23-09-02 PHOTOS: Doswell

As the supply of interesting signaling in the northeast dries up, I have been having to turn my attention south to the state of Virginia. The CSX route between Washington, DC and Richmond, VA fortunately has a number of Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac era signaling from before it was purchased by CSX in 1992 and after learning that the notable Doswell, VS bracket mast was under threat of replacement I schedule a third RF&P related trip in the summer of 2023, the previous two having been to the Milford and Fredericksburg areas. You can find the full set of these new photos here ( mirror ).

The first stop of the day was at the Coleman's Mill intermediate signal location, 29.5 miles from Richmond. I arrived with my friend in time to catch Amtrak Train 88 with P42DC #54 leading.

We then ran express to Doswell, VA where the famed bracket mast was still standing along with its intended replacement. Typically CSX would have replaced the now disfavored bracket configuration with a cantilever, but because the signaling logic was not in need of replacement and the location of the signal is constrained by adjacent tracks, a new bracket mast was ordered.

Doswell is a significant interchange point and yard for the Buckingham Branch railroad which operates the former C&O Blue Ridge route between Richmond and Clifton Forge, VA. Two of its locomotives, GP40-3 #12 and GP38-2 #17, were standing adjacent to the bracket mast.

Doswell's other big attraction is HN tower, the classic RF&P station and the C&O Blue Ridge route diamonds.

The diamonds are the real deal and not the low maintenance flange riding type.

The RF&P was one of the better resourced railroads in the former Confederate South and many of its all brick towers survive today with. HN tower features such PRR quality elements such as copper cladding, an air plant for pneumatic switches and a bay window.

The former joint RF&P / C&O station still stands and houses Buckingham Branch offices.

I was wondering why so many railfans were hanging around the Doswell diamonds, when southbound Amtrak Palmetto Train 89 appeared with ALC-42 Charger #329 leading on what was apparently one of the first uses of this locomotive type out of Washington, DC.

14-03-21 PHOTOS: Valley Campaign

Well over the last year I seem to have been retracing a lot of Civil War history first with my visit to tidewater Virginia last July and just this March with a visit to the Shenandoah Valley. The former was one of those "free" time share weekends and one of the inducements was a free 3 night stay in the Shenandoah National Park area which made the second trip possible. Now March isn't one of the more popular months to visit the park, but thanks to the cold spring and a snow story that closed parts of Skyline Drive, my friend and I at time wound up having almost the entire National Park to ourselves. Without the notorious summer and leaf season traffic jams to content with we were able to drive the 105 mile length of Skyline drive three complete times over the 4 days we were there.

Before, after and in between our visit to the park we also made numerous railfan stops along the NS Shenandoah Branch and the C&O Washington Branch, which is home to Amtrak's Cardinal. We even managed to run into several actual trains, which was good because I am sure that not many of you would be interested in seeing the best of 1100 signal related photos. Of course if you are you can can find them here

The first stop was Shenandoah Junction on the NS Shenandoah Branch that runs between Roanoke, VA and Hageratown, MD. This line still has quite a few classic N&W color position lights along it as when it was resignaled about 10 years ago railroads still bothered to save $$ by cutting the old signals into the new interlocking equipment. Shenandoah Junction was a once busy interchange point between the N&W and B&O that was made largely redundant by the mergers of the past 25 years.

Next stop was the junction between the Shenandoah Branch and the former Southern "B-Line" at Front Royal, VA. Today this is part of the primary NS freight route between the Northeast and the South. Trains turn west off the Southern Main Line at Mananas, VA then head to Front Royal where they turn north again to Hagerstown where they enter former Conrail/Reading RR trackage to Harrisburg and Reading before finally going to either NY or Philly. The route is far less direct than the one CSX has access to that basically parallels the NEC. Here we can see the wye connection between the B-Line and the Shenandoah Branch off to the right, while the old Southern line to Strasburg, VA continues on over the diamond.

 Here is the former N&W bridge over the Shenandoah River at Front Royal. You can see how the default route leads to the B-Line as most traffic heads towards the Southern Main to Atlanta while only a handful still use the N&W line between here and Roanoke.

 Until 1990 Strasburg was a major interchange point between the former Southern system and the B&O. However the NS and CSX mergers eventually made this service plan obsolete so now the west end of the B-Line sees only sporadic local traffic. This resulted in a flange riding diamond being installed across the Shenandoah Branch.

I was lucky enough to catch a train while hanging out at Front Royal. Here NS C40-10W #7602 heads down the N&W line with a train of mixed freight.

Newly rebuilt SD60E #6960 was following behind as seen here in this video of the train as it pounds the Southern diamonds.


The N&W Shenandoah River bridge as seen from the side.

While the weather was a bit cold it did have some advantages like these cool clouds blowing across the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park. This was shot just south of the US entrance.


When you have a National Park to yourself you can just stop on the main road and take pictures of wildlife without pissing other people off.



These deer weren't in the park, but were right outside the hotel place we were staying at.



Mid-day railfanning break on Day 2. This is VAUGHN interlocking, south end of a signaled siding on the Shenandoah Branch.

At the other end of the siding, SUMMIT interlocking, I caught wind of an approaching train as the southbound N&W PL mast signal was displaying Approach.

Sure enough a light engine move with NS C44-9W #9944 and SD70M-2 #2680 passed by a few minutes later.

09-07-26 PHOTOS: C&O Survey 2009 Part 2

Part 2 will cover Hinton, WV to Washington, DC with a few gaps along the way. These photos were taken from the rear of Amtrak's eastbound Cardinal (Train 50) and you can view the entire set at http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/09-07-26_CnO_SURVEY_09/-Thumbnails.html In the Huntington East ETT refer to the North Mountain and Washington Subdivisions.

So due to the actions of the late Senator Byrd, not only does The Cardinal pass through WV, it makes a stop about every 10-20 miles. Still in a state with few transportation options to reach the outside world the train is well patronized as you can see at from this picture of the old C&O Hinton Station. Also, it looks like the station has escaped the rebranding that began about a decade ago. Long live the pointless arrow.

Patriotism runs strong in West Virginia. U-S-A! U-S-A!! 

Epic beard man was also there to watch the train roll through, but fortunately he didn't try to start anything.

Departing the station we passed a coal train with two road units and a road-slug pair with a former GP30 as the road slug. How many of these things doe CSX have!!

This is a cute signal. It has to be placed close to the tracks to allow ling of sight through the tunnel, but that required the elephant ears to be trimmed a little.

 The tunnel in question is the Big Bend Tunnel. The 5000 foot twin bore was the site of the famous John Henry ledgend. This was the newer bore built in the 1930's and the only one still in use today. At Hinton the Main Line leaves the New River valley and begins to follow the Greenbrier River east towards the Allegheny summit. The Big Bend in question is in the Greenbrier River.