Potomac Eagle

South of Romney, in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, the South Branch of the Potomac River cuts through the mountains in a gorge six miles long. George Washington, surveying here in 1748, called it the Trough. No road runs through it: you can walk in, float through by canoe, or ride the one railroad along its floor. The Potomac Eagle has run excursion trains over that railroad since 1991, and it calls itself the only passenger train through the Trough.

The train is named for the bald eagles that nest on the canyon walls. They came back to the valley as the species recovered from DDT, and by 2017 West Virginia counted eight nests in the Trough. The regular trip leaves Wappocomo Station, just north of Romney, and runs south through farmland and into the canyon as far as Sycamore Bridge before turning back: about 35 miles and three hours, narrated, with nobody getting off. Once a month an all-day train goes on to Petersburg, at the end of the line.

You ride behind vintage diesels in coaches of the 1920s with windows that open, or in dining and club cars of the 1940s and 1950s with a meal served at your table. Romney is about 120 miles from Washington, DC, and 27 from Cumberland, Maryland.

The trains run on the South Branch Valley Railroad, a 52-mile branch line from Green Spring, on the main line near the Maryland border, south to Petersburg. It reached Romney in 1884 and was pushed on through the Trough to Moorefield in 1910. When the Baltimore and Ohio gave it up, the State of West Virginia bought it in 1978, and on weekdays it still carries freight for the valley's farms, timber, plastics and lime. It has never hauled coal. The flood of 1985 tore away its bridges over the river, and the line was rebuilt by 1989. Cattle and deer still wander across the track, and the railroad calls itself the only open-range line in the East.

Every trip starts at Wappocomo Station, a siding on the old Wappocomo farm north of Romney. Check in at the blue and yellow caboose that serves as the ticket office, which opens an hour before departure; boarding begins 30 minutes before. Seats are assigned by class of service, and every class may use the open-air gondola and the observation car.

Through the Trough

The train runs south past Romney and across the valley farms, beside the stone Kuykendall House of 1789, and then the hills close in. For six miles the line follows the foot of Mill Creek Mountain with the river below and Sawmill Ridge across the water, both steep, wooded and broken by rock outcrops. In 1756, in the French and Indian War, a band of Shawnee defeated settlers here in the Battle of the Trough. The trip is narrated, and the eagles' nests can be seen from the train. At Sycamore Bridge, at the southern end of the canyon, the train crosses the South Branch and turns back for Romney.

On the last Saturday of the month the all-day train carries on, out of the canyon to Moorefield and up the valley to Petersburg, about 76 miles there and back, for a three-hour stop at the end of the line. The Green Spring Special goes the other way, north for an hour and a half past the cliffs of Hanging Rocks, rock cuts and riverside farms towards the Maryland line.

The locomotives and cars

The trains are hauled by diesels from the 1950s. No. 722 is an EMD F7 built in 1952 for the Bessemer and Lake Erie, where it hauled ore, coal and coke between Lake Erie and the Pittsburgh steel mills until an accident retired it in 2000; it reached Wappocomo in 2002 and has worn Baltimore and Ohio blue since 2010. No. 1755, an FP9 built in London, Ontario, in 1957, ran for Canadian National, VIA Rail and the Algoma Central before coming here in 2020, and appears in the 2023 film A Man Called Otto. Behind them run blue coaches of the 1920s from Canadian National's commuter trains, Budd dining cars of 1949 to 1954 from the Southern, the Southern Pacific and the Pennsylvania Railroad, and two club cars built by Pullman-Standard in 1950, the Chessie Club and the Eagle Canon.

Every train leaves from Wappocomo Station, 149 Eagle Drive, on WV 28 just north of Romney. The ticket office opens an hour before departure and boarding begins 30 minutes before. The season runs from late March to the end of December, and these were the regular trips in 2026:

For the rest of the 2026 season the Trough Canyon train runs every day until 30 October at 13:00, except on 3, 10, 17, 18, 24 and 25 October, when it leaves at 10:00 and 14:30. The last all-day trips to Petersburg are on 31 October and 7 November, and the last regular Trough trips on 13, 14 (at 12:00) and 15 November.

From 14 November to 31 December the North Pole Express runs several times a day: a 75-minute ride with milk and cookies, and Santa boarding with a gift for every child.

Good to know:

• The all-day train reaches Petersburg at 12:30 and leaves again at 15:30.
• Meals must be booked ahead: every ticket that includes one needs an advance reservation.
• Tickets can also be bought at the station on the day, if seats are left.

Departures as of October 2026, from the railroad's 2026 calendar and its booking engine. Confirm before travelling on potomaceagle.com (opens in a new tab).

Fares depend on the trip and the class. On the Trough Canyon train a Standard Coach seat costs $74 for an adult, $69 for a senior aged 60 or over and $44 for a child aged 2 to 16; children under 2 ride free on a lap. Standard Dining adds a boxed lunch ($99), Premium Dining a three-course meal ($124), and the Club Service ($154) and Superior Dining ($159) cars are for adults aged 17 and over. The all-day Petersburg trip starts at $114 and the Green Spring Special at $49.

Tickets are non-refundable, but can be turned into credit for another date if you cancel a week ahead. Military discounts are booked by phone, on (304) 424-0736, and group rates by email. Fares checked October 2026 at potomaceagle.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No rail pass covers the Potomac Eagle. It is a private excursion railroad that sells its own tickets. Amtrak's USA Rail Pass is valid only on Amtrak's own services, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The railroad's own reductions are the senior and child fares, a $10 discount on regular trips for military personnel, and group rates for parties of 20 or more, booked by phone and by email.

Checked October 2026 against potomaceagle.com (opens in a new tab) and amtrak.com (opens in a new tab).

Romney is the county seat of Hampshire County, and its oldest streets, its Civil War trenches and its cemetery on the bluff are all a short drive from the station. Lost River State Park lies to the south in Hardy County; Seneca Rocks is up WV 28 beyond Petersburg, and the Paw Paw Tunnel is on the Potomac to the north-east.

There are motels and inns in Romney, near the station, and in Moorefield, on the all-day route. Lost River State Park rents cabins in the mountains to the south. Book ahead for October, when the trains run every day for the autumn colour.

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