The Chesapeake Western Railway, also known as the "Crooked & Weedy", was an interstate short line which ran from Elkton, Virginia to Stokesville, Virginia. The line traces its origins to the Chesapeake Shendun & Western Railroad which was chartered on January 22, 1892 to build and operate a railroad from Elkton, Virginia to Bridgewater, Virginia. The Chesapeake Shendun & Western Railroad later changed its corporate identity to the Chesapeake & Western Railroad on May 15, 1895. 

A corporate scheme was thought up in the early 20th century to connect the Chesapeake & Western Railway, now owned by wealthy lumberer W. E. D. Stokes, to the rich coal fields of West Virginia, but the plan fell through because of lack of funding. Instead, the line was extended to a place called Stokesville near North River Gap, Virginia, and a company town was formed. W. E. D. Stokes, who owned the company at the time, directed construction of multiple narrow gauge lumber railroads into the Appalachian Mountains located at Stokesville. He then renamed the Chesapeake & Western Railroad to the Tidewater & West Virginia Railroad on March 3, 1900, but subsequently changed the name back to the Chesapeake Western Railway on March 12, 1901. 

Around 1930, with the lumber in and around Stokesville practically gone, the successors of Stokes decided to cut the line all the way back to Bridgewater, a total of 13 miles. With the lumber gone and the railroad gone, Stokesville became a shadow of it's former self with natural disasters sealing the fate of the dying town. Today, one of the only buildings remaining in the area of land that used to be Stokesville, is the Chesapeake Western's Railway Depot which is now a private residence. In 1926, W. E. D. Stokes passed away and the line then began to diminish in maintenance and industry. 

After twelve years of operations in the estate of Stokes, the line was purchased by Donald W. Thomas on September 1, 1938. Thus began a "golden age" for the Chesapeake Western, as more modern equipment was purchased and maintenance was improved. On January 1, 1943 management purchased some of the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Valley Branch south from Harrisonburg, Virginia to Lexington, Virginia. They almost immediately abandoned the route from Staunton, Virginia, to Lexington, Virginia, due to a lack of freight traffic. 

Don W. Thomas sold the Chesapeake Western to the Norfolk & Western Railway in 1954 after being president of the line for almost twenty years. The Chesapeake Western survived as a separate entity for a few more years until the eventually merger of the Norfolk & Western Railway and the Southern Railway in the 1980s. Thus ended the story of the "Crooked & Weedy". Another unique railroad gone into the history books.

Chesapeake Western Railway Richmond 4-4-0 #102 stops at the depot in Elkton, Virginia, in October of 1937. Originally known as the "Lizzie Allison", #102 was still hauling passenger trains on the "Crooked & Weedy" as late as 1937 as shown in this Harold Vollrath Photo. 

Chesapeake Western Railway Edwards Motor Car #75 sits at the Elkton, Virginia, shops in 1946. This car was originally built for the Virginia & Carolina Southern Railroad in April of 1934 as their #304.

Here is another photograph of #75 at the same location taken one year earlier in 1945. It appears that based off of these two scenes, #75 was not in use between 1945 and 1946 because the car is in the same exact spot in both images. Also, take note of the positions of the first five windows, this supports the hypothesis that the car was not in use.

Here is a black and white photograph of Chesapeake Western Railway #109 taken at Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the 1940s. 4-8-0 #109 appears to be waiting on the southeast leg of the wye possibly waiting for a train to cross the diamond either heading towards Bridgewater or to Elkton on the Bridgewater Branch. Note what appears to be the Harrisonburg Treasury Building in the far left of the photo.

Chesapeake Western Railway Alco 4-8-0 #111 in the deadline at Elkton, Virginia. Originally built for the Norfolk & Western Railway as part of their fabled "M" Class, this old twelve-wheeler sits abandoned awaiting its fate with the scrappers torch.

Chesapeake Western Railway center cupola caboose #3 sits on the storage track adjacent to the Chesapeake Western's Elkton, Virginia, shop complex in 1945. This caboose was built in the Norfolk & Western Railway's East End Car Shops of Roanoke, Virginia, in January of 1914. Classified by the N&W as class CF, this steel framed, wood bodied, caboose was originally numbered Norfolk & Western Railway #18002 and was renumbered #518002 at an unknown date. In September of 1932, #518002 was sold to the Chesapeake Western Railway for $300.00 and renumbered Chesapeake Western Railway #3. It's disposition is unknown but is was probably scrapped at the Chesapeake Western's Elkton, Virginia, shops sometime in the late 1940's. Note the lettering bleeding through the paint, this may have been the original Norfolk & Western livery.

Chesapeake Western Railway Alco T-6 #10 and #11 pull a train cab forward through Elkton, Virginia, in 1968. Both units have been preserved and are displayed in Roanoke, Virginia, with #10 non operational at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, and #11 displayed in operable condition as Norfolk & Western Railway #41 currently owned by the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.