Why the "B" for the Manassas to Harrisonburg line

[NW Mailing List]

     Back in 1984-5? when Ricky Gates parked his Conrail B36-7 in front 
of an Amtrak train on the N.E. corridor, the decision was made to move 
this traffic to the Hagerstown gateway between Conrail and Norfolk 
Southern. At this time the railroads were offering buyouts and a group 
of  RF&P trainmen took the buyout and went to work for NS at Manassas 
VA. The unsignaled Harrisonburg branch began an extensive upgrade, part 
of which required the use of radio train orders. The former Southern 
road crews at Manassas mostly bid on the jobs working on the signaled 
line extending from Alexandra to Monroe (Lynchburg).  This left the 
Manassas to Riverton Junction jobs mostly to the ex-RF&P trainmen, 
(along with some N&W road crews out of Shenandoah who were guaranteed a 
certain number of the jobs as the trains worked over N&W to 
Hagerstown).  These ex-RF&P guys used the "B" nomenclature when calling 
out their train orders over the radio. (The "B" had always been there, 
but never used over the radio in SR days).

     Anyway, some railfans began using the "B Line"  in reporting what 
they heard/saw.  It was at that time considered to be the mark of a 
"novice or rack amateur railfan" . As the old guys taking photos became 
fewer and farther between, and the younger "buffs" grew in number, it 
fell into common use. They then began calling the Hagerstown line the 
"H" line, which is an serious error, as SR has an "H" line in North 
Carolina. The rail line between Hagerstown and Shenandoah is officially 
known as the "Hagerstown District", while the line extending from 
Shenandoah to Roanoke is officially the "Roanoke District".  In my 
opinion anybody who used the "H-Line" term should be dragged behind a 
track sweeper. Whatever it will be officially the named in the future 
remains to be seen.

Mason Cooper



On 12/27/2016 12:22 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List wrote:
> Dittos Jimmy!
>
> Jeff Sanders-Roanoke Terminal
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *To:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *Sent:* Monday, December 26, 2016 8:21 PM
> *Subject:* Re: Why the "B" for the Manassas to Harrisonburg line
>
> On 12/25/2016 9:08 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>
> > I never have quite figured out how they came up with the letters for
> > the lines.
>
> Working on the Roanoke Dist., I had never heard of it being referred to
> as the "H" line until I heard from you railfans!
>
> Jimmy Lisle
>
>
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