Nostalgia & History > Catinary wire, south of Washington D.C. Union Station

In Washington D.C. the CSX's ex-RF&P crosses the Potomac River. Easily noticable, you can easily find somewhat-like catinary posts over the right-of-way, but with no wire, surrounding the bridge.

Did the railroad, for whatever reason, once have the section of railroad equipt with catinary wire, south of Union Station? Or what were the posts for?

Matthew

PRR, PC and Conrail ran electric powered freight trains into Potomac Yard in Virginia

Just north of the Potomac River crossing, the line splits, with the passenger line going into Union Station and the freight line bypassing to the east.  They combine again a few miles north of Union Station.  Both lines were electrified.

Does this mean that a portion of Bedding Road Yard was electrified and rejoined, near where the Union Station right-of-way crosses Anocostia River? How far did it go south?

BlackWidow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just north of the Potomac River crossing, the line
> splits, with the passenger line going into Union
> Station and the freight line bypassing to the
> east.  They combine again a few miles north of
> Union Station.  Both lines were electrified.

The freight main line past Benning Yard was electrified. Don't know whether any yard tracks were.

As another reply says, going south, electrification stopped in Pot Yard (now gone) about a mile north of the Alexandria passenger station.

ctillnc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The freight main line past Benning Yard was
> electrified. Don't know whether any yard tracks
> were.
>
> As another reply says, going south,
> electrification stopped in Pot Yard (now gone)
> about a mile north of the Alexandria passenger
> station.

Benning yard was entirely electrified ... the freight main to Benning yard split at Landover,Md ... went across the Anacostia movable bridge and through the tunnel where the passenger main from Union Station also through a tunnel joined with the freight main at Virginia Ave tower ...

the passenger main south out Union Station was also electrified ... all tracks from Virginia were electrified across the Long Bridge over the Potomac and ran into Potomac yard ... the RF&P waa not electrified only the leads off the Long Bridge into the yard were wired ... and only the northern 1/2 of RF&P's Potomac yard was electrified with just the outbound northern departure and the inbound arrival tracks being under wire along with the motor tracks in the middle of the yard where the electric power was serviced and readied ...

today the catenary out of Union Station ends in the tunnel before exiting at Virginia Interlocking ...

When we moved to Alexandria and worked for FRA in DC in 1982 the wires extended into Pot Yard and we saw electric engines there. Not too long after that the wire disappeared.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Marty Bernard, who posts here on Trainorders, has a wonderful photo of a GG1 in Potomac Yard.

http://www.american-rails.com/gg1.html

Look carefully and you can see the Washington Monument in the distance, across the river in Washington, DC.

B&OB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/15 16:06 by bandob.

Here is one of the photos of electrics in Potomac Yard I posted here recently. 

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/attachments/fullsize/1004000/PC4836_4416_BO4051_720114_Potomac_Yards_Arlington_VA_1.jpg

Marty Bernard

I sort of disagree with 'out-of service' about the electrified portion from inside the tunnel at the south end of Union Station to Virginia Ave tunnel......I do not think that appx 1/2 mile was electrified. Why would it have been? All passenger trains changed to diesel or steam at the lower levels of Union Station. But the freight line from Lamdover to somewhere in the middle of Potomac Yard was definitely electrified. I rode behind two GG-1s in early CR years leaving Pot Yard in a caboose of a train I was assigned to ride, but that would be another story.

tp117 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I sort of disagree with 'out-of service' about the
> electrified portion from inside the tunnel at the
> south end of Union Station to Virginia Ave
> tunnel......I do not think that appx 1/2 mile was
> electrified. Why would it have been? All passenger
> trains changed to diesel or steam at the lower
> levels of Union Station. But the freight line from
> Lamdover to somewhere in the middle of Potomac
> Yard was definitely electrified. I rode behind two
> GG-1s in early CR years leaving Pot Yard in a
> caboose of a train I was assigned to ride, but
> that would be another story.

the reason ??? because they were the PRR and they overbuilt eeeeeeeverything ... i went to sattelite images to prove my point but all the cat poles have since been removed on the passenger main between the tower and tunnel, so i found text to disprove your statement and to show that the passenger main was electrified ...

here's the link ... now right where states the present electrication ends in the tunnel ... in parethesis it states the electrification use to extend to Potomac yard ... you argue that it was just the freight trackage but the link is for UNION STATION trackage only NOT the Landover freight extension ...

http://home.earthlink.net/~donwinter/Railroad%20Infrastructure%20and%20Traffic%20Data/Trunk%20Routes/North%20East%20Corridor/Route%20Descriptions/Virginia%20Avenue%20Junction%20to%20New%20York%20Avenue.htm

The reason was no doubt so electrics could be moved between Ivy City and Potomac Yard.  Why leave such a short gap?

Marty Bernard

MartyBernard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The reason was no doubt so electrics could be
> moved between Ivy City and Potomac Yard.  Why
> leave such a short gap?
>
> Marty Bernard

with that being said Marty ... the Gs no doubt but it would be hard pressed to find an E-33 or E-44 using the passenger main through the station and tunnel to Virginia Ave ... if there IS a photo of such a move it would be priceless ... a through move too through the tunnel ... not just an interlocking reverse move with the power just clearing on the passenger main north of the signal at Virginia ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/15 10:50 by Out_Of_Service.

Despite what that link says, I believe it's referring to the Anacostia freight line's catenary extending from Landover to Benning Yard across the Anacostia to Virginia Avenue, RO Interlocking and Potomac Yard.  I don't believe there was ever catenary through the 1st Street Tunnel between the south end of Union Station and Virginia Avenue.  Why not?  It was Washington Terminal's, not the PRR's, and PRR didn't run any electrics south of Union Station.  I've never seen any evidence of catenary poles between the south portal of 1st Street Tunnel and Virginia Avenue, and I've never seen any photos that showed catenary on that line.

PRR wouldn't have cared about moving GG1s between Ivy City and Potomac Yard.  Ivy City was a Washington Terminal facility, not a PRR facility.  PRR's engine facilities were at Benning Yard.

The freight line around Washington was PRR's original main line into Washington from the north.  Its original station was on what's now the National Mall, at the corner of 6th St & Independence Ave back when the Mall was a swamp.  B&O's station was on New Jersey Avenue, I believe.  All PRR passenger trains operated out of its station on what's now the Mall and went north through the Virginia Avenue tunnel, across the Anacostia and up past Benning Yard to Landover.  The Magruder Branch between Landover and New York Avenue was built when Union Station was opened and all railroads began using that as their Washington station, which included building the line between Virginia Avenue and Union Station through the First Street Tunnel.

 

"I don't believe there was ever catenary through the 1st Street Tunnel between the south end of Union Station and Virginia Avenue. "

I guess the operative word is "through." From this 1960 photo, it does appear the catenary at least went INTO the tunnel. That's the RF&P/ACL "Palmetto" waiting to depart.

B&OBill

---

yeah ... you are all correct and i stand corrected ... i'm looking at historicaerials from 1949 to 1974 and i see no catenary structures, wires or poles ...

Yes, bandobob, there was and remains catenary for a couple of engine lengths past the south end of the switches down at the south end of the Terminal. It's called A Interlocking. It's far enough down in the throat of the station and beneath the station building itself that you can't see it from the lower-level platform. The catenary is there so that a motor can cut away from an inbound train and reverse back north.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/15 20:11 by knotch8.