When you pointed out Slaters Lane interlocking that track diverging right actually goes to the Old Town Alexandria waterfront. It used to feed the coal cars to a big PEPCO power plant on the waterfront. When they came out with deregulation of the power industry there the plant shut down and unlike we were promised the electric rates skyrocketed. The track continued down to the waterfront where there was several warehouses and a boat dock on the Potomac river. They would get in freighters of foreign made printer paper rolls. The warehouse would transfer those to freight cars. Their sidings held about 15 freight cars and they would hook a cable to the cars and move them with a bucket truck. Once completed thy had the railroad pull the cars and bring in empties.

Got to do a run from Fredericksburg to Washington

It's La'enfant interlocking to go with the plazza above. The state of Virginia has purchased the tracks through the former Potomac yards and the plans are to build a second two track bridge over the Potomac because of traffic capacity restrictions plus CSX has had multiple derailments at RO interlocking. VRE plans to partner up with Maryland's MARC transportation and provide connecting trains from Maryland through to Virginia once they get more capacity.

The slowest express train I've ever seen

Great video! I like the cab

I lived down there from 1978 to 2001. I remember when the entire area was the RFP freight yards. Caternary came from DC for the Penn freight trains. The big talk was all the development to come once the freight yards were gone. By he way much of the route from Manassas up looks like it's rural and trees but in fact it is now densely overdeveloped. Fairfax county was allowing developments of 30,000 houses at a time surrounding vast office complexes. In 1978 it was all back roads and many were dirt roads. Now it has some of the worst traffic in the US with 6 lane feeder roads going all over the place but you can't go anyplace fast. Many areas have streets that consist of 50 townhouses on each side of a street with zero on street parking. They have a 6 foot lawn in front and an 8 foot yard in back and it is street after street built like that.

I grew up in Greensboro NC. In the early 60’s Southern ran 10 mainline passenger and 6 branch line and 4 mail trains a day thru Greensboro. They routinely ran 79mph the entire distance except when they got to the Potomac bridge. The Southerner was all coach and the Crescent was all Pullman But that changed and eventually they merged the trains. I miss the original Piedmont and the Greensboro to Asheville trains thru Winston Salem. South of Danville Va now the main is single tracked.

Looks like the Harlem line, minus the 3rd rail.

This seems like something I would do if I can retire

those VRE bilevels are the same ones that were made out here in IL before Nippon shut the plant down. Those are (for the most part) the same cars you rode in Chicago :)

14:29

That's my old home system! Thanks for riding. I have some videos of VRE and Washington Metro from Cherry Blossom Festival time (and even earlier) I've been meaning to put on KZread.

At least VRE keeps it's equipment clean. You might want to try that Amtrak!

Nice video! That pedestrian bridge at

Awesome video. Love this!

Wonderful! Thank you!

Love seeing you go all over the country. This is great

Very cool.

After college my friends and me would go down to the tracks near Burke Centre and Fairfax Station and drink beer and smoke whacky tobacky and this was before Potomac Yards was closed. Lots of freight trains went by plus Amtrak trains to Lynchburg and New Orleans. It was much busier then. We all grew out of the getting buzzed phase of life and got married, had children, worked in the corporate or trades worlds, so on. But it was a lot of trains even at night back then. Now everything heads west to Riverton Junction and Hagarstown, MD at Manassas. This stretch does see a rock train but no other freight runs this line that I know of. Way back, in 1968/69 Southern actually ran a mixed train thru this line, freight up front and two coaches on the tail end! I will never forget that. Good video.

Thanks for the ride along