A Busy Sunday on the RF&P in Fredericksburg; 22 trains in 12 hours! September 3, 2017

Back on September 3, 2017, I was able to spend most of the day trackside in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area on the former RF&P mainline. I've typically known Sunday's to be slow, especially on CSX, and with VRE not running on weekends, it makes for even slower action. However, on this particular day, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of traffic that wound up showing up.

Things started off pretty slow, with just a handful of trains between 6 and 8, but then CSX decided to send a couple of trains back to back, including a Herzog ballast train, and manifest Q415, featuring a CREX ES44AC trailing. Things got quiet until a handful of Amtrak's rolled through, then CSX sent 5 trains my way in 2 hours time, including a head end meet of manifest Q301 and a northbound empty coal train.

After the UPS train ran south, the mid-day lull was in full swing, and I took that time to grab some lunch, and move from the Crossroads VRE station up to the Fredericksburg Amtrak station for the evening rush. The usual Amtrak parade was followed again by CSX throwing a trifecta of trains my way, in the form of two northbounds and a southbound, all manifest trains.

A fantastic outing for sure, with a total of 22 trains shot between 6:30 a.m., and 6:00 p.m., not too shabby for a beautiful late summer Sunday of buffing!

Hope Everyone Enjoys!