A colleague of mine is planning a trip to the Charlottesville, Virginia/D.C. area this spring and his grandkids are train freaks. Knowing that I’m one also, he asked if there were any railfanning opporutnities in the area including museums, areas of interest etc. in the Charlottesville region. I had to admit that I don’t know much about the area other than it being CSX country. Any info any could pass along would be appreciated.
Ross R.
Baltimore and the B&O museum would be a nice day trip - probably a couple of hours each way.
Strasburg and the PA Transportation Museum would be a l o n g day trip, but may be well worth it, especially for the ride behind live steam.
Roanoke is a couple hours southwest - the VA Transportation Museum (611 +) and the Link museum are there, right next to an NS mainline.
If the grandkids are from Charlottesville, this is a moot point, as they’ve probably been there on a school outing. It’s not railroad, but it’s history - Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is just a short distance from Charlottesville. Little ones may not be impressed, though.
…Agree, the little ones may not be impressed with Jefferson’s Monticello, but it is a beautiful place especially if one visits in the spring time with the renewing of everything green in the Va. mountains.
Have witnessed that several times and really enjoyed it. I happen to be a student of architecture and for anyone that appreciates that subject plus our history…I’d highly recommend it.
The Roanoke area is great for railfanning with kids; took the family to the Virginia Transportation Museum last year with the kids (8 year old girl & 3 year old boy) and they loved it. Plus there are lots of great places to eat & shop around downtown and the NS mainline runs right through downtown (and adjacent to the museum as a previous poster indicated). NS also has their massive shop facility right in downtown and lots of good stuff can clearly be viewed from sidewalks & pedestrian overpasses. Jamie
If you’re thinking avout visiting Colonial Williamsburg, the old C&O main line is not too far away. It isn’t what it used to be when lots of coal moved to Tidewater over this line, but still ought to give some good opportunities. (I saw my first-ever RDCs on the Chessieliner at Williamsburg, roughly 50 years ago.)
I have not been in Charlottesseville for many years and much has changed. In particular, the old C&O main line throught the town used to see more than six passenger trains each and one or two freights, but now I believe a short line runs the line, and in any case the freight traffic goes via the James River line further south both to the Norfolk area and via the RF&P thorugh Richmond to the Washington area. Still, you can photograph Amtrak’s Cardinal if you time it correctly and are there on the right day. A good spot might be at the current Amtrak station, the old Southern and C&O Union Station, off Main Street, where the Southern, now NS, and C&O, now CSX, cross. If you can time it right for the Cardinal, the Ruby Road overpass over the C&O min, NW part of the city, is a good spot for photos.
Nearby Mnassas, the end of one of the two lines for the Virginia Express, might be interesting, and there is the War between the States battleground.
Charlottesseville used to have a streetcar system at one time, but I saw no signs of it remaining.
…Anyone ever eat in the old “hardware store”, converted to a restaurant…Very quaint. one could pull out the little drawers that held small items like bolts, etc…right at the booth. They had a line of those brass water / soda fire extingushers all shined brightly, lined up as part of the decore, and so on…A neat place. On a brick street in downtown Charlottesville…
Ashland. (Just south of Kings Dominion)
…and if you get to Ashland, gotta check out Doswell.
Unless they knocked it down for more soulless condos, the old C&O station downtown became a cafe.
That old C&O E-W main line happens to cross the old Sou. Rwy. line at Southern’s, now Amtrak’s, depot. It is not downtown but is just east of the U.Va. Hospital, off of Main Street. Real downtown is over a mile further east away. The Rotunda and Lawn of the University of Virginia are a breeze for adults, a ten minute walk west across the street and up past the student-oriented stores. Great “Cavalier” branded stuff if you’re into that. Do not expect to be able to park on the U.Va. Grounds (their word for “campus”). Tours of the Rotunda (on weekdays anyway) are almost continuous and I even think people can get in there self-guided. Students still live in those little buildings along the Lawn. This is one way to satisfy the “Jefferson Quotient” without having to spend half a day at Monticello.
Now the CARDINAL stops at the same depot in C’ville that THE CRESCENT does. Check your Amtrak schedules, because THE CARDINAL runs only three times a week. As prior posts have indicated, the line from Eastern Va. thru Charlottesville (and under the mountain) to Waynesboro and beyond, is seldom used. (I do believe it is still CSX, though, although the corporation has hinted about embargoing the line.) If you are lucky enuf to catch THE CARDINAL the day(s) you’re there, I bet the kids would like a trip from C’ville to Waynesboro because of the tunnel (engineered by a Mr. Crozet BTW).
On the old RF&P main, the Virginia Railway Express runs commuter trains as far south as Fredericksburg. It might be fun to “commute” into D.C. Union and then visit the Capitol or else change and go to Baltimore. Baltimore has an okay museum, but I understand their GG-1 was defaced (sad). But the V.R.E. doesn’t require r
Actually this could be done on a round trip on the Crescent, but probably not advised for real young kids, or those who are not up to a walk. I did this round-trip, from Manassas, a couple of years ago. Once in Baltimore, one transfers to the light rail system and takes it south to a stop near Camden Yards (Orioles Ball park). From there it requires a several-block walk -in an ok but not great neighborhood - along Pratt Street to the B&O Museum.
Any hope of a cab at the LRT station?
Harpers Ferry, W.V. 65 miles NW from DC. CSX line with two bridges over the Potomic river. Second bridge has a walkway over the Potomic with a view of the exit of the tunnel entering the main line.
I’ll second the Harpers Ferry recommendation…also did it a few years ago with the kids and they have been asking to go back ever since. Just a really cool area in general.
There are likely some cabs in the area, since Camden Yards/Oriole Park is not that far from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. To your point, it is probably easier to take a cab to/from the Amtrak station to the B&O Museum - it really depends on your mobility and sense of adventure.