Back when it was Richmond Broad Street Union Station, this building hosted trains of the Atlantic Coast Line, Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac, Seaboard Air Line and Norfolk & Western. There were ten balloon tracks that allowed trains arriving from and departing for all destinations to move through in one direction. Sadly, with the coming of Amtrak in 1971, the station had but three pairs of New York-Florida trains which called there. The RF&P, which had its corporate offices in the floors above the grand terminal, built a small brick and glass structure at its Acca freight yard and handed Amtrak the key and the bills for its operation and maintenance. Amtrak opted for a small nondescript depot with two tracks, out in the northern suburbs, which at the time was totally adequate. The John Russell Pope building (he also designed the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC) was nearly razed, but for the efforts of a few diehards who had it turned over to the state, which renovated it to become the Science Museum of Virginia. But, as can be seen here, the surround trackage and auxiliary buildings were torn down and paved over. A ten-story tall DMV headquarters now stands adjacent, occupying the loop tracks, and the Washington Redskins now practice on ground that was once the Railway Express Building and heating plant. There are a few tracks and even a couple of cars and a steam locomotive out back, but the connection to CSX has been fenced off to accommodate the parking lot for a movie theater complex. The biggest attraction of the year though is the annual model train show, usually in late November or early December.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 03:21:11 +0000
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