proposed line from Front Royal to Washington

[NW Mailing List]

As Mason has told us, this was a plan for the SV/N&W, and it is also
correct that the PRR meddled and quietly calmed those waters.

About the same time, the PRR built its so-called Rosslyn Connecting
Railroad which branched off the mainline at the south end of the Potomac
River's Long Bridge and dead-ended in Rosslyn, Va. about 6 miles away. What
it was going to connect with has never been explored in print but since
timing is everything, I have often wondered if thisw asn't the PRR's way of
putting another permanent block on N&W Valley plans to make that
connections. The timing was conspicuously suspicious but proving it might
be another task. Makes for interesting speculation and lots of coulda,
woulda, shoulda stuff.

Bob Cohen


The Maryland and Washington Division was the ?old? Shenandoah Valley
Railroad. An independent line was planned from near Front Royal to
Washington, hence the two northern destinations of Maryland and Washington.
It appears in the Annual Reports because of the need to account for all
work the company had done, however small. N&W had begun building up
passenger service for the Washington line by using a B&O routing (via
Shenandoah Junction) for trains (#3 &4) until the independent line could be
built. These plans went awry when  PRR bought control of N&W in order to
stabilize coal rates. Not wanting to lessen traffic turned over to PRR?s
owned Cumberland Valley Railroad at Hagerstown, the independent line to
Washington was killed. The Archives has a drawing of the right of way of
the line under its separate construction name ?Washington & Western?
(HS-G10062) you can purchase and be sure to check out the terminal that was
planned for Front Royal (HS-E00625). It would have been a great.

Mason Cooper
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