The Trains Of Ashland Train Day 2023

It was almost a washout. Almost.

The early forecast for the weekend of Ashland Train Day 2023 looked like a soaker, and the weather did fulfill that prophecy - for the most part. In the span of just a few days, the chance of rain for Saturday tapered off into single-digit percentage while Friday and Sunday remained wet. It was a Train Day-sized window of opportunity, and we aimed right for it.

0:00 - Amtrak 98, Silver Meteor
A good Train Day omen, indeed. Amtrak's northbound Silver Meteor slipped through town before sunrise with Phase III heritage P42 145 leading the way, plainly-dressed P42 123 assisting, and Georgia Railroad private car 300 bringing up the markers.

1:37 - CSX I032
Morning light revealed the cloud cover and a few more railfans as intermodal hotshot I032 rolled through, led by ET44AH 3306 with its rostermate 3394 on DPU duty. The consist included a block of Tropicana reefers on the head end followed by a smaller cut of refrigerated truck trailers, the latter part of CSX's effort to capture perishable traffic out of Florida.

5:58 - Northeast Regional 164
A little more light, a few more railfans, and our first regional of the day as 164 made its stop with P42 7 on point.

8:22 - Northeast Regional 82
Train Day preparations continued in the background as Regional 82 conducted business in the foreground, led by P42 78.

10:07 - CSX M410
M410 grabbed everyone's attention as it rumbled north behind ES44AH 3201 and ET44AH 3457.

13:30 - CSX I135
I135 was powered by another ES44AH/ET44AH pair, this time the 3169 and 3317.

17:28 - Northeast Regional 88
Livestreamers carried on with their narration of the scene as Regional 88 took care of business, led by P42 187. The 'Big Game Train' logo on the 187 is a reference to the unit's service carrying passengers between Oklahoma City and Dallas for OU-Texas football games.

19:24 - Amtrak 52, Auto Train
A hush falls over the crowd...wait, no, never mind. P40s 837 and 835 lead Amtrak's northbound flagship past the railfan paparazzi gathered at the station.

21:22 - Northeast Regional 65
Construction equipment is positioned for the Touch-A-Truck display as Regional 65 makes its stop, led by P42 93.

23:28 - Northeast Regional 194
As Train Day finally got underway, a rare opportunity presented itself. The rooftop space above the Cross Bros. grocery was in the process of conversion to an apartment, with a staircase and a new door at the top recently installed. Some people we know talked to some other people, and we were graciously granted access. First up from our new perch was Regional 194, led by battle-scarred P40 824.

24:37 - CSX L134
The engineer of local L134 let fly with the horn as GP40-2 6241 and GP38-2 2717 parted the crowd with a short train.

25:48 - Touch-A-Truck
During one of the quieter moments for train traffic, I took a quick look at the portion of the Touch-A-Truck display set up near the station. I did venture further west to check out a collection of vintage autos, but this was one of the few areas where music wasn't playing loudly in the background (copyright strike, anyone?)

26:21 - Amtrak 80, Carolinian
Compared to Georgia 300 on the Meteor, we had a much better view as Amtrak's northbound Carolinian rolled through town with Aberdeen, Carolina & Western's 'Menzies Vista' tucked in behind P42 18.

27:23 - CSX I031
I031 proceeded cautiously through town and picked up the pace further south. ES44AHs 3138 and 904 provided the motive power.

32:42 - River City 3-Railers
Before the rooftop baked me like a loaf of artisanal crusty bread, I took a break to cool down while checking out the O scale layout of the River City 3-Railers.

33:32 - CSX C750
Loaded coal train C750 got a warm reception as it headed south behind ES44AHs 886 and 715. ES44AH 3033 brought up the rear as the DPU.

36:58 - Northeast Regional 138
P42 163 parted the crowd as it led Norfolk-NYC Regional 138 into the station.

38:38 - Rappahannock River Railroaders
The RRR's mobile model train layouts housed in a custom-built trailer are a frequent sight at Train Day; for 2023 the display was just south of the station.

39:33 - CSX M421
ES40DCs 5212 and 5448 sandwiched SD70MACe 4543 on the point of southbound manifest M421.

43:00 - Virtual Railfan Group Wave
Virtual Railfan viewers and moderators alike gathered to wave at VRF's station-mounted camera as Train Day offically wrapped up.

43:35 - Northeast Regional 195
Train Day was officially over, but now it was time for the afterparty. We returned to the Cross Bros. roof in time for Regional 195, led by P40 824.

46:09 - Northeast Regional 124
Short train, short stop - P42 93 was next up with Regional 124.

47:04 - Amtrak 53, Auto Train
The engineer gave one final, fitting horn salute to the remaining crowd as P40s 835 and 837 led Amtrak's flagship on towards Florida to wrap up my Train Day filming.

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