On January 20th, 2015, Buckingham Branch GP16 number 8 brings a single car across the diamond at the CSX crossing. As it does, it passes the old Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac tower that protected the RF&P / Chesapeake & Ohio crossing in Doswell, Virginia. BB #8 was built in Feburary 1051 as Atlantic Coast Line GP7 135, which was renumbered Seaboard Coast Line 723 following the ACL-SAL merger in 1967. In November 1981, SCL rebuilt the engine into a "GP16" and numbered it 4773, a number it retained when the next merger created the Seaboard System. SBD 4773 became CSXT 1819 when the SBD and Chessie System merged, and CSX eventually sold it to Gauley River Railroad (which retained the number 1819. GRIV eventually sold it to the Buckingham Branch, which renumbered it to 8.
The "BB" was founded in 1988 and ran its first train on March 6, 1989. The BB has grown from 17 miles of track and two employees to 275 miles and 75 employees, spanning over Virginia in three separate divisions.
