Shenandoah Valley Railroad was a line completed on June 19, 1882, extending up the Shenandoah Valley from Hagerstown, Maryland through the West Virginia panhandle into Virginia to reach Roanoke, Virginia and to connect with the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W). The development of this railroad had considerable backing from the Pennsylvania Railroad. In September 1890 it went into bankruptcy and was reorganized as the Shenandoah Valley Railway. In December 1890, it became part of N&W. Today the tracks are a major artery of the Norfolk Southern system. South of Harrisonburg, Virginia, a former part of the Norfolk Southern System a few miles west was a parallel line originally called the Valley Railroad. It was built in the late 19th century by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a fierce competitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The line was purchased in 1942 by the Chesapeake Western Railway. A portion extending northward from Staunton, Virginia in Augusta County and Rockingham County became a new short-line railroad formed late in the 20th century by several major shippers. The historic name of the once rival was adopted for the current privately owned intrastate Shenandoah Valley Railroad. Planning The organizers of the SVRR planned to construct a railroad from the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) station in Hagerstown, Maryland (a branch out of Harrisburg, PA called the Cumberland Valley Railroad) to the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad (V&T) in Salem, Virginia. The route called for of new construction. The line follows closely the great iron ore belt along the western slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Peter Bouck Borst of Page County, Virginia introduced a charter for the railroad for a bill before the Virginia General Assembly in 1866. The ambitious plan was to build a railroad from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, to the Virginia Central Railroad somewhere near Staunton, to a connection with the V&T around Salem, and finally to somewhere near the southwest corner of Virginia to meet the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad at Bristol, Virginia. Since the route traversed three states (Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia) three legislative authorizations were required. Virginia provided approval on February 23, 1867. West Virginia approved the construction idea on February 25, 1870. Maryland provided the final approval needed on April 4, 1870. On March 14, 1870, the company was formed and the first president, Peter Bouck Borst, was elected. Rival railroads After Maryland approved construction of a bridge over the Potomac