The Lee Hall Train Station Foundation and Newport News Historic Services will present Remembering the Glory Days of the Fort Eustis Military Railway. The rail heritage program will take place Wednesday, June 1 at 7 pm at the Lee Hall Depot. Foundation President Kenneth Jones will offer an illustrated talk about the 714th TBROS Railway Battalion that was stationed at Fort Eustis and deactivated in 1972.
The Fort Eustis Military Railroad is an intra-plant US Army rail transportation existing within the post boundaries. It provides railroad operation and maintenance training to the US Army and to carry out material movement missions. It consists of 31 miles of track broken into three subdivisions with numerous sidings, spurs, stations and facilities, and connects with the national railroad system via a junction at Lee Hall. Jones will focus on the height of rail steam locomotive operations from the late 1950s until divestiture in the 1970s when operations were turned over to civil servant contractors and training was transferred to the 84th Training Command.
This program is free and open to the public. The Lee Hall Depot is located at 9 Elmhurst Street, Exit 247 from I-64. For additional information, contact (757) 525-7372.A US Army switcher recently delivered a restored C&O caboose from the Ft. Eustis railway repair shops to Lee Hall Depot for permanent display adjacent to a CSX mainline use daily by Amtrak.
