Name of Junction of Southern and RF&P?

AF, formerly the location of A-F Tower, short for Alexandria - Fredericksburg.

Thanks!

With all of the names, locations and time frames it might help if you were more specific in what you were looking for Mike.

 

It was my understanding that the main interchange between Southern and the RF&P at AF Tower was located south of Alexandria's Union Station and several miles south of Potomac Yards.  The AF Tower was located near Southern's Seminary Station.  Some information on this location can be found at http://www.railwaymailservicel.../aftower/aftower.htm .

 

There was a second interchange at Pot Yard where the Washington & Old Dominion's tracks, owned by Southern, crossed the RF&P on a bridge.  I believe the W&OD called this location either Alexandria Junction or  Potomac Yard, but it had other names in the past.  Since Southern did not sell its tracks east of Pot Yard to the W&OD, they resumed operation of that portion of the line after the C&O abandoned the W&OD in the 1960s.

 

Before Pot Yard and Union Station were built, Southern and its predecessors connected with predecessors of the RF&P* at a point just north of the then boundary of Alexandria at a location sometimes known as the Racetrack, because it was the location of St. Asaph Racetrack.  I believe the connection was originally constructed by the USMRR during the Civil War, and was abandoned by Southern after Pot Yard became operational. 

 

(*Technically this is misleading because the RF&P dates from the 1830s.  The tracks north of Quantico though were owned by companies that at one time were connected with the Pennsy, and  which were later acquired by the RF&P.)

 

 

Thanks.  Yeah thats why I asked as I didn't know.  I was referring to the end of the Southern Main.  

Bill N, thanks for the link.  I cannot picture where SOU Seminary Station would have been.  There is no Seminary St/Rd/etc in the area.  There was/is a seminary about a 1/2 mile north, on Quaker Lane.

 

In the 70's I had a corner office on the 10th floor of a building overlooking the junction.  SOU would test/park it its steam excursion locos on the track leading to the old roundhouse near Route 1, east of the crossover to RF&P.

Where did Southern and then NS interchange with Conrail from 1976 to 1999.  I think the left turn at Manassas over to Front Royal wasn't widely used until in the 1990's.

I believe it was at Alexandria Yard, which is where PRR electric freight locos ended their run.  Change to the B Line occurred after the treck on AMtrak by the Susquehanna River bridge.

 

There was, and maybe still is, a train that came up on NS, crossed over onto RF&P/CSX, crossed the Potomac and ran on CSX tracagae through the tunnel in DC to reach some other NS trackage in MD.

 

I don't know where the current boundary is between CSX and Amtrak.  Possibly just east of L'Enfanta Station???

The "B" line from Manassas to Front Royal (Riverton Jct.) was utilized beginning in 1989, Potomac yard was closed then, and there is almost no trace left.
It was 1.4 miles from AF Interlocking to the North Alexandria entrance of "POT" yard.
PRR catenary reached into Pot yard as far as the engine service area, midway in the facility.
1900 cars/day passed through Pot yard's 2 humps as late as the mid-1970s. 
TRAINS mag did an photo-feature on the RF&P and Potomac yard in the Nov.1977 issue that gave an excellent picture of the line's points of interest.

RJR-I don't have very much information on Seminary Station.  It was located southwest of the intersection of Quaker and Duke Street and was named after the nearby Episcopal Seminary.  Based on valuation reports it was likely an open faced shed like other flag stops in Fairfax County.  The earliest I see it on maps is about 1900, but I suspect it may have been established earlier when the stations of both the Virginia Midland (Southern) and the Washington Southern (RF&P) were located further east/north in what is now Old Town Alexandria.

Borden, an interesting sidelight.  For years Four Mile Run, which went under Potomac Yard just south of National Airport, would regularly flood due to restrictive channel under the Yard, causing major residential damage.  Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to modify the Yard be installing larger bridges.  It did this around 1970.  I remember walking thr Yard with the Deputy Chief of the Corps before work started.  A few years later, the Yard was sold to developers.

 

Bill, must have been a long hike up to the seminary.  Is there any documentation of all the Fairfax County stations on SOU and RF&P?  There was also a railroad up near the old Courthouse.

I take the VRE to work and back, many a time riding it I wondered about that area where NS and CSX transfer fright cars and VRE divid routes. Still a busy area.

 

Thank you Bill for the link. 

That used to be a busy area, and SOU had traffic beyond that the interchange, along its own tracks, down to the area of the roundhouse at Route 1.  The line crossed Route 1 to connect to the southern end of the W&OD, which then ran along the streets of Eastern Alexandria up wo the power plant, where it turned, crossed Potomac Yard, and headed to Purcellville.

RJR-Probably the best starting point would be filings with the Virginia State Corporation Commission in the late 19th/early 20th century and the ICC valuation reports.

Bill N,

Thank you for the enjoyable in depth photo. and history lesson/reference.

Ralph 

The RF&P or Pennsy through that area is super busy.  I had a layover at Reagan Airport around 2010 and saw freight train after freight.