Passenger Trains > Amtrak in Richmond, VA - top picks

A thread below on the possibility of Amtrak service in Virginia to Newport News and Lynchburg provoked me to review some of my photos of Amtrak in Richmond (part of the NPN service.) Here are my top picks of what I've taken. The second group will be night shots.

These first three show trains approaching/leaving Main St. station. For more on the peculiar trackage and seemingly crummy condition, see this post: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2215475,2215946#msg-2215946

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These three views all show the former C&O trestle through downtown Richmond. Amtrak trains to Newport News enter onto this, the Rivanna/Peninsula Sub, after departing Main St. Station and heading through Rivanna junction, a crossover on the trestle itself. For a very lucky year I lived basically 100 ft. back from these scenes. This gave me some special opportunities to get interesting events/weather.

4: a train approaches Rivanna Junction at sunset

5: This image is a mess, but I still like it because of the snow, the YN1 long hood forward SD40, and the trailing lights of the Amtrak train. Snow isn't exactly common in Richmond, but the scene of a freight waiting on Amtrak to clear so it can head up the single track Bellwood Sub to Acca yard/wye is. This I think was the Newport News local H774/5

6: Another attempt at the same scene, not great, but a bit better. Again a train is waiting for Amtrak to clear.

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60 plus seats per car. Times 7. Lots of capacity. Will fools win this fight!!

I enjoyed your photos and discussion both here and in the previous message linked to above. I rode that train many times back and forth to Norfolk during my stint with Uncle Sam 1988-1995. I always hated the torturous trip through Richmond; seemed like it took as long to get from Main St. (where we didn't stop in those days) to Staples Mills as it did to get from Newport News to Richmond. Still, aside from that it was a fun train to ride.

Andy

Hard to believe Amtrak runs on track that poor. It looks more like a poorly kept tourist railroad than something in regular passenger service.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Hard to believe Amtrak runs on track that poor. It
> looks more like a poorly kept tourist railroad
> than something in regular passenger service.

You beat me to the punch on that. It's embarrassing. I hope the stack of new ties in the first photo is a sign that this stretch is getting upgraded.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Hard to believe Amtrak runs on track that poor. It
> looks more like a poorly kept tourist railroad
> than something in regular passenger service.


From the picture, you can't really tell what the condition of the track is. I see a bunch of weeds, but that is not a very good indicator of the condition of the track structure itself. Yes, I know weeds are bad as it indicates soil, rather than ballast under the ties, but you can't really see anything other than the weeds in this photo.

Also, how long is this segment of track? If it is only a mile, it's not really that big of a deal.

P Wrote:
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> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hard to believe Amtrak runs on track that poor.
> It
> > looks more like a poorly kept tourist railroad
> > than something in regular passenger service.
>
>
> From the picture, you can't really tell what the
> condition of the track is. I see a bunch of weeds,
> but that is not a very good indicator of the
> condition of the track structure itself. Yes, I
> know weeds are bad as it indicates soil, rather
> than ballast under the ties, but you can't really
> see anything other than the weeds in this photo.
>
>
> Also, how long is this segment of track? If it is
> only a mile, it's not really that big of a deal.

First, those pictures were taken a year ago, so certainly it has been improved. I got the weeds at their peak, CSX seemed to take their time that year getting the weed spray train there. It is only less than a mile between the AM junction switch and the station. Unfortunately it didn't really matter that this track was slow because the junction is so poorly laid out that no speed can be gained anyway. (see that previous post for more info.) It should be noted, though, that this isn't a lightly used piece of track. It is the start of a grade for 2-6 coal and grain trains a day that use helpers, 2 manifests each way, and on this particular segment, 1-5 empty coal trains as well.

Every study of improved passenger rail service has called for a rebuilt double-track line between AY and Main St Station, with the objective of a 10-minute running time (15 minutes between the Staples Mill station and Main St Station). The only questions are where will the money come from and when.