Lurgan Branch
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The Lurgan Branch is a railroad line owned by Pennsylvania Lines LLC and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The line runs from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania southwest to Hagerstown, Maryland[citation needed] along former Reading Company and Pennsylvania Railroad lines. Its northeast end is at a junction with the Harrisburg Line, Pittsburgh Line, Royalton Branch, and Amtrak's Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line; its southwest end is at the beginning of the Hagerstown District. At Lemoyne it intersects the Enola Branch.
[edit] History
In 1837, the Cumberland Valley Railroad opened the line from Lemoyne to Chambersburg, including the Lurgan Branch southwest of Shippensburg.[1] The Franklin Railroad extended the line from Chambersburg to Greencastle in 1839[2] and Greencastle to Hagerstown in 1841.[3] This part of the line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad through leases and mergers.
The Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad was built in the 1870s from Lemoyne to Shippensburg.[citation needed] It was later linked to Harrisburg via the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge,[citation needed] and became part of the Reading Company via leases and mergers.
Conrail took over both companies in 1976, and joined the pieces at Shippensburg. The line was assigned to Norfolk Southern in the 1999 breakup of Conrail.
[edit] References
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1837PDF, June 2004 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1839PDF, June 2004 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1841PDF, May 2004 Edition
