My vision would be to see this old station / depot come alive with passenger service, a restaurant and a small museum dedicated to the history and preservation of the Chesapeake & Western Railway.

Name	Type	Comments	Date

Zachary DeVore	General	I know I've heard talk of potential commuter rail service to Harrisonburg as part of the future plans (it was for a 2020 projection of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County having then unimaginable combined population of 100,000 - of course in the 2000 Census, it was over 110,000) when they were doing future plans. Virginia has been backing passenger rail, the Lynchburg service and additional Richmond service for commuter service (as a homeowner in Henrico County not far from Staples Mill Road Station, the prospect of commuter service to Washington from Richmond definitely has me excited). The question is whether it would be Amtrak/cobranded Amtrak Virginia or VRE - but it seems that potential service to the Valley would be a possibility especially given more and more commuter population in the Front Royal area. I'd suspect that any future service would run solely to Washington Union Station and one would have to switch to MARC (who runs Penn Line trains throughout the day) to reach Baltim	9/5/2010 9:40:05 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	Oh my, my comment cut off because I went more in the future direction of rail service in Virginia including pointing out that Virginia has shown a suprisingly bipartisan backing of rail service (VA Beach has even ended its long standing NIMBYISM against light rail service)	9/5/2010 9:42:16 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	But, to complete the thought - part of the problem with making passenger rail to Harrisonburg a reality is that Virginia has several other rail projects currently - the biggest being the Southeastern Corridor related rebuild of the former Seaboard line from Richmond to Raleigh as a dedicated high speed passenger line. Virginia though is upgrading passenger service in the state with passenger service to Roanoke and possibly Bristol in future plans (expanding the Lynchburg service).	9/5/2010 9:45:51 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	What makes the vision for Harrisonburg service intriguing is the improvements as part of the I-81 corridor improvements to increase rail capacity - one way to improve capacity and to provide backup capacity to the Shenandoah Valley line would be to rebuilt the bridge near Mount Jackson (and I believe that is part of the plan) which would accomplish a couple of things - one provide a potential backup and two remove the grain traffic for Harrisonburg from the Shenandoah Valley line. It would also be an intriguing commuter line	9/5/2010 9:48:15 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	as you mention. We know that part of the upgrades to rail service in Virginia is the improvements to the Shenandoah Valley Railroad line from Pleasant Valley to Staunton - that appears to be part of the I-81 corridor improvements - combine that with a rebuilt bridge and you have a potential emergency detour/relief line from Waynesboro to Front Royal	9/5/2010 9:50:10 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	and on to Manassas and Washington - but you also have the possibility of running passenger service (so that makes your vision interesting). The Lynchburg train got way above projections number of riders - especially from Lynchburg and Charlottesville. Add in the restoration of passenger rail service to Roanoke and Norfolk (both definite plans in Virginia) with the possibility of Bristol and it makes the idea of passenger rail service to Harrisonburg more realistic. Another thing to consider is that the line from Front Royal to Manassas doesn't have a large number of freights on it so it would have capacity to add. Obviously, Front Royal passenger service would provide another option for people in the Winchester area looking to commute by rail as well (they currently can pick up MARC to Washington/Baltimore in Martinsburg, WV).	9/5/2010 9:55:08 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	Now, having pointed out what makes your vision plausible, here are some obsticles. The first, is that Virginia has several other rail projects in the works - including passenger rail - that limits available funds. The second is NIMBY opposition - Harrisonburg's city counsel hates trains. Increased growth would also be the problem - you have to expect serious opposition from the poultry industry since poultry produces horrid smells increased growth and turkeys don't mix too well.	9/5/2010 9:58:04 AM

Zachary DeVore	General	Obviously, I support your vision - and great album and great shots and thoughts as always. Just wanted to add some thoughts about your vision.	9/5/2010 9:58:45 AM

Stephen Brock	General	Thanks for your GREAT comments and your Well Informed Insight, Zack!!!	9/5/2010 5:58:15 PM

My vision would be to see this old station / depot come alive with passenger service, a restaurant and a small museum dedicated to the history and preservation of the Chesapeake & Western Railway.
With this city growing the way it is, it would not be out of the question to eventually run commuter trains to D.C. or Baltimore and by going south to Staunton where they can catch Amtrak or a commuter to Charlottesville and Richmond, VA. The track is already there. The line south is still in use to Pleasant Valley, about 3 miles. From there the DVGR runs transfers to and from Staunton, about 20 miles. The CHW uses the old Southern line to the north and stretches maybe 25-30 miles to Mt. Jackson. Actually that line continues to Front Royal and from there they head east to Alexandra, VA. The whole line is probably 120-140 miles one way. The problem is a trestle north of Mt. Jackson which was or is in need of some costly repair. I guess NS considered the line from a freight point of view and decided that it was not worth the expense. Harrisonburg's population was roughly 16K and some change in 1980 and in 30 years we've grown to 70-75K. Small towns, 6-12 miles away are not so far away any more with all of the land development that continues. We are about 2 hrs. away from Washington and Richmond and many of the small towns and county's are growing because of folks moving out from the city and suburbs electing to commute in exchange for the peace and quiet as well as the beauty of the Valley and her mountains. This very line north, passes through all of these towns and county's.
Date: 8/6/2010	Location: Harrisonburg, VA Map	Views: 244	Collection Of: Stephen Brock
			Author: Stephen Brock

Picture Categories: Station		This picture is part of album: A Walk-About With the Old Chesapeake & Western Railway Station.

Add a Comment:
Please Log in to leave a Comment.