Nostalgia & History > Southern Railway FP7s runby at Boyce, VA in 1983...

On a hot, steamy (104 degrees in Hagerstown) day in Boyce, Virginia, two Southern Railway FP7s performed a runby past the Norfolk & Western depot.
Note that this was before the FP7s were renumbered. The excursion was run on Saturday, July 16, 1983, by the Joint Trip Committee of NRHS and RRE from Alexandria, VA, to Hagerstown, MD, and back.

Enjoy!

HRGXguy,
Wondering if anyone else here on TO was on this trip?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/10 04:00 by HRGXguy.

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HRGXguy Wrote:
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>
> HRGXguy,
> Wondering if anyone else here on TO was on this
> trip?

My wife and children, the kids then 13 and 10 years of age, were on that trip. Can't remember why I was neither with them or chasing the train--it probably had to do with military duty obligations that weekend.

Art House
Gettysburg, Pa.

Wonder why I didn't know about that. I was living in DC at the time... dang.

Back in the pre-Internet days, even well-publicized (for that time) trips such as these were pretty much word-of-mouth, except for the trip flyers in places like the old Arlington Hobby Crafters in Ballston, VA, and a few well-placed spots in the newspaper or on local AM radio, perhaps.....

The Joint Trip Committee, which consisted of members from the Potomac Chapter and Washington DC Chapter NRHS, and the Chessie Division of the RRE, did a terrific job in putting together these steam and diesel excursions! Dedicated volunteers put in tremendously long hours to make these trips happen, with the cooperation of the hosting railroads.

HRGXguy,
Usually you'd find me behind the counter in the commissary car - the late, lamented, Queen & Crescent Club...

I was on that trip; I and a friend split a ticket. I drove to Hagerstown, he rode out from Alexandria, took my car, and met me after chasing the return trip. As with all Southern/NS trips, it was wonderful.

A few years earlier, we rode "the other way" down to Shenandoah, VA. Thanks to the Roanoke Chapter NRHS last year, I finally got to ride the south end of the Shenandoah Valley line from Roanoke to Shenandoah. So I've now got the whole thing (albeit in several pieces).

I was lucky enough to be living in the Washington, DC area from 1976 to 1981 and then in New York from 1982 to 1987, so I was within easy striking distance of both the Southern and Chessie trips in the late 1970s and a lot of the trips in the 1980s as well. It sure was a lot harder to find out about them without the Web, though!

Makes total sense, now that I think about it for a second.

I was going to school at the time, and wasn't really tapped into the railfan community at all.

I do remember seeing those FPs in the yard in Alexandria though. Going to have to go digging to see if I got any decent shots.