Through Manassas Gap

Norfolk Southern's B-Line between Front Royal, Virginia, and Manassas, Virginia, is a line that has largely shaped not only the current makeup of the railroad scene in Virginia, but also the states economic and social prowess. 

Originally constructed by the Manassas Gap Railroad, this rail line once stretched all the way down to Harrisonburg, Virginia, and was instrumental in the Union Army's Shenandoah Campaign orchestrated during the Civil War. After a series of corporate mergers placed this line into the control of the massive Southern Railway empire, this once busy mainline became a sleepy branch line passionately known as the Harrisonburg branch. The local train that would traverse the line during this era was simply known as the "Valley Queen" by crews and was responsible for serving the communities of Gainesville, Edinburg, Mount Jackson, Strasburg and many others. 

In the 1980's, a devastating crash occurred on the former Pennsylvania Railroad at Chase, Maryland, between an Amtrak train and a freight train which ended up costing the lives of dozens of people. After this incident, the government pressured Conrail to end freight operations over the Northeast Corridor which basically was the final nail in the coffin for the once mighty Potomac Yard which the Southern served. With this major interchange point between the Southern and Conrail gone, Southern's successor, Norfolk Southern, decided to upgrade the former Harrisonburg Branch to mainline standards to begin running higher priority trains to the new Conrail interchange at Hagerstown, Maryland. However, the line west of Front Royal down to Harrisonburg was not included in this upgrade and was slowly being abandoned in sections due to a lack of business. The final local train on this stretch of the line, dubbed the B-Line Extension, ran in early 2020 and the line has been railbanked ever since.

Nowadays, this line is quite busy and sees about a dozen or so through freight trains a day as well as a few locals. The line is still very scenic however and there are plenty of great places to take pictures along the right of way. In fact, numerous rural stations still stand along the route today specifically in the towns of The Plains, Front Royal, Strasburg, and Edinburg. However, the line west of Front Royal remains inactive and it is not known if the line will ever be used again. 

In a surprising turn on events, here we can see Union Pacific ET44AH #2610 on the point of Norfolk Southern intermodal train 203 as it crosses Ashton Avenue in Manassas, Virginia, on Tuesday, July 26th, 2022. Foreign power on the B-Line, especially recently, hasn't been as rare as it once was but foreign leaders are still far and few. It seems every train with a foreign leader on it is either a night run or the locomotive gets taken off at Hagerstown or Lynchburg. 

Norfolk Southern SD70ACe #1185 is the first locomotive that emerges around the curve past the ruins of Chapman's Mill on Tuesday, July 6th, 2021. This scene can never be repeated as the train pictured here is none other than 214 and only had a few more months to operate before being cut back to operating between Jacksonville, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia. Chapman's Mill is near Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia, just west of Haymarket, Virginia. 

Norfolk Southern GP38-2 #5113 pulls into Strasburg, Virginia, with local train E87 on Saturday, November 16th, 1985. This 5 unit local train originated in Manassas, Virginia, and was probably either heading to Strasburg Junction just west of this spot to interchange with CSX or head down south to Harrisonburg, Virginia, which was the terminus of the B-Line at this date. Note the business to the right with multiple cars spotted adjacent to the building, this may have been a printing company which received boxcars of paper. Also, note the second GP38-2 still decked out in Southern Railway's Tuxedo livery. Norfolk Southern was rather quick at repainting all equipment to the black and white horsehead scheme unlike CSX.