RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.
Todd's Railfan Guide to
the VRE - Virginia Railway Express
In General
Getting Here
Map
Station by Station - Manassas Line
Station by Station -
Fredericksburg Line
Station by
Station - Shared Track in NOVA & DC
Pictures
Signals
Floobydust
RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
Location / Name:
Northern Virginia: DC
south to Fredericksburg,
and west to Manassas
What's Here:
Dolton Junction -
Data:
GPS Coordinates:
1
Scanner Frequencies:
CSX: 160.230,
Access by train/transit:
R
The Scoop:
Dol
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Denver Todd for his help with my railfan guides and suggesting welcome changes to help all ya'll.
Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
A
Getting to G
Station by Station - Manassas Line
Broad Run/Airport
Manassas
Manassas Park
Clifton
Clifton is NOT a stop on the VRE Manassas Line. However, in the morning, it is a very beautiful spot for taking pictures for trains inbound to DC under the classically styled Southern Railway signal bridge. These pictures are from 2008.
Burke Center
Rolling Road
Backlick Road
Station by Station - Fredericksburg Line
Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg is the current south end of operations for the VRE. The storage area for trains overnight is south of the station. More info can be found here.
Leeland Road
Brooke
Widewater
Quantico
Cherry Hill
Rippon
Woodbridge
Lorton
The Lorton Commuter station is a little to the north of the Lorton Amtrak Autotrain Facility. More info can be found here
Franconia/Springfield
Station by Station - Shared Trackage in NOVA & DC
Alexandria
the Long Bridge
The Long Bridge (and the Metro Bridge) offer the railfan an excellent opportunity for some nice pictures if you have the time and patience.
Since the parking area for the park is only accessable from the NB side of the George Washington Parkway, we have to perform a few tricks to get here if you are coming off I-395. Maybe not neccessarily the shortest route, but probably the quickest.
The walkway along the river is called the "Mt Vernon Trail", and the park is the "Gravelly Point Park".
If you are travelling south in 395, take the second exit after crossing the Potomac River, this will put you on the GW Parkway headed south. Go down to the first exit for VA233, which is adjacent to the south end of the airport, and loop around till you get back on the GW Parkway headed north, "On the other side side" of the airport, you will see the pull-off for the parking area. This is also a ggreat spot for catching planes coming in and out of the Reagan National Airport.
If you are coming up from the south on 395, take the exit for the GW Parkway, which is also for the Boundry Channel Drive, but stay to your left so you wind up on the GW Parkway heading south. Then follow the instructions for making the U-Turn at VA233.
If you're coming in from the west via the GW Parkway, just stay on it until you can make the U-Turn.
If you're on I-66, take it all the way in until you can take the exit for the Jefferson Davis Highway, US1, and take it till you see the exit for VA233.... take it over to the NB GW Parkway.
Above:
Picture taken from a window of the DC Metro
Left Below: Approach to the Long Bridge from the south, looking towards DC
Crystal City
L'Enfant
1st St Ave Tunnel
The entrance to the tunnel is your last opportunity in DC to get pictures of incoming trains before they appear at Union Station. The entrance is guarded by a pair of B&O style CPL (Color Position Lights), which are the signals of choice for the interlocking at Union Station. The signals are 18LA and 20LA on the track diagram below. Photo courtesy JerseyMike.
Aspects the signals
can display.
DC's Union Station
Union Station is the VRE's northern terminus, if you don't count the Ivy City Yard where the trains layover during the day.
I have two other maps that detail the Union Station area. One is for Union Station itself, and the other is for the Ivy City Yard.
The approach from the north side of Union Station is electric territory, and as such, is covered with wires and B&O CPL dwarf signals. On the southern approach, that the VRE takes into the tunnel and then the station, all of the signals are color light signals until you reach the entrance of the tunnel, and you have a CPL signal for each track.
1 Clifton
Adja
2 A
Adja
1903 Firehouse
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. My webpages are an attempt at putting everything I can find of the subject in one convenient place. There are plenty of other good websites to help me in this effort, and they are listed in the links section on my indexa page, or as needed on individual pages. Please do not write to me about something that may be incorrect, and then hound the heck out of me if I do not respond to you in the manner you would like. I operate on the "Golden Rule Principle", and if you are not familiar with it, please acquaint yourself with how to treat people by reading Mathew 7:12 (among others, the principle exists in almost every religion). If you contact me (like some do, hi Paul) and try to make it a "non-fun" thing and start with the name calling, your name will go into my spambox list! :-)
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, especially if restaurants or gas stations open, close, or change names. Most of my maps are a result of personal observation after visiting these locations. I have always felt that a picture is worth a thousand words", and I feel annotated maps such as the ones I work up do the same justice for the railfan over a simple text description of the area. Since the main focus of my website is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them. Since most of us railheads don't have just trains as a hobby, I have also tried to point out where other interesting sites of the area are.... things like fire stations, neat bridges, or other significant historical or geographical feature. While some may feel they shouldn't be included, these other things tend to make MY trips a lot more interesting.... stuff like where the C&O Canal has a bridge going over a river (the Monocacy Aqueduct) between Point of Rocks and Gaithersburg MD, it's way cool to realize this bridge to support a water "road" over a river was built in the 1830's!!!
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.
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 is always given! BE NICE!!! Contact info
is here
Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
NEW 01/01/2014
Last Modified
19-Feb-2015