In this video, I finally had the chance to do something I'd wanted to do for a long time; Spend an entire day on the RF&P mainline, from the time the first scheduled train arrived, to the last one at the Fredericksburg Station. This entailed from 05:00 when VRE train P300 arrives, to just before 21:00 when Amtrak train 97, the Silver Meteor, arrives.
The mornings are always dominated by the commuter rush, with a total of 13 different trains running northbound between 05:00 and 09:00, including 8 VRE's, 3 Northeast Regional Amtrak's, and the Auto Train. Thrown in the mix on this particular morning were two northbound intermodal trains from CSX, the UPS hotshot Q032, and doublestack train Q135.
After spending a couple hours at the Fredericksburg station, I moved down to the Massaponax/Crossroads area to snag local D793 working CMC Rebar, as well as hang around in the gorgeous morning light in that area. CSX sent another couple trains while there, including manifest Q415, Q438, and the Richmond-FBG turn job D794 with YN2 GP38-2s #6151 leading.
After snagging the mid day Amtrak trains, it was off to grab some lunch, and then head to Dahlgren Junction, where the light is always favorable in the afternoons. Things heated up quickly, and between 13:00 and 17:00, CSX sent 7 trains my way, as well as the start of the evening southbound commuter rush.
To add to my count, I hung around Dahlgren Junction until the Jessup bound trash train from the King George Landfill, Q705, rolled off the 10 mile Sealston Branch. After Q705, the only CSX train left to run was manifest Q410, who showed up just before 20:00. It was back down to the Fredericksburg station for the last hour of trains, and at 20:52, I wrapped up my day with a total of 49 trains in 16 hours (Amtrak 90 was extremely late, so I didn't shoot him). Hopefully I get the opportunity to do this again some day, though I know I'll never get close to 50 trains in this area again!
Hope Everyone Enjoys!