Lurgan Branch

Lurgan Branch
Northbound Norfolk Southern autorack train on the Lurgan Branch south of Shippensburg
Overview
Type	Freight rail
System	Norfolk Southern
Status	Operational
Locale	central Pennsylvania and western Maryland
Termini	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Hagerstown, Maryland
Operation
Owner	Norfolk Southern
Operator(s)	Norfolk Southern
Technical
Number of tracks	1-2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Lurgan Branch is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS) in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The line is part of the NS Harrisburg Division and runs from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania southwest to Hagerstown, Maryland along former Reading Company (reporting mark RDG) and Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR) 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.

In 1837, the Cumberland Valley Railroad (reporting mark CVRR) opened the line from Lemoyne to Chambersburg, including the Lurgan Branch southwest of Shippensburg. The Franklin Railroad extended the line from Chambersburg to Greencastle in 1839 and Greencastle to Hagerstown in 1841. This part of the line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad through leases and mergers.