Virginia Scenic Railway - Queen City - historic Staunton in the scenic Shenandoah Valley.

There's A New Way To See Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley–By Rail

Scenic train rides are crowd-pleasers, at least according to Pinterest, which predicted that train travel would be all the rage in 2023. In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, the Virginia Scenic Railway was ahead of schedule, chugging into the station in historic Staunton in August 2022 to offer the first sightseeing train rides across the area’s bucolic farmland and verdant national forests.

The addition of a relaxing rail excursion has been a boon for the region, enabling new access to the Shenandoah Valley. Until now, majestic valley views were primarily accessible by car as you motored from town to town, hopping on and off I-81, one of Virginia’s main highways, or along Skyline Drive, the 105-mile scenic byway that spans the length of Shenandoah National Park.

Operated by Buckingham Branch Railroad, the Virginia Scenic Railway offers the state’s only regularly scheduled short-line excursion service, delighting rail passengers four days a week (Thursday through Sunday). Historic rail cars that date to the 1940s meander across the renowned Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains.
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