The History of the Corridor
From Pre-Colonization to Present
Centuries Ago
Mid-1800s
With the influx of automobiles, the need for passenger service declined and rail stations closed. Freight rail only serviced textile and processing industries along the corridor.
1965 - Interstate 81 opened.
1970 - Passenger rail ceased with the Passenger Service Act of 1970 consolidating private passenger rail into a single government funded entity.
Late 1800s
Early 1900s
1930s-1970s
Demand for rail declined as factories, such as Aileen in Edinburg and Woodstock, closed and new investments preferred using Interstate 81.
1982 - Line acquired by Norfolk Southern through a merger.
1989 - Rail service between Mount Jackson and Edinburg discontinued.
1980s-1990s
2004 - Mount Jackson built a town hall on the site of its former train station, designed to echo the look of a turn-of-the-century depot.
2005 - Shenandoah County identified the corridor for potential trail use.
2007 - Service discontinued from Edinburg to Strasburg. Efforts to revive the railroad for freight or passenger service were determined to be economically unviable.
2014 - Service from Mount Jackson to Broadway was discontinued.
2020 - Service discontinued from Strasburg to Front Royal following the loss of the last shipper. Due to lack of interest in freight service, Norfolk Southern listed the line for sale.
2000s-2020
2020 – The Virginia General Assembly directs state agencies to conduct a feasibility study for converting the unused rail corridor into the Shenandoah Rail Trail.
2021 – VDOT and DCR share the results of their joint feasibility study, which indicate that converting this corridor to a trail is both feasible and widely supported.
2023 – The General Assembly allocates $35 million for trail development in the corridor through budget amendments.
2024 – Despite multiple prior attempts by local governments to restore freight service to the Valley, an organization releases a report indicating they believe a rail-with-trail option is feasible.
VDOT begins a thorough and impartial rail-with-trail feasibility study comprising three phases.
VDOT releases the results of Phase 1 of their Rail-with-Trail Assessment. This phase studied the condition of the current tracks and infrastructure, as well as potential engineering issues associated with fitting both a rail line and a trail within the existing right-of-way.
VDOT hosts a series of public information sessions in the Valley as part of Phase 2 of the Rail-with-Trail Assessment.
VDOT releases the results of Phase 2, which indicate that rail-with-trail would be significantly more complex to build. The survey results also indicate that people want a trail– over half of respondents supported rail-to-trail over rail-with-trail and nearly all respondents wanted a trail in some form.
VDOT releases the results of Phase 3, which provides cost estimates for both the rail-to-trail and rail-with-trail options, and the results are staggering: the cost for a rail-to-trail conversion is $187 million, while the cost to restore the rail and construct the adjacent trail comes out to $697 million (almost 4 times the cost for rail-to-trail!). VDOT indicates that another public engagement process will follow.
During a meeting, the Commonwealth Transportation Board is presented with a proposal to transfer the Shenandoah Rail Trail project and all its funding to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA), who would then “grant” the public money for a “rail-with-trail” concept to a private organization, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.
Despite public comments from community members and a joint letter from mayors from the nine towns along the Shenandoah Rail Trail requesting the CTB defer their decision, the CTB takes the proposal to a vote. The board’s vote is split 6-6 until the outgoing Secretary of Transportation casts the tie-breaking vote in favor of transferring the project and its funding to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA). Disappointingly, VDOT’s public engagement process is cancelled.
The CTB reverses its rushed January decision, restoring the full process and reinstating the VDOT public engagement period.
VDOT conducts a series of information sessions and an online survey to collect community feedback on the rail-with-trail option.
VDOT releases the results of its public engagement process. Survey results indicate a preference for rail-to-trail over rail-with-trail, especially among respondents in the localities along the corridor.
Localities along the corridor right-of-way receive a letter from a law firm working with Norfolk Southern Rail Company, indicating that Norfolk Southern is preparing to file for abandonment and requesting input regarding any environmental, historic, or land-use implications that abandonment would have for their communities.
2020-2024
2025
March 2025
April 2025
September 2025
November 2025
December 2025
2026
January 2026
February 2026
April-May 2026
July 2026
August 2026
For thousands of years, Native Americans traveled this Valley corridor once known as the Great Warrior Path. European colonists and early Americans used the Great Wagon Road to settle in the Valley and move west beyond the Alleghenies.
1854 - The Manassas Gap Railroad was extended west to Front Royal and Strasburg.
1859 - Extended south to Mount Jackson.
1861-65 - During the Civil War, railroad infrastructure built during the 1850s was dismantled by 1862 and not rebuilt until after the war.
1868 - The line was extended to New Market, Timberville, and Broadway.
1876 - The Narrow Passage bridge south of Woodstock collapsed.
1890 - Dinky Rail Line built from Edinburg to Liberty Furnace.
1896 - Line acquired by Southern Railroad. A new efficient Page Valley line drew shipments away.
1908 - The Pughs Run bridge north of Woodstock collapsed.
1910 - The collapse of the iron industry, a major rail user, led to abandonment of the Dinky Line.
1917 - Boy Scouts in Woodstock loaded trains with supplies to support troops fighting in World War I.