This abandoned railway began as the Virginia Air Line Railway in 1908 and was absorbed by the C&O about 1912. It connected the two roughly parallel main lines that crossed the state of Virginia. It was used to route coal trains off of C&O's (now CSX) James River line onto the another C&O route and then on to the Southern (now NS) via trackage rights. The trackage rights extended to Potomac Yard in Alexandria, VA. Strathmore was the junction location on the James River line, while Lindsay was the junction on the northern line. The still-active northern line eventually became part of CSX, but a few years ago was sold to the Buckingham Branch.
The line was abandoned in 1976. There are at least two large bridges on the route. One is across the Rivanna River a couple miles below Palmyra. The other, a bridge over Cary Creek, is about 80 feet high and perhaps 400 feet long and is quite spectacular. Otherwise, a few small sections of the right-of-way are easy to find, but much of it appears to have been reclaimed by adjacent property owners.
