This abandoned railway line started out as the Norfolk, Virginia Beach Railroad and Improvement Company in 1883, connecting Norfolk with Virginia Beach. A narrow-guage operation, it struggled nearly immediately, reorganizing as the Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad in 1887. In 1898, the line was converted to standard guage, and the branch to Munden Point was built.

In 1900, the line was merged into the Norfolk and Southern Railroad, itself merged into Southern Railway in 1974, and finally came under the ownership of the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982.

The line also served nearby Oceana Naval Air Station via a spur line.

Around 2008, the line was purchased from NS by the city of Virginia Beach in hopes of extending a local light rail line, the Tide, into their city limits. The line sits out-of-service and derelict today, except for a small portion of the right-of-way within Virginia Beanch on its eastern end, which serves as part of the South Hampton Rail-trail system.