In March, the Buckingham Branch Railroad (BB) marked the 27th anniversary of the first BB freight train on March 6, 1989.  Twenty-seven years later the co-founders, Bob and Annie Bryant, are still actively involved in the BB.  Bob is BB’s Board Chairman and Annie is Board Vice Chairman.  “We are proud to be a family-owned, small business which has preserved railroad freight service to central and southern Virginia now for 27 years,” Bob Bryant said.  “We started with one locomotive, one train crew and 17 miles of track.  Today we have 14 locomotives, seven train crews and 275 miles of track.  Most importantly, we are providing safe, reliable rail freight service to more than 40 customers who otherwise would not have rail shipment as an option.”

Today the BB operates three divisions, the Buckingham Division, 17 miles from Bremo, VA to Dillwyn, VA with an interchange with CSX at Bremo, VA; the Richmond & Alleghany Division, 199 miles from Richmond, VA to Clifton Forge, VA with CSXT interchanges at Doswell, VA and Clifton Forge, Va and with Norfolk Southern interchanges at Charlottesville, VA and Waynesboro; and the Virginia Southern Division that spans 59 miles from Burkeville, VA to Clarksville, VA with a Norfolk Southern interchange at Burkeville, VA.  The BB also hosts CSXT overhead empty trains and Amtrak “Cardinal” passenger trains from Chicago to Washington, DC.  Total car volume traffic for the BB is more than 160,000 annually.  The BB handles all rail functions in-house, including train crews, maintenance of way, signalization and locomotive maintenance.  The Buckingham Branch also handles rail traffic control for BB trains, CSXT trains and Amtrak trains.