Bright Hope

The Bright Hope Railroad was an important export tool for Chesterfield County. The Bright Hope hauled coal from the Midlothian mines through Chester to Osborne’s Landing, approximately where the Virginia Dominion Power Plant is located. In 1877, the narrow gage railroad had its shops located in Chester generally along the current Shop Street. The Bright Hope ran four coal trains a day and one passenger train. The line went into foreclosure 1899 and reorganized as the Tidewater-Western. The rails were eventually sold to France in 1917 for use in World War I. By the end of the war the rails had not been used.