The Cumberland Valley Railroad (AAR reporting marks CVRR) was an early railroad in Pennsylvania, USA, originally chartered in 1831 to connect with Pennsylvania’s Main Line of Public Works. Freight and passenger service in the Cumberland Valley in south central Pennsylvania from near Harrisburg to Chambersburg began in 1837, with service later extended to Hagerstown, Maryland and then extending into the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester, Virginia.[1] It employed up to 1,800 workers.[2]

During the American Civil War the line had strategic importance in supplying Union troops in the Shenandoah Valley. It also ran the first passenger sleeping car in the U.S. on the Chambersburg-Harrisburg route in 1839.[3][4]

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) gained control of the CVRR as early as 1859, and officially purchased it on June 2, 1919. The PRR’s successor, the Penn Central, closed all railway facilities in Chambersburg in 1972 and its successor, Conrail, abandoned major pieces of the line in 1976.[2]

The “Chambersburg" car

Cumberland Valley Combination Car

*Cumberland Valley Railroad*

CVRR Bridge marker

Frederick Watts

Historical marker (Mechanicsburg)

CVRR Bridge engraving

CVRR currency

CVRR History Citations

1. (1887) History of Franklin County Pennsylvania, Illustrated. Warner Beers & Co.. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.

2. Cumberland Valley Railroad Historical Marker - Behind the Marker

3. Philip Berlin Historical Marker - Behind the Marker

4. "St. Paul "Pullmans"", TIME Magazine (June 6, 1927). Retrieved on 28 May 2008