Railfanning 4-21-11

Hi, Friend Jim Kleeman and I had a great day photographing Amtrak, CSX, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) on the former RF&P. We photographed 26 trains and missed 3 between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM.

First up was the northbound Auto Train at Featherstone, VA.

We next went looking for a pond I had read about and found it before VRE 312 showed up.

Right behind the VRE was Amtrak Regional 174. We then relocated to Quantico, VA.

There were a slew of trains at Quantico, VA, not all shown. First up was CSX Q409.

Another southbound was Q741 which returns empty orange juice cars to Bradenton, FL. It usually carries a block of intermodal cars on the head end.

Q174 ran north,

as did Q740, the northbound juice train.

Our next move was to the grade crossing south of Brooke, VA where we photographed Amtrak 79, The Carolinian.

It was followed shortly by Q415.

After a little exploration we found a place to shoot the bridge at Aquia from the downriver side. Here Amtrak Regional 94 heads north with the commemorative unit painted in Northeast Direct colors.

Q703, a southbound garbage train, was up next.

We then relocated to the Brooke VRE station where we caught Q171. Unfortunately, all traffic on weekday afternoons usually runs left handed as VRE built almost all of their stations with one platform, on the east side of the tracks.

VRE 301 followed shortly.

From Brooke we headed to the upstream side of the bridge at Aquia. The commemorative unit in the first Amtrak paint scheme was a fortunate catch on Amtrak Regional 95.

Amtrak 91, the southbound Silver Star, was on time in a shot found by Jim,

Followed by VRE 303.

At this point we decided to relocate once again, this time to Neabsco, VA, where we photographed VRE 309 (we missed 2 during our relocation),

Q130,

VRE 311, and

Amtrak Regional 93.

Hope you enjoy the photos.