Stone Arch South of Staunton

[NW Mailing List]

The stone arch you have observed is the marvelous remnant of the  B&O's Valley Railroad that once extended from Harrisonburg to  Lexington.  It was supposed to go to Salem but the Shenandoah  Valley Railroad beat them to the punch .  The line from Staunton  to Lexington was abandoned in the early 40's when the Chesapeake  Western in Harrisonburg bought the Valley Railroad.  They paid for  their purchase with the sale of the scrap steel between Staunton and  Lexington.  I remember C. G. Price once telling me (or it is in  his book about the CW) that the CW's purchase of the Valley RR saved  the scrap steel from going to Japan where it would have been turned  into bombs sent back on our troops in WWII.
  
  You can see the right of way paralleling I81 between the arch bridge in  question and Fairfield.  It always gives me goose bumps seeing  that right of way, trying to imagine a train traversing the  landscape.  There are quite a few arches, culverts, piers and  excavations in the landscape south of Lexington as well.  The work  was started but never completed.  John Hildebrand has written a  marvelous history of both the Valley RR and the Shenandoah Valley RR  titled Iron Horses in the Valley.  I don't see it listed in the  Commissary so I don't know if it is still available.  It is worth  looking for if you are interested in the subject and will direct you  with maps to more locations along the Valley RR.
  
  David Ray

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   1. Stone Arched Trestle (NW Mailing List)
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:26:44 -0400
Subject: Stone Arched Trestle

              It is most likely old and boring news to you   longtime railfans but when traveling south from   Staunton, VA on Interstate-81 I've noticed what appears to be an old   (possibly narrow gauge) stone arched trestle on the west side of I-81S, just a   mile or so south of the I-64/I-81 interchange.   Letting my   imagination run wild I can also see what might be old roadbed segments and   possibly other railroad-related structures, such as heavy stone   culverts and trackside stone foundations, in the hillsides and farm   fields west of the highway. 
   
  Could these really be old railroad remains?    I've read about a Shenandoah Valley Railroad line( *)  that extended from Staunton south and then west into   West Virginia.  I believe it may have been abandoned when more useful   connections were made from Stauntonsouth toward   Roanoke via routes through Stuarts Draft.
  (*) I think there may have been several early   railroads that either actually had that name or were generally know by that   name. 
   
  Can anyone give me a history lesson about the   trestle and the railroad it belonged to? Is there a good reference source   for studying the history of these early and now abandoned   lines?  Are there any other remains and structures that might still be   visible?   
   
  Thanks,  Bob Brown
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