23-07-14 PHOTOS: Fredericksburg

In July 2023, Virginia Railway Express offered a week of free fares in an attempt to boost ridership. I had participated in a similar promotion in 2022, but instead of a quick out and back to Franconia-Springfield, I took advantage of Amtrak's lower fares to book a return Regional from the near terminus of the VRE Fredericksburg Line. My DC railfan buddy also decided to join me as Fredericksburg offered a quality food and beverage options in addition to a high pace of activity on the CSX RF&P Sub. You can see the full set of photos here.

Planning on catching the first VRE Fredericksburg Line train southbound, My mid-day MARC berthed at the far end of of the track 7/8 platform at the western edge of Union Station. The walk to the station terminal involved passing MARC cab car #8047, MP36PH3C #19, MARC Mp36PH-3C #30 and MARC single level cab car #7761 and #7760.

Down on the Union Station lower lever I saw that Amtrak Capitol Limited Train #29 had arrived on Track #23 instead of the more customary Track 15/16.

The early southbound Fredericksburg Line train would be powered by VRE MP36PH-3C #V53. Luckily the entire train was open and I could seize the railfan window at the rear as we pulled out of track #24 and into the 1st St Tunnel under Capitol Hill.

VIRGINIA tower has been partly restored, but the ivy covering the rear might be bad for the brick work.

Space in the Ivy City Yard is at such a premium that VRE stores one of its trainsets in a purpose built pocket track in CP-VIRGINIA, seen here with VRE MP36PH-3C #V66.

Departing Franconia-Springfield, which until this point had been the farthest south I had traveled on a VRE train on the Fredericksburg Line.

Most VRE stations, like Lorton here, employ a single platform on track #2 since the peak direction operation precludes the need for opposing VRE trains to pass each other. Savings in station construction is a less discussed factor behind the decision to employ peak direction operation.

At Lorton, Amtrak P40DC's #814 and #821 were gearing up for that day's departure. The older P40 locomotives from 1993 are typically assigned to Auto Train service as they feature freight style braking which makes handling the long train of mostly auto-racks easier.

Encountering a northbound CSX manifest freight crossing the Occoquan Creek bridge. This and several other significant viaducts between Quantico and DC will make installing a full third track challenging.

Speaking of third tracks, construction is progressing well on the second phase of the project with a second third track in service between Possum Point, north of Quantico and Arkendale. The new Quantico station is being set up to handle trains on all three tracks.

The next point of interest was encountering northbound Carolinian Train 80 at the VRE Brooke station.

23-07-03 VIDEOS: Main Line 562

In addition to still photographs, the rear window on the Pennsylvanian also allows for video. I had been able to capture quite a lot of westbound footage on previous journeys, but this would be the first time heading eastbound that I did not have my view blocked by a private car. Because the line has been re-signaled I didn't have a ton of pressure to max out my video capacity so I focused on the east and west slopes of the Allegheny Summit as well as the last mile heading across the Susquehanna River and into Harrisburg.

Starting off at Pittsburgh Penn Station. my eastbound Train 42 was ready to depart with a Slow Approach displayed on CP-PITT's 2E-2 dwarf signal as the dispatcher had elected not to display at CP-EAST PITT until the train actually got moving.



Next up is the money reel covering the complete trip over the PRR Allegheny Summit from CP-SO in South Fork to the Amtrak station in Altoona over the world famous Horseshoe Curve. The trip also includes CP-W, CP-MO, CP-UN, CP-MG and CP-ALTOONA as well as the PRR Main Line Summit at Galitzin (17:30) and the subsequent Allegheny Tunnel.



As the 3-track raceway from Altoona to Tyrone is mostly 80mph and covers the famed Altoona Works, and also because I had botched a previous video on this segment, I kept the camera running. This covers CP-WORKS, CP-HOMER, CP-ANTIS and CP-GRAY. Unfortunately the iconic signal bridges at Fostoria and Tipton are no longer present.



Due to rain, for the next couple hours I relaxed at my seat, but got this quick video racing traffic on the adjacent US Highway 322 at PRR Main Line milepost 200.



Finally I wanted some video of the last few miles headed into Harrisburg . Starting at the old PRR Duncannon, PA station, the video includes CP-CANNON, CP-BANKS, CP-MARY, the Rockville Bridge, CP-ROCKVILLE, the Harrisburg fuel pad and finally CP-HARRIS.



Well I hope you enjoyed both the photos and videos. I'll be back shortly with a VRE trip to Fredericksburg, VA.

23-07-03 PHOTOS: Main Line 562

In 2018, as the former PRR Main Line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh was in the midst of a major re-signaling project, I was blocked in my efforts to get westbound facing photos from the rear of eastbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian Train 42 by a private car. In 2023, 5 years after the re-signaling project was completed, I was in the position to try again even if the route was now devoid of interesting signaling. Although cloudy weather and wildfire haze impacted the photos, I accomplished my mission of documenting the now diminished PRR Main Line between Pittsburgh and Tyrone, where the rain made additional coverage impractical. You can view the full gallery here.

Amtrak lets passengers board pretty early for the 8am departure of Train 42 from Pittsburgh Penn Station stub track #3. Power for the day was P42DC #94.

Departing the station, Train 42 passed by the old Conrail era helper base at he Pittsburgh station. Trains needing helpers over the entire west slope would have them attached here. In the mid-2000's the base was closed with the crews moved to either Cresson or Johnstown and helpers cutting off at various points along the Pittsburgh Line depending on operational expediency.

After moving to the rear of the train the first point of interest was a KCS AC4400 in the number 2 position leading a westbound train of empty oil tank cars near Manor, PA.

NS C44-9W #9700 along with a C40-10W leading a westbound intermodal near Radebaugh.

Greensburg, PA is the only station on the route with active platforms serving all main line tracks. With only a single round trip to worry about, current practice is to run both Pennsylvanians on the nominally "westbound" #2 track. Stations like Latrobe that has the capacity for a second platform, has allowed it to decay as it removes the need to correctly pre-position passengers on the correct track.

Overtaking NS ES44AC #8012 at CP-PACK.

The sun briefly peeking out as Train 42 crosses the old stone bridge at Johnstown. This structure survived the great Johnstown Flood in 1889 and continues in service to this day.

Johnstown Station's island platform only serves Track 2 and 3, although Track 3 is rarely utilized by The Pennsylvanian due to it running on a different alignment between Johnstown and CP-CONPIT that adds about 15 minutes to the trip.

Clear westbound signal on track #3 at CP-C(onemaugh). This location has far less going on than it did just 20 years ago with an complete absence of local freight/coal and helper pairs. Coal trains were some of the most in need of temporary assistance and the collapse of coal power combined with increased use of distributed power has virtually eliminated much of the hustle and bustle around helper districts.