[Scan-DC] Anyone Railfan?

Fri Jan 23 12:07:30 EST 2009

I see above there was mention made of a "Virginia Railfans List"  there's a
couple of different ones all on Yahoo Groups, probably the most active is
VRFE (Virginia RailFans E-lert) which was actually divided up into two
separate lists, one for "On Sheet" (OS is old railroad jargon, to denote a
train reporting its presence on a dispatcher/block
operator's territory) reports of train activity in the area, the other for
generalized railfan discussion/photo sharing.  VRFD is the discussion list,
while OS-VRFE is for the heads-ups reports.   The VRFE guys usually meet in
Manassas or Orange, VA about once a month to do a "train night" where
members get together and run slide shows, though I've only attended one out
of sheer curiosity about 3 years ago, and haven't been to one since.

You might also try the Yahoo Group for "Circus Train" which tracks the
progress of the two circus trains (Red & Blue) all over the country.  And
there's another Virginia Yahoo Group, I think it's called "Old Dominion
Railfans" or something to that effect.  I'm not terribly active on any
lists, only because I don't really like the politics and competition
involved with railfanning these days.

There's alot of decent spots to go hang out by the tracks that you'll have
little trouble with, the Alexandria King Street Station sees regular
gatherings of railfans, particularly on weekends.  The station operators are
usually pretty receptive to the train buffs, sometimes even feeding
information about the next trains through.  In Doswell, Virginia, near Kings
Dominion the CSX RF&P Main crosses the old C&O Piedmont Sub via a diamond,
and is also a working yard for the Buckingham Branch railway.  The RF&P is
the busier of the two lines, but CSX still runs empty coal, sulphur and
grain trains as overflow traffic up the C&O to Huntington, WV and points
further West.

In Maryland, you could go to Riverdale Park MARC station off of Queensbury
Road and Rhode Island Avenue, railfans typically gather there at night time,
but can be seen at all times of day. (There's also a Riverdale Railfans
Yahoo Group)  It's more of a social event there than it is a railfan event,
the trains just add a nice periodic distraction when conversation is
lagging.  There are signals to the West of Riverdale that are visible so you
can see if there is any Westbound traffic lined up.  Point of Rocks was also
mentioned, as well as Brunswick.

Further West, you could go to Shenadoah Junction, WV (Northwest of
Charlestown) where the old N&W (Present Day Norfolk Southern Valley Line)
crosses over top of the old B&O (Present Day CSX Cumberland Subdivision).
Railfans gather there especially on weekends, but pretty much any time of
day, any day of the week.

I can't really pinpoint any particular location to railfan the NS, as the
traffic seems sporadic sometimes, although there are about a dozen or
so regularly scheduled road trains in a 24 hour period.  (203, 204, 211,
212, 213, 214, 227, 228, 11R, 12R, 35Q, 36Q, 290, 24Q, 111, 112 are the ones
that immediately come to mind. Plus AMTRAK 19, 20, 50, and 51 as well as
several VRE's)  Your best bet to see maximum traffic on NS is to get on the
NS "Valley Line" North of Front Royal/Riverton Junction all the way to
Hagerstown and Harrisburg, PA.  About half of the trains end up continuing
South from Front Royal to places like Shenandoah and Roanoke, while others
go East to Manassas and then South to Lynchburg and points further South.

Wow, this turned into a long diatribe, hopefully I didn't put ya'll to
sleep.

Sean

P.S.  Thanks for the comment about the website photos.

On 1/23/09, b_thom at juno.com <b_thom at juno.com> wrote:
>
> staticone at comcast.net:
>
>
> Well it sounds like we need some frequencies and some locations to do some
> fanning.
> *************
>
> All the good stuff is gone. (Railfans have been saying that since, oh,
> 1828, I suppose, when someone griped that steam wasn't as interesting as
> horses.) For some time, I found the MARC line through Montgomery County out
> to Brunswick a great place to hang out. This was back when MARC was running
> F-units and the afternoon RDC that deadheaded from Brunswick to Union
> Station.
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
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>
>  Well it sounds like we need some frequencies and some locations to do
> some fanning.
>
>
>
>
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> *From:* scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:
> scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] *On Behalf Of *Sean Hoyden
> *Sent:* Friday, January 23, 2009 8:03 AM
> *To:* johnantonelli at verizon.net
> *Cc:* Scan-DC
> *Subject:* Re: [Scan-DC] Anyone Railfan?
>
>
>
> I do as well, railfanning was my whole reason for even getting into RF
> scanning in the first place.
>
> I post photos on my website:  www.hoydie17.com
>
> Take care,
> Sean
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
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> 6:28 PM
>
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-- 
Sean Hoyden
703.899.8893

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety,
deserve neither liberty nor safety."  -- Benjamin Franklin
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