A Ride Up The Wash

Norfolk Southern's Washington District is a line that has carried trains of numerous historic companies throughout the years. Names such as the Orange & Alexandria, Virginia Midland, and Richmond & Danville could be seen on rolling stock rumbling along this line. By 1894, the line was a part of the massive Southern Railway system and over forty trains could be seen in a single day cruising along the line. With the creation of Norfolk Southern in 1982, the line would be transferred to the new company where not much would change in terms of train frequency. This was until the largest railyard on the East Coast, Potomac Yard, closed in 1991. After the yards closure, the line north of Manassas would become seldom used by Norfolk Southern but would thrive after the Virginia Department of Transportation recognized the potential for a commuter railroad to Washington D.C. giving birth to the Virginia Railway Express Agancy. Freight traffic however was not dead as Norfolk Southern would continue to use the route as a mainline up to Manassas Junction where the trains would then be routed over the old Southern Harrisonburg Branch, now the B-Line towards Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Today, the Washington District sees about a dozen through trains a day and is home to five or six locals which serve various industries located along the line. Intermodal reigns supreme on the line as is the case in most areas, but manifests as well as the occasional unit train can also be seen trundling along the line. Not to mention, the line also is home to multiple Amtrak trains as well as a dozen or so Virginia Railway Express trains which operate on weekdays on the northernmost portion of the route.

Amtrak P42DC #100, the "50th Anniversary" unit, is caught on the point of northbound Amtrak regional train 176 at Manassas, Virginia, on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021. At this point, the locomotive had been wearing its heritage paint scheme for less than a month and had only recently been released from Amtrak's shops in Beech Grove, Indiana. For a little while after this photo was taken, #100 would continue to run the Roanoke Regional until eventually being set on the westbound Capital Limited where it would run for a little while as well. 

Norfolk Southern stack train 203 flies under the Liberia Avenue overpass approaching CP Newbill just north of Manassas, Virginia, on Tuesday, November 2nd, 1993. 203 was one of the few mainline trains that continued to operate north of Manassas after Potomac Yard's closure, but would run for the last time in 2005. The train wasn't abolished, rather the intermodal facility at Norfolk Southern's Van Dorn Street Yard in Alexandria, Virginia, would shift all operations to Rutherford, Pennsylvania, where it continues to this very day. The business on the right is no longer served by the railroad though the spur remains.

In classic Southern style, GP60 #7087 cruises long hood forward heading south on the point of pig train 221 at Clifton, Virginia, on Saturday, August 18th, 1990. One of the last true Southern era symbols still utilized by Norfolk Southern after the merger, train 221 would continue to be used to identify a high priority pig train until eventually being changed to 228 in the early 2000's. Note the Southern era signal bridge as well as the tie gondolas on the former Clifton house track. Surprisingly, the house track remains and is still occasionally used to store MOW equipment.

Conrail SD40-2 #6418 hauls Norfolk Southern's hotshot Saturday railroader train 244 northbound just north of Mountain Run, Virginia, on Saturday, June 4th, 1994. The weekend counterpart of train 266, these roadrailers operated as Conrail run through trains to Rutherford via Hagerstown meaning a Conrail engine could usually be seen somewhere in the consist. What I would give to see and hear a Big Blue SD40-2 hauling one of these pig trains at 70 MPH.

Sperry Rail Service #148, the "Jack Finney", sits on a storage track near CP Moore in Manassas, Virginia, on Saturday, March 31st, 1990, as Norfolk Southern SD40-2 #6173 leads manifest train 177 southbound long hood forward. Train 177 was one of the last trains to originate out of Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Virginia, and would continue to run until the final closure of the yard in 1991.  However, Delaware & Hudson (Later Canadian Pacific) run through trains 341 and 342 would continue to operate through Alexandria until at least 2001.

Three General Electric motors head northbound on the point of train 342 at Bristow, Virginia, on Wednesday, February 7th, 2001. Note the long string of loaded hoppers directly behind the power. These were loaded coal cars for the Potomac River Generating Station in Alexandria, Virginia. When demand for coal was down, coal loads would travel on 342 but when more coal was needed, such as during winter, the power plant would sometimes get unit coal trains with ID's 696, 896, and later 88M. Most of the time though, the empties would head back south on 341 or one of the locals. If there were enough empties however, train 897 would be scheduled to head from the power plant back to the mines in Southern West Virginia directly.

Norfolk Southern C44-9W #9094 prepares to depart Manassas, Virginia, for Alexandria, Virginia, with local train P98 on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007. Now known as K99, this local still runs today but looks much different as the modern day consist is made up of miscellaneous freight cars along with dozens of ethanol tank cars. The ethanol transloading facility at Van Dorn Street Yard had yet to exist when this photo was taken. 

Southern Railway local job E41 heads north under the signal bridge at Bristow, Virginia, with a classic Southern Tuxedo GP38-2 on Saturday, December 19th, 1981. Norfolk Southern no longer has enough local business on the Washington District mainline to warrant a Charlottesville to Manassas local so a shot like this with a four axle geep and a car or two is not likely to be seen again. This train is returning from Charlottesville back to the yard at Manassas after working the line for the day.