The line was originally constructed by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. The portion north of Orange was constructed from 1850 to 1854.[4][5] The extension south to Lynchburg was completed in 1860, with a short section in between that was part of the Virginia Central Railroad.[4]
The Southern Railway later acquired the Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad, which had opened in 1880,[7] bypassing the former Virginia Central Railroad segment (which is now the Buckingham Branch Railroad's Washington Subdivision). The Southern Railway merged into Norfolk Southern in 1982.[4]
Service
Part of Norfolk Southern's Piedmont Division, the line is mainly used for freight service. Major customers include a Cargill grain elevator in Culpeper (milepost 67.4). A former customer, the Pepco Generating Facility, closed in 2012. Other customers include Robinson Terminal in Springfield; Vulcan Rock Facility in Springfield; Washington Gas in Springfield; Virginia Paving in Alexandria; NS Ethanol Transflow Facility in Alexandria; and Vulcan Rock Quarry in Casanova (Casanova Branch).[3]
Amtrak uses the line for various trains. Its Crescent uses the entire line as part of its New York City-to-New Orleans service. The Cardinal uses the portion from Alexandria to Orange as part of its New York-to-Chicago service. Since 2009, its Northeast Regional service uses the portion of the line from Lynchburg to Washington.[3]