B-Line (Norfolk Southern)

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Norfolk Suthern C40-9W #9153 pulls a manifest through Markham, VA on the B-Line in 2011. NS B Line - Markham, VA (5899410462).jpg
Norfolk Suthern C40-9W #9153 pulls a manifest through Markham, VA on the B-Line in 2011.

The B-Line is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The line runs from Manassas west to Front Royal and Strasburg [1] on the former Southern Railway line, although no trains serve the section of the line from Front Royal to Strasburg, as the last customer closed its doors in 2020. The stretch past Front Royal has been officially designated as "out of service." The Strasburg section will now possibly be turned into a rail-trail. Its east end is at the Washington District, and it crosses the former Norfolk & Western Hagerstown District at Front Royal. Since the 1999 breakup of Conrail, when Norfolk Southern acquired the Lurgan Branch from the north end of the Hagerstown District into Pennsylvania, the B-Line east of Front Royal has been a major connection, allowing traffic on the Washington District to bypass Washington, D.C. The B-Line supports mainly intermodal and manifest trains, although beginning in late 2018, Norfolk Southern began running rerouted coal unit trains on it more frequently than before.

Trains That Run Through The B-LINE Normally
Train SymbolDirection
12R (Columbia, SC - Enola, PA)Westbound Manifest
13R (Enola, PA - Linwood, NC)Eastbound Manifest
27A (Rutherford, PA - Atlanta, GA)Eastbound Intermodal
28R (Atlanta, GA - Rutherford, PA)Westbound Intermodal
24X (Atlanta, GA - Croxton, NJ)Westbound Intermodal
25A (Croxton, NJ - Atlanta, GA)Eastbound Intermodal
288 (Rossville, TN - Rutherford, PA)Westbound Intermodal
289 (Rutherford, PA - Rossville, TN)Eastbound Intermodal
274 (Norfolk, VA - Enola, PA)Westbound Intermodal
275 (Enola, PA - Norfolk, VA)Eastbound Intermodal

History

The Manassas Gap Railroad opened in 1854 from Manassas to Strasburg. [2] It became part of the Southern Railway and Norfolk Southern through leases and mergers.

References

  1. the NS B-Line
  2. "Map of the Manassas Gap Railroad and its extensions; September, 1855". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 December 2020.