LURGAN BRANCH

Today’s Norfolk Southern Lurgan Branch is a combination of two lines of prior roads connected at Shippensburg, PA, the halfway point between Harrisburg, PA and Hagerstown, MD. From Shippensburg north or railroad east is the former Reading Lines’ Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Branch. The rails then make a sharp turn south (railroad west) as it connects to the former Cumberland Valley Railroad (PRR) at CP SHIP onto Hagerstown. The CVRR has the distinction of being one of the nations first carriers and predates the PRR by nine years.

The line today is NS’s major north/south artery in the Mid-Atlantic region and is part of its “Crescent Corridor” for high speed intermodal traffic.

NO BOUNDARIES COMPARE

An evening shower passes to the north near the famed Mason Dixon Line on Norfolk Southern’s Lurgan Branch on May 22, 2015. NS local K80 with 3345, an ex Conrail SD40-2 leading shuffles cars from Greencastle, PA to Hagerstown, MD for pick up.

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

H34, NS LURGAN BRANCH, MASON DIXON LINE

213 CROSSING THE MASON DIXON LINE INTO MARYLAND

TERMINAL ENTRY

MARION, PA

MARION, PA

CHAMBERSBURG PA

CONOCOCHEAGUE CREEK, SCOTLAND, PA

SCOTLAND, PA

32 1/2, 4 3/4

Spring is finally in the air and the NS READING unit on the former READING Lurgan Branch just north of Shippensburg, PA leads empty hoppers back to the Appalachian coal mines.

FARMING E’s: Passing thru the hamlet of Lee’s Crossroads, PA on the NS Lurgan Branch.

GOODHART ROAD

A trio of BNSF motors lead intemodal train 201 passes a local cemetery in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley near Shippensburg on the Norfolk Southern Lurgan Branch in Walnut Bottom.

NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE: Kansas City, MO that is… Cutting though the light drizzle and thick fog in South Central PA on the Norfolk Southern Lurgan Branch is “Belle” Kansas City Southern 4765 on NS intermodal 204 as it makes it’s way to Harrisburg and the Rutherford Terminal. Many thanks to Sean Hoyden for the use of his lighting equipment.

MOUNT HOLLY SPRINGS, PA

Local H58 rolls across the thru truss Reading Bridge off Leidigh Drive on it’s way to interchange with the Gettysburg & Northern at Mount Holly Springs. Many thanks to Sean Hoyden for the use of his lighting equipment.

YELLOW BREECHES CREEK, LEDIGHS, PA

YELLOW BREECHES CREEK AT DUSK

BRANDTSVILLE, PA

GOOD FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHT: Norfolk Southern train 202 races by the village of Brandtsville, Pa on the former Reading Lurgan as it races towards Harrisburg just after sunset on Good Friday 2014.