The Valley Railroad

The Valley Railroad, chartered on February 23, 1866 and developed between 1867 and 1870, was significant to the nation’s railroad industry. In the mid-1800’s, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad planned a line spanning the Shenandoah Valley to tap the region’s agricultural products, iron, and manganese and to reach new coal fields in Southern West Virginia and Kentucky. The railroad was designed to link Salem, Lexington, and Harrisonburg, with connections at Salem and Staunton, creating a system to carry the valley’s goods northward. Its first president and organizer was Colonel Michael G. Harman, commanding officer of the 52nd Virginia Infantry. Robert E. Lee, then serving as president of Washington College in Lexington, became the railroad’s second president but died before work on the line began, and Robert Garrett succeeded him. The line was built as far south as Lexington in 1883. Construction had begun on the Salem stretch, where most of the roadbed was graded, cuts were made in the hillsides, bridge abutments were erected, and culverts were built, but rails were never laid. The Panic of 1873 and competition from the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, which extended from Hagerstown, Maryland, to Roanoke, Virginia, stymied completion, and all work ceased in 1879. Railroad contractor Clairborne Rice Mason helped build the line and was also known for bridge building for Stonewall Jackson during the 1862 Valley Campaign. Part of the corridor survives in the Hanging Rock trail, which follows 0.3 miles of it, and substantial earthwork for the roadbed remains visible, including two stone viaducts built circa 1870 for the uncompleted railroad. The railroad drew strong local favor in the post-Civil War era, and its story remains an important chapter in transportation history.

Salem, Virginia · United States