We began the day at Ruther Glen, VA, where we arrived about 8:30 AM. We had not heard much on the radio as we traveled south, not a good sign. However, shortly after arriving we heard a westbound train of coal empties going west on the Buckingham Branch RR (former C&O Piedmont Subdivision) ask the dispatcher for permission to cross the RF&P. The dispatcher responded by asking him to wait for #88, so we knew we had one coming. Train #88 is shown below splitting the signals at Ruther Glen at about 9:00 AM.
Also, I thought I heard Q410 call a signal and thought he was south of us coming north. However, after the calling the one signal we never heard him again nor did we see him.
At about 10:00 AM we heard Q439 coming south. As I did not care for the southbound shot here at this time of day and as there was a shot I wanted at Doswell we headed there. We found a trio of Buckingham Branch GP16s sitting dead and got a couple of photos. Then we set up for Q439, which showed up about 20 minutes later.
The railroad went dead again and the light was beginning to come over the track so we moved again, this time to Ashland. After looking around a bit we set up north of the station and photographed Amtrak #89.
Now the dispatcher gave a grain train permission to cross at Doswell. As the train had informed the Dispatcher that it would take him about 15 minutes to cross we figured there would not be a train through Ashland for about 40 minutes. Therefore, we relocated back north to Doswell where we shot #79.
The radio went quiet again so we decided to check out Milford, further north. While we were still about 5 miles from Milford we heard Q173 call the signal there. We were totally out of position. We spent about an hour at Milford with the radio again quiet. When the shadows started to cover the tracks we moved off north again, this tie to Woodford where we caught Amtrak #80.
So ended our day. We enjoyed each other's company and I always like being a tour guide so we had a good time. I hope you enjoyed the photos.
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