Passenger Trains > Long Bridge over the Potomac

or, with all the problems in Washington these days, Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

These photos were taken Friday from Gravelly Point Park in Arlington, Va.
It's a fantastic place to watch trains and planes.

1 Amtrak's Silver Star Florida bound over the Long Bridge.
In PRR, PC and early Conrail days, this was electrified into Potomac Yard.

2 A Virginia Rail Express commuter train heads south over the bridge heading to
either Manassas or Fredericksburg.

3 Not to be outdone, DC Metro has it's own version of the Long Bridge.

4 A United Airlines 737 flies over the park on short final to National Airport (KDCA).

rfprr

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Last one.

rfprr

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Very pretty, thank you.

Steve Donaldson
Pacific Grove, CA

RU a pilot?

Can you say RUST!!

Great photos! Thank you for sharing.

Back in the 1980s my wife and I commuted to work on the Hill from Arlington on the Metro...
When I worked in the Cannon House Office Bldg. I could hear Amtrak and RF&P trains rumbling through the tunnel under the Capitol complex from time to time.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

SpeederDriver Wrote:
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> RU a pilot?


Why such a question?

chs7-321 Wrote:
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> SpeederDriver Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
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> > RU a pilot?
>
>
> Why such a question?

And why "RU" not writing the words "are" and "you" out? Is anyone else here supremely bugged by that?

Tor in Eugene

Wonderful photos. Thanks for taking and posting them.

I didn't know that VRE is running 9 car trains. That's impressive.

I've visited Gravelly Point when I've been in Washington, and it's one of the neatest plane-watching spots there is. For those not from the area, here's an overhead view: http://goo.gl/maps/Ocz5h If you move or enlarge the map, you can see the Long Bridge a few hundred yards up the river. If you're in the Washington area and you have any interest at all in planes, this is the place to sit and watch them. They are every bit as close to your head as the photo shows. The only access, though, is by car, bike or walking. No public transit, although it looks like you can make the 1-mile walk from the Reagan National Metro station up to the Mt. Vernon Trail and to the park.

Awesome photos. Thanks for sharing. I wish the eastern ld trains would have the baggage cars behind the locomotives again

Thanks for the compliments guys, much appreciated.

rfprr

Those rusty bridges look disgusting, especially because they are in the DC area, our capital.
Videos of European railways rarely show rundown property, trash, although some graffiti is seen.

And yes, substituting letters for words may seem hip and mod, it is juvenile and lazy-minded.

Lead [paint and frenzied enviros make it difficult to do
anything like sandblasting and repainting.

That's why so many new bridges are made out of Cor-Ten and
never get painted.