Eastern Railroad Discussion > The Tri-Level Crossing In VA.

Is the triple level crossing in Roanoke(I think) still in use.
I was flipping through some old trains magazines while waiting
for a train and I saw two CSX, and one NS unit all parked there
for a photo shoot. I couldnt beleive it at first, I thought a
modeler did it, but it was live. Is it still in use today?

SDP-35 wrote:
>
> Is the triple level crossing in Roanoke(I think) still in use.

It's in Richmond, VA and still in use. Catching even two trains there can be a challenge, let alone three. There have been several staged events there, most recently, was the dedication of the Richmond Floodwall in the early 90's.

Triple crossing in in Richmond, VA and all three lines are in service. The NS is a branch line with only and out and back local to West Point, Va. I have many photos at the location with 2 trains and have been to one three photo set up.

The area has change much as the city has built a floodwall at the site and reopned the canal.

Since it wasn’t mentioned by anyone else… the upper track is the former C&O Rivanna Subdivision and the middle level is the former Seaboard Air Line mainline. Both, of course, CSX right-of-ways now.

Galen Wright
Lynchburg, VA

Was there in 1996 to chase the NS local to West Point and shot him at the crossing with a westbound CSX grain empty on the top (C&O) and a northbound empty coal train on the middle (SAL). The middle train was not moving but the other two were. Unfortunately, the NS local runs at night from what I have been told so I don't think you can get three trains there anymore. Unless the NS train gets re-crewed or is running very late/early.

this is looking east towards Newport News Va. the signal is Rivanna Jct.

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this is looking south on the X SAL/SCL. There isn't much clearance under the C & O.

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Does anyone have any more photos of this crossing that they can share or any links to websites with photos?

Thanks in advance!

Norfolk Southern's overnight turn to West Point has been departing around 9 p.m., returning before sunup. Occassionally, there's enough work to delay the train's return to Richmond, and the returning crew will attempt to bring the train back as far as possible for a re-crew, usually at the Dean Foods plant beside I-64 in Fair Oaks (a couple of miles northeast of the Richmond airport). When this occurs, the local Richmond yard crew will retrieve the train and bring it in---usually AFTER sunrise, which might just allow photos to be taken in sunlight with two CSX trains above---if any are there. Of course, it also depends on the time of year. The local NS yard crew makes infrequent moves on the lower (street) level during various daylight hours for customers east of there. Sometimes.

NS's operations in Richmond have been GREATLY scaled back in the years since this line was run by Southern. I saw a 3-train meet on the Triple Crossing in early 2001, as the West Point turn rolled at 10 mph eastward, an empty coal train sat motionless in the middle, and a heavy coal train blasted east on the upper tier toward Newport News. That was at approximately 9:15 p.m. one evening. The I-95 bridge over the James River soars just above this site.

The upper tier, former C&O James River route, sees all the export coal traffic for Newport News, grain traffic for the Carolinas (which must reverse direction at nearby Fulton Yard for the remaining trip onto former SCL lines), and the Russell, KY to Acca Yard Q302 freight and counterpart Q303. Occassionally, one of these may stop at Rivanna Jct. to await entry into Fulton Yard, or an Amtrak meet to occur just ahead, beyond the interlocking. If one stops there, and another empty train is stopped on the middle level, it might be possible to see THREE trains there if the NS local yard crew makes their infrequent daylight move below at street level. This does occur, sometimes once or more a week. It all depends on timing.

The middle level of the Triple Crossing will often see empty coal, grain, or sulfur trains returning west (north on the SCL line from Rocky Mount, NC). They stop at "Bone Dry" (Brown Street) just north of Main Street Station, to have the SCL-union agreement crew replaced by a C&O-union agreement crew, for the next portion of the trip over the C&O Piedmont line and on to Clifton Forge, Va. The time it takes to recrew here can be 5 minutes or 5 hours---it all depends on when or if a rested C&O crew is available (which is why you may see the same train sitting there for a long period of time).

The middle route, now called CSX's Bellwood Subdivision, has MAJOR expansion plans in the works. The Virginia Deptartment of Rail and Public Transportation, in conjunction with CSX, N.S. and the F.R.A., has track plans showing a full restoration of the entire Seaboard line from Acca Wye to Centralia, Va. (about 15 miles) to "Seaboard Air Line" levels of operation, which means all double track (and possibly some triple track on Hermitage Hill) restored and fully integrated with the Jacksonville, FL dispatcher system for higher speed passenger rail operations. This is to be completed before 2007, as ALL passenger service (except Auto Train) will be shifted to this routing to allow Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express to use the downtown station, ONE BLOCK north of the Triple Crossing. (Near the end of the construction schedule, Greyhound/Trailways is to move in there also.)

The track plans and dispatcher simulations for the rebuilt Seaboard (Bellwood) route are quite elaborate (I have seen them at public hearings on the matter), and the $71B rail revitalization proposal now in Congress is expected to allow for a fast construction schedule. We shall see. As a result, in less than five years it may be possible to photograph Amtrak and VRE trains on the middle route of the Triple Crossing, with CSX trains above and NS trains below. Again, we shall see.

Stay tuned!

cp1813 wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any more photos of this crossing that they can
> share or any links to websites with photos?
>
> Thanks in advance!

Check your mail for a postcard view of the crossing in the 60's. Don't know how to cut and paste to the discussion board...

Sorry, wrong date!

This was on 1SEP49, the first event recorded on color film. It features a C&O 2-8-2, a SAL E7, and Southern RS2.
The staged shot on 12OCT58 had C&O GP7/9's, a SAL GP9, and Southern had a RS3.
Another staged shot on 1SEP66 featured a C&O geep, SAL GP40, and a Southern GP35.
The 1983 NRHS convention again used the triple crossing with a CS/C&O B30-7, a SBD SYS GP40, and Southern FP7's.

See the November 1983 issue of Railfan for a nice article on the crossing.

On a related note: if you do happen to be in Richmond and the NS local/yard crew is out in daylight, walk to the top of the flood wall just west of the triple crossing and shoot the NS train heading back to the yard (west/south). It is a great shot crossing the James River with the city skyline in the background. There is a hiker/biker trail on top of the flood wall.