Reporting mark | BB |
---|---|
Locale | Virginia |
Dates of operation | 1989–present |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Headquarters | Dillwyn, Virginia |
Buckingham Branch Railroad (reporting mark BB) is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 200 miles (322 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community. The railroad was featured in the January 2012 issue of Trains Magazine.
The tracks in the heart of Central Virginia which are now operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad in the 21st century were mostly laid out in the 19th century by several railroad companies. These include the Louisa Railroad, the Virginia Central Railroad, the state-owned Blue Ridge Railroad (with famous tunnels designed by state engineer Claudius Crozet and financed by the Virginia Board of Public Works), and the Covington and Ohio Railroad. All of those lines became part of Collis Huntington's Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) in the 1870s, which connected the Chesapeake Bay with the valleys of the New River and Kanawha River, leading to the Ohio River Valley and thence the Mississippi River.