedmont

[DualGuageGuy]

Hello All,

I was looking around for a solution to a tender issue, when I noticed a familiar road name.

A few weeks ago, I bought a BLI 2-8-2 Lettered as VT&P #847. I had no clue what it was, I found no info online, so i moved on.

As I said earlier, I found a reply to a post solving my tender issue by a person with the name "SteamGene." It seems he has stopped posting in 2010, but if possible, I would like to see if anyone who sees this can tell me more about him, and possibly this engine.

Thank you!

[Len]

I suspect your tender was custom lettered by/for SteamGene in recognition of the early railways of Virginia, rather than for an actual railroad.  As far as I can determine, the Tidewater and Piedmont Railways were completely seperate lines:

Tidewater Railway Co. eventually became Virginian Railway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidewater_Railway

Piedmont Railroad went through a lot of gyrations before eventually connecting Danville, VA and Greensboro, NC. In 1894 it was absorbed into the Southern.
http://virginiaplaces.org/rail/piedmont.html

Virginia may just refer to the fact the other two railroads operated in Virginia, or it may be a reference to the Virgina Central Railroad that had a similar history to the other two. Eventually becoming part of the C&O Railroad.
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-central-railroad-during-the-civil-war-the/

The last time SteamGene posted was back in November 2010.

Len