(erielack) VIRGINIA QUESTION

["MONTGOMERY| ED" <emontgom_@_LAN.TJHSST.EDU>]

I know this is off the topic but I think somebody on the list has the 
answer.  It's kind of related -- this is a stretch, because NS now 
controls ex EL lines, so here it is.

My daughter is a freshman at James Madison University down in 
Harrisonburg, Virginia.  This is still quite a railroad town for being 
out in the Shenandoah Valley.  Two lines still serve it.  One is a 
former Southern Branch that comes south from Front Royal and 
the other is marked on maps as (I believe) Chesapeake Western or 
Winchester and Western that makes its way over the mountain to 
the old Southern main at Elkton, Va.  In Harrisonburg there are 
N&W signs on this ROW all over the place.  I have noticed long 
unit trains of hopper cars delivered on this line.  It looks like a lot of 
business for a town like Harrisonburg.  The line that runs through 
the University property looks like something somebody modelled 
with tight curves and heavy grades.  Anybody know what generates 
all this traffic?

Thanks.

Ed Montgomery

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