- Lurgan Branch
The Lurgan Branch is a
railroad line owned and operated by theNorfolk Southern Railway in theU.S. state s ofPennsylvania andMaryland . The line runs fromHarrisburg, Pennsylvania southwest toHagerstown, Maryland Fact|date=February 2007 along formerReading Company andPennsylvania Railroad lines. Its northeast end is at a junction with theHarrisburg Line ,Pittsburgh Line ,Royalton Branch , andAmtrak 'sPhiladelphia to Harrisburg Main Line ; its southwest end is at the beginning of theHagerstown District . At Lemoyne it intersects theEnola Branch .History
In 1837, the
Cumberland Valley Railroad opened the line from Lemoyne to Chambersburg, including the Lurgan Branch southwest of Shippensburg. [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1837%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1837] |98.8 KiB , June 2004 Edition] TheFranklin Railroad extended the line from Chambersburg to Greencastle in 1839 [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1839%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1839] |82.7 KiB , June 2004 Edition] and Greencastle to Hagerstown in 1841. [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1841%20May%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1841] |60.7 KiB , May 2004 Edition] This part of the line became part of thePennsylvania Railroad through leases and mergers.The
Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad was built in the 1870s from Lemoyne to Shippensburg.Fact|date=February 2007 It was later linked to Harrisburg via the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge,Fact|date=February 2007 and became part of theReading Company via leases and mergers. At Lurgan tower, just southwest of Shippensburg, Reading ownership ended and theWestern Maryland Railway Lurgan Subdivision began, continuing the rail connection to that railroad's Hagerstownclassification yard . A connection was subsequently built in Shippensburg between the PRR line and the RDG line to allow for interchange coal traffic.Conrail took over both companies in 1976. The PRR line was abandoned from Shippensburg to Carlisle, a portion that saw much street-running and -crossing, as this was the segment that was never significantly improved by the Cumberland Valley Railroad. The existing Cumbo connection was used to create the new hybrid line. The branch was assigned to Norfolk Southern in the 1999 breakup of Conrail. For similar reasons, the WM line south of Shippensburg, to Chambersburg, has been downgraded.ee also
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Lurgan Subdivision (CSX)References
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