RIVERTON JUNCTION RIVERTON JUNCTION  |
Riverton Junction was the site of a crossing between Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western Railway. The Manassas Gap RR, predecessor of Southern Railway arrived at River Town, (now known as Riverton), in 1855. The Shenandoah Valley Railway, predecessor of the N&W, arrived in 1879. Interchange began shortly afterward and continued until the 1982 merger between the two railroads. The merger led to the N&W route to the north being used by traffic off the SR line arriving from the east. A connecting track, forming a direct link was installed in 1989 to facilitate these movements. COPYRIGHT all photographs this site - Mason Y. Cooper |
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): - N&W train S41S, the Front Royal Shifter pulls interchange traffic off the "short" track. The interchange track to the right is the "long" track. - Returning from Strasburg, the conductor of SR train #E-88 checks the papers for cars on the tracks at Riverton Junction. - Looking eastward... A Norfolk & Western helper locomotive set is stopped for a banner check, rules test, at the Southern Railway diamond, after assisting a coal train northward. - A SR works train working west from Manassas sets off new crossties for installation at Riverton Junction. - The Front Royal Shifter spots cars on the "long" track at Riverton Junction. - Southern Railway train #E-87 crosses the Shenandoah River, heading west to Strasburg, while N&W train S41S waits on the distant bridge.
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): The view looking south from Bridge 660 at Riverton Junction. The future "B-Line" connector will depart from the former N&W rails in the foreground and run, looking straight ahead, to the ex-SR line. - Construction was initially slowed at Riverton Junction by the necessity to purchase adjacent land and the costly removal of a limestone outcropping. - After preparation, pre-fab panel track is brought to speed construction. Ballast will be dumped to raise the level of the panel track. - Meanwhile, train #154 arrives from Manassas at the junction. As a temporary measure the train will run south over N&W to the passing siding and run around the consist before heading north. - With no place else to pass train #157 has backed across the diamond on the line to Strasburg. Here he waits for train #154 to clear before heading east to Manassas. - Run-thru motive power in the form of Conrail SD40-2 6370 leads the first revenue train (#157) through the new "B-Line Connecting Track" on January 28,1989.
Photos (clockwise from the upper left): NS train #456, rolls over Bridge 660 at Riverton Junction. - Detroit to Norfolk train #228 rolls through the B-Line connector at Riverton Junction. - NS train #15T passes the switch to the B-Line connector as it heads south to Roanoke, then Memphis. - Norfolk Southern local #V87 rolls over the ex-SR diamond at Riverton Junction and heads southward to Shenandoah - Now gone but fondly remembered, NS train #266 drops down the hill to the B-Line connector. Running fully loaded in one direction only, the roadrailer equipment was withdrawn for use on other NS routes to increase utilization. - NS train #I-12, drops down from the summit of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 7 miles to the east, and into Riverton Junction moving 155 empty flats northward for the busy Christmas shipping season.
