Manassas station is a train station in

Manassas, Virginia Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Prince William County, although the two are separate jurisdi ...

. It was originally built by the Southern Railway in 1914. Today it serves as a station along the

Virginia Railway Express Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksburg Line from ...

Manassas Line The Manassas Line is a Virginia Railway Express commuter line that extends from Washington, D.C. to Bristow, Virginia. The first of VRE's two lines, with service beginning on June 22, 1992, the line operates on tracks owned by CSX Transportatio ...

, as well as a stop on

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's , , and train routes.

History

The first Manassas station was a small log building where the

Orange and Alexandria Railroad The Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) was a railroad in Virginia, United States. Chartered in 1848, it eventually extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. The road played a crucial rol ...

and the Manassas Gap Railroad intersected. In 1904, the building was replaced with a brick passenger station. This station caught fire on June 25, 1914 and was destroyed. The present station was constructed in October 1914. The city bought the depot from Norfolk Southern Railway in the 1990s and renovated it under the direction of The Manassas Museum System. Workers restored the original 1914 paint colors, repointed brick, laid new plaster, overhauled mechanical systems and installed reproductions of original doors and light fixtures. A tile roof similar to the original was also installed. The $575,000 project was completed in 1997. Today the depot has a waiting room and also houses a tourist information center and the James & Marion Payne Memorial Railroad Exhibition Gallery. The station appears on the cover of Manassas's 1972 self-titled double album. The image depicts musicians Chris Hillman and

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

standing on the north end of the then- Southern Railway depot. The station can also be seen in the music video for the

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

song Back in the High Life Again.

References

External links

VRE – Manassas
Buildings and structures in Manassas, Virginia Amtrak stations in Virginia Transportation in Virginia Virginia Railway Express stations Stations along Southern Railway lines in the United States Railway stations in the United States opened in 1914 1914 establishments in Virginia Former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway stations {{Virginia-railstation-stub