Manassas-CharlottesvilleVA on the Cardinal

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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Yesterday (Sunday 27th) I had a chance to ride the Cardinal round-trip Manassas-Charlottesville. Like the Sunset it is tri-weekly; unlike the Sunset there are few freight trains competing for track space along the route.

The westbound Cardinal left Manassas on time, and zipped along the NS tracks to Orange. There, it switches to the Buckingham Branch (ex-C&O, CSX) for the next stretch. The track was actually better maintained than I recall; I last rode through there a couple of years ago. A railfan took a picture of teh train at the east end of Charlottesville; BBRR switcher #1 was nearby.

We actually arrived in Charlottesville a few minutes early. Charlottesville is a busy station; many of the passenger boardings are college students, but they aren’t the only ones there.

The NS (ex-SOU) mainline crosses on a diamond just west of the station. Is this the only Amtrak station that has train service on 2 different lines at the same station? Several new apartments/condos(?) have been built across the BBRR/CSX tracks from the station. Perfect for the railfan/college student.

A westbound CSX train, all Procor tankcars, followed the westbound Cardinal by maybe 20 minutes. It forced the eastbound Cardinal to hold at a siding; the eastbound was 20 mins. late in Charlottesville. As with the westbound, the trains were minimal by Long Distance standards: a Genesis engine, two coaches, a cafe+diner, and a Viewliner sleeper. That’s all! (In past years this train had Superliners, but those were reassigned to other trains to back-fill some others damaged in derailments).

The trip back was interesting…at the junction at Orange, an eastbound NS manifest freight was already moving along on the left hand track, but it slowed down as the Cardinal zipped ahead on the right hand track. That 79 mph running on NS seems pretty fast after crusing along at 40-50 mph or so on the BBRR. The engineer was really keeping it moving, and they made up enough time to be

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Isn’t Orange the Junction with the CSX line to Newport News? Is that track still in?

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No. You are thinking of Gordonsville which is 9 miles south of Orange. There was a wye at Gordonsville where the east leg led to Richmond and Newport News; the Gordonsville station was in the middle of the wye.

Orange and Manassas are good places to photograph the Cardinal. Manassas (Wellington Road) and Orange are also good places to photograph Norfolk Southern freights.

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That ex-CSX line to Newport News is now part of the Buckingham Branch, at least for some of the distance. It is still there, although it is not in the best shape. CSX still runs through trains over it though.

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Sorry I mixed up Gordonsville and Orange. You are correct, Gordonsville was the C&O’s junction for trains to Newport News and to Washington (or Potomic Yard). Orange is where the C&O comes from the south (from Gordensville) and switched on to trackage rights on the Southern. Rode all this stuff as a youngster. I doubt much CSX frieght uses the trackage rights today (NS tracks), more likely the freight goes through Jamestown farther south and to Washington and north on the old RF&P. Am I correct? But Amtrak’s Cardinal still carries on the tradition.

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MP…An interesting report of your ride in Va. Have been to Charlottesvile but not via train…A very pretty area…and had lunch in the Hardware Store some years ago…A restaruant that actually was a hardware store at one time…