CSX P001 (Office Car Special) and more! Railfanning Ashland and Doswell, VA 8-16-22

That day saw a very early morning railfan trip. The CSX OCS got into Richmond the prior evening, of course when I was unavailable to go get it. Ah well, no problem. There was a report that P001 would be laying over in Richmond for the night and would continue its journey the next morning at 6 AM. Now I don't call myself a morning person or anything, but ever since CSX redesigned their OCS with that beautiful B&O heritage scheme, it's been on my bucket list to catch it again. Enjoy!

Train #1: Shortly after arriving in Ashland, Amtrak P086 made its station stop with a former Big Game unit leading (I caught this engine in its Big Game decals back in 2017). Sorry it was handheld, I was unsure how much time I'd have to set up. Just as P086 set off, so comes another set of headlights..
P42DC 50 (ex-Big Game Train)

Train #2 (3:10): As P086 disappeared, CSX P001 (the OCS train, and the train I came out here for) came following behind north. Just to see those F40PHs in B&O paint leading that amazing train, it was worth getting up before 6 at the first light of dawn! I remember catching the OCS back in 2020 in the standard CSX paint, but man those F40s look astonishing in this new scheme!
F40PH 1 (ex-CSX 9998, nee Amtrak 280)
F40PH 2 (ex-CSX 9999, nee Amtrak 288)
F40PH 3 (ex-CSX 9992, nee Amtrak 390)

(5:46): Arriving in Doswell, VA. I almost wanted to chase P001 north, but that sucker goes track speed on the mainline, so then I remembered it would be about impossible to chase. Instead I relocated to Doswell to see if anything was popping.

Train #3 (6:16): Amtrak P052 speeds through Doswell.
P40DC 835
P40DC 830

(7:44): BB GP40-3 12 idles in the yard. Around the 10:17 mark, the locomotive toots its horn and then backs up only about an inch.

Train #4 (10:35): Amtrak P174 goes north.
P42DC 82

Train #5 (11:31): CSX B407 goes west across the diamond on the old C&O Piedmont Subdivision.
ES44AH 3093
ES44AH 3082
AC4400CW 47
ES44AH 906

Train #6 (26:35): BB GP40-3 12 (ex-PRLX/KCS 2837/4790/KCS GP40 753, nee Conrail/PC 3178) commences its switching duties.

Train #7 (30:38): CSX I135 races by Doswell with a Spongebob Squarecab trailing. If you saw that photoshop I made of Rick Sanchez's face on a GEVO (I'm GEVO Rick!!!), Chris Berger has some photoshop of Spongebob's face on an a -3 cab and saying "I'm ready!!!".
ES44AH 3014
SD40-3 4071 (ex-CSX/SBD/L&N SD40-2 8152)
ES44AH 995 (mid-DPU)

Train #8 (34:19): BB GP40-3 12 (ex-PRLX/KCS 2837/4790/KCS GP40 753, nee Conrail/PC 3178) starts out of the yard. I did see crewman in front of the last car in the distance, so I'm not entirely sure if the Geep is switching the west end of the yard or if it's taking a local somewhere.

Train #9 (36:40): Amtrak P084 races by.
P42DC 167

Trains #10 and 11 (37:40): Amtrak P067 races by on its trip to the News. Looks like they did away with the baggage and sleeper car. As 67 passes by, ex-NS high hood BB GP38-2 14 reverses from the siding to begin its work for the day.

Amtrak P067
P42DC 134

BB 14
BB GP38-2 14 (ex-NS/SOU 5026)

Train #12 (39:58): One more for this early morning run. CSX M300 passes by with all those juice cars. I'm guessing this was M300 from the day earlier and it got tied down in Acca overnight, because M300 usually hits the RF&P Sub at night.
ES44AH 894
AC4400CW 402

(41:53): Slideshow of the catches.

Music:
World of Warships: OST 23

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