RF&P / PRR Potomac Yard (Alexandria, Virginia)

USA / Virginia / Alexandria / Alexandria, Virginia
 railway, abandoned / shut down, railroad yard, historical layer / disappeared object
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Location of the former Richmond, Fredricksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad's Potomac Yards until about 1990. Once one of the busiest yards in the East, changes in rail traffic and railroad mergers diminished its importance. "Pot" yard once marked the southern-most terminus of 12kV 25Hz electrified operations and trackage rights of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Declared a Superfund site, it was cleaned up by 1997 and now is host to numerous redevelopment projects.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potomac_Yard
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   38°50'7"N   77°3'2"W

Comments

  • For those who don't know, RF&P stands for Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac, a railroad that merged with CSX Transportation about 20 years ago. "PRR" stands for Pennsylvania Railroad, which ceased to exist in 1968. God bless.
  • My Great Uncle Herald use to drive freight out of Potomac Yard for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The yard was built in 1860 and operated until about 1990. I remember as a kid going down to the yard with Dad and watching them use a cow switcher with a calf pushing cars over "the hump" and watch them disconnect the cars to roll into the yard using remote switching and rail mounted breaks to slow the cars down to "make trains" as Dad called it. Memories...
This article was last modified 13 years ago