{{Short description|Railway line in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia}} {{about|the railroad line owned by CSX Transportation|the Norfolk Southern line|Lurgan Branch}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox rail line | box_width = | name = Lurgan Subdivision | image = | image_width = 220 | caption = | type = Freight rail | system = CSX Transportation | status = Active | locale = Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia | start = Cherry Run | end = Chambersburg | stations = | open = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | close = | owner = CSX Transportation | operator = CSX | linelength = | tracks = 1 | gauge = {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}} | electrification = | speed = | map = | map_state = collapsed }} The '''Lurgan Subdivision''' is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. The line runs from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, south to Hagerstown, Maryland, and west to Cherry Run, West Virginia,<ref>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Stephen L. |title=Baltimore Division; Lurgan Subdivision; Station List and Diagram |url=http://www.trainweb.org/csxtimetables/Site/Baltimore/Lurgan.html |website=TrainWeb |date=2000-09-03 |archive-date=2001-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011230235035/http://www.trainweb.org/csxtimetables/Site/Baltimore/Lurgan.html}} Based on "CSX Transportation Cumberland Division Timetable No. 3," effective Saturday, April 1, 2000.</ref> along a former Western Maryland Railway (WM) line. It meets the Hanover Subdivision at Hagerstown and the Cumberland Subdivision at Cherry Run.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/LR-Lurgan_Sub |title=LR-Lurgan Sub |website=RadioReference Wiki |date=2017-12-26 |publisher=RadioReference.com LLC |location=San Antonio, TX}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Northern Region; Baltimore Division; Timetable No. 4 |url=http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CSX/CSX%20ETTs/CSX%20Baltimore%20Div%20ETT%20%234%201-1-2005.pdf |date=2005-01-01 |publisher=CSX Transportation |location=Jacksonville, FL}}</ref> The line is named after its former northern end in Lurgan Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where the WM once connected to the Reading Company along the Alphabet Route.
==History== {{Expand section|date=June 2008|Where's the history from 1930s to 2020s|small=no}} The Western Maryland Railway, which operated a main line from Baltimore to Williamsport, Maryland, made its initial expansion into Pennsylvania in 1881. The WM leased a line from the Baltimore and Cumberland Valley Rail Road and the Baltimore & Cumberland Valley Rail Road Extension Company, which connected Edgemont, Maryland, to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. In 1886, the line was further connected in Shippensburg to the Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad, which later became part of the Reading system in 1891.<ref>{{Cook-Western Maryland|page=41}}</ref>
In 1899, the WM implemented a route modification between Chambersburg and Hagerstown known as the Altenwald Cutoff. This new route, connecting Hagerstown and Quinsonia, Pennsylvania, served to reduce steep grades for heavy coal trains and shorten the overall distance on the branch line. A portion of the cutoff was double-tracked, leading to improved operational efficiency. However, the remaining section between Quinsonia and Edgemont experienced lower traffic levels. Eventually, the segment between Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and Edgemont was dismantled in the late 1950s.<ref name="Salamon38">{{Cite book |last1=Salamon |first1=Stephen J. |last2=Hopkins |first2 =William E. |title=The Western Maryland Railway in the Diesel Era |location=Silver Spring, MD |publisher=Old Line Graphics |year=1991 |page=38 |isbn=1-879314-07-X}}</ref>
During the late 1920s, the Reading Railroad constructed a new connection to the WM at Lurgan.<ref name="Salamon38" />
==See also== * List of CSX Transportation lines * Lurgan Branch (Norfolk Southern Railway)
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:CSX Transportation lines Category:Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Category:Rail infrastructure in Maryland Category:Rail infrastructure in West Virginia Category:Western Maryland Railway