The Riverdale MARC station is the first station out of DC's Union station.
It has a quaint little station, in a quaint little neighborhood. You
have six trains a day in each direction stopping here. There are
another four in each direction that do not stop here, see the schedules
below.
There is parking and station access from both sides of the tracks.
Since the station is on CSX's Capitol sub-division, you might see a couple
of freights if you are waiting for a commuter train, or just hanging around
to take pictures.
Trains coming through here SB (towards DC) are heading west or south.
They would be heading west via the Metropolitan sub, going thru
Point-of-Rocks MD, Brunswick MD, and Harpers Ferry WV among others.
Just south of Riverdale (less than a mile) is Hyattsville. Hyattsville
has always been an important point for B&O/CSX trains, because it is where
the trains heading into Northern Virginia (NOVA) take off from the Capitol
Subdivision at "JD" Tower. If trains are heading south into
Virginia, they would take one of the legs of the wye to get on the Alexandria
Extension, and then take the Long Bridge over the Potomac River into NOVA and
continue on down to Richmond VA. From there they would continue south on
former Seaboard trackage into NC and further, or east into Newport News VA
to service the docks on the former C&O.
Going EB (or NB) thru here, they would be headed to Baltimore MD, Wilmington
DE, or Philadelphia PA, or points further north in NJ, NY, and MA.
There are about 20 freight trains a day going thru here.
The station is also (kinda) accessible by the DC Metro via the Prince
George's Plaza station on the GREEN and YELLOW lines. The walk is
roughly 1.2 miles.
You can get here either by using the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, or by
using US Route 1 (if you are trying to take in all of the stations of the
Camden line)..
Using the B-W Parkway, take the 410 exit for New Carrolton & Hyattsville.
Go west on 410/Riverdale Rd to Route 1, and take a left. Go one block
to Queensbury Road, and take another left. The station and tracks are
two blocks east.
Alternatively, you can take a left off of 410 onto 49th St, go one block to
Queensbury Road, take a right, and that will take you to the Riverdale
station, passing by the Riverdale Fire Station on your right.
The EB (NB) signals for the 3 to 2 squeeze and the single crossover are
about 500 feet south of the station.
The next set of signals to the north is 1.7miles away, just north of the
College Park station.
Disclaimers:
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while
trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.
For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my
indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented
I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while,
an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or
disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get
local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the
railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job
of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted. Screen captures are made
with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous
and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit
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