was discontinued on the line in the 1930s. In the 1970s, with the B&O now part of Chessie System, the line was abandoned. West Virginia became the first state to own and operate a commercial railroad when it purchased the line in 1978 and established the South Branch Valley Railroad. Passenger service returned in 1991 when the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad began operating between
Romney and Moorefield. On April 18-19, 2015, a bit of the line’s
history was brought back to life by Chase Gunnoe Photography with a charter over the railroad. The Saturday trip featured South Branch Valley GP9 No. 6240 still wearing the paint of its former owner, Chessie System. The geep, originally built for the Chesapeake & Ohio, pow- ered a freight train of covered hoppers,
with Chessie System caboose C-3898 bringing up the rear. The trip began in Romney and first headed north most of the way to Green Spring. From there, the trip reversed southward, passing back through Romney and heading into the “Trough,” a narrow passage between the mountains shared only by the rail- road and river. The southernmost point for the journey was beyond the end of the Trough at the north end of Moorefield. Along with the Chessie-era freight, a passenger train carrying the photographers was operated. On the south end was Potomac Eagle’s “Baltimore &
Ohio 722,” a former
Bessemer & Lake Erie F7 painted for the B&O. On the north end was Potomac Eagle GP9 No. 6604, an original B&O
LEFT: “B&O 722” passes an old plantation house just north of Moorefield,
W.Va., with the Potomac Eagle’s passenger consist on April 18. BELOW: The two B&O locomotives pose side- by-side at the railroad location known as Sector south of Romney. The GP9 is authentic B&O, while the F7 is actually a Bessemer & Lake Erie unit.
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