Ashland VA 5.23.09: You Know You've Been Out Railfanning Too Long If...

...you see the exact same power lashup on two different long-distance trains running in opposite directions. I had already seen P42s 52 and 205 headed north earlier on the Silver Meteor - and now here they were again, returning to Florida on the Silver Star.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• CSX
• Amtrak
• passenger
• train
• railroad
• Silver
• Star
• P42
• RF&P
• Subdivision
• randolph
• macon
• college
• avenue
• crossing
• campus
• Ashland
• Virginia
• HD
• hi
• def
• high
• definition

[mgaines106]

On Saturday, got up there around 4:45 PM and caught about 5 trains in less than 1 hour! The only difference was that the Silver Star started off the Amtrak trio.

[FastFlyingVirginian]

That's not bad for that time of day, I've only had one or two trips where I saw much after the Auto Train.

[Squawk7600]

On a completely off-trains subject, I sure do like that house (or building?) across the tracks on the adjacent corner-- really beautiful...!! I can't get this quite straight in my mind-- is there a street (parallel to the tracks) on BOTH sides of the tracks, or just one?

[FastFlyingVirginian]

The 'house' is one of the campus buildings for Randolph-Macon College; the other side of the crossing is one of the campus entrances. There is a parallel street on either side of the tracks for a good distance - it's easier to understand if you look at Ashland on Google Maps, although you have to zoom in to really see the street layout around the tracks.

[Squawk7600]

Must have turned the engines around in Washingon. I see 52 and 205 were hooked up elephant style and in the same order, so they physically DID "turn them around"!! Seeing that is about a 2 hour trip, that means you must have been out at least 4-5 hours!! Of course you had 21 trains (videos)... so you had quite the day!! Or maybe you haven't finished uploading yet....?? (c:

[FastFlyingVirginian]

Oh, it was longer than that...from 7:30 to around 5:30. :) Sunblock is your friend...  I used the Auto Train as a stopping point, since it can often reach another lull after that.

[NahuntaSubFoamer5115]

Haha, I saw this train in Jesup when it stopped. I mean the Meteor. It had the same power. Pretty cool. Nice video!

[mgaines106]

I actually got set up at Ashcake Road first. Also the Strawberry Festival went on in town that day.

[AmtrakFlorida]

Yes this is expected. The northbound silver meteor #98 arrives in washington dc at about 7:30am, and the diesels are taken off and put on 91, the southbound silver star, which gets there at about 2:30pm. Same goes for 92 and 97. In Miami, the 91 just turns into 92 and 97 turns into 98.