The company was incorporated in 1914. Construction was started in 1915. The VBR went between Tye River Depot in Nelson County to Massies Mill. It met up with the Southern Railway in Massies Mill. The railroad followed the course of the Tye and Piney Rivers for several miles. It eventually enters the mountains. It was initially built to haul chestnut for lumber out of the heavily-timbered Piney River area to local mills until World War I. The chestnut blight wiped out much of the timbered areas. The railroad later served several quarries in the area where titanium dioxide and aplite were mined. It passed through the communities of Roses Mill, Piney River, Canopy, Lowesville, and Buffalo Mine.