Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad
Spend a day in the Shenandoah and South Branch valleys that focuses on regional and railroad history, and offers some spectacular scenery as well. Follow Joe Nevin, a mid-Atlantic rail historian, from the handsome E.F. Baldwin-designed B&O station in Winchester, Virginia, along Route 50 as it crosses the divide between the valleys, arriving at the Wappocomo station on the South Branch Valley Railroad south of Romney, West Virginia.
There, begin a 3-hour round-trip excursion on the diesel-powered Potomac Eagle, seated in two historic first-class lounge cars that have been restored to their original post-WWII state. The cars offer a perfect vantage point for the centerpiece of the journey, a ride through a wild, narrow wooded gorge carved by the South Bank Potomac River, known locally as the Trough. Its steep slopes are forested with oak, hickory, Virginia pine, and paw paw, and the nesting eagles that roost in the area can frequently be seen gliding along the river.
Enjoy a three-course lunch aboard the Potomac Eagle as you take in the late-summer panorama.
Fringet stop at about 8:55 a.m.