Virginia Air Line Railway

[1] However, facing increased competition from other modes of transportation such as trucks and automobiles,[2] service on the rail line was cut back and eventually abandoned after 67 years of declining use.

[6] Completed in October 1908, this branch route was built to handle cargo that would have otherwise been too tall or wide to fit through the tunnels that crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro.

Coal destined for Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia was sent down the James River Line to the southern junction of the route at Strathmore Yard,[1] near Bremo Bluff.

Robinson, who lived near the tracks, waved so consistently at passing trains that the crew became accustomed to seeing her and brought her gifts until her teenage years.

[1] On July 31, 1942, four rail employees were killed when two trains were involved in a head-on collision on the Virginia Air Line Railway.

[7] The railway's practice of mixing passengers and cargo amid declining traffic resulted in a $500 personal injury suit.

65-year-old farmer S. O. Butler claimed that he was injured on June 10, 1939, while disembarking from a moving train which had slowed down at Palmyra, rather than coming to a complete stop, because of its heavy load.

The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in favor of parent company C&O on June 8, 1942, as the conductor had discussed the circumstances ahead of time with the passengers and did not compel Butler to leave the train.

In 2005, the foundation undertook restoration work to open a museum at the trailhead, as well as designing a replacement bridge at the Rivanna River in Palmyra, to provide access to views of the area.