Main Street Monochrome Monday
This scene really lent itself to black and white so here's another frame of this spot rendered that way for Monochrome Monday.
After shooting L245 southbound on the Bellwood we soon heard a CSXT loaded grain train talking to the dispatcher about getting out of Fulton Yard. Once we heard their symbol and realized they would be routed off the Peninsula Sub from Rivanna Jct. to AM Jct. then up the Bellwood to AY via the Richmond Terminal Sub to swing south on to the North End Sub we hatched a plan. And if it all worked out this train was going to be our ticket for the day I'd long wanted along the rails of the old Atlantic Coast Line.
But before that we set up at another quintessential Richmond location that I'd long wanted to shoot. The light was challenging to shoot this southbound train going north here, but I had to try. I'd long been fascinated with Main Street Station stemming from my earliest childhood memories. As a child, every February vacation my parents (who were school teachers and had the time off) would drive us from Rhode Island to Florida for a week in Orlando. But I cared less about Mickey Mouse than I did about trains to be seen out the window on the long drive 1000 miles down I95, and I have distinct memories of staring longingly out the window at the rails in north Jersey and Baltimore and other exotic places. But this place stood out amongst all others with its hauntingly beautiful Renaissance Revival styling that was starkly sad back then as the station I remember was a burned out and scary looking shell of itself.
Built in 1901 by the Seaboard Air Line and Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad’s it served into the early Amtrak era until they moved out in 1975. It was damaged by fires in 1975 and 1983 and despite its National Historic Landmark status it remained in that sad state for several years until repairs were made and the station served assorted commercial enterprises. Finally in the early 2000s it received a full top to bottom restoration and Amtrak returned in 2003 with limited service and today six trains a day stop here with more service planned.
To learn more about this station check out these links:
mainstreetstationrichmond.com/our-story/
www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/richmond-main-stre...
styleweekly.com/richmond/a-tale-of-two-terminals/Content?...
And to see an amazing photo of it back in the 1960s after the SAL had moved out but when the C&O still called here check out this by the legendary J. Parker Lamb:
www.flickr.com/photos/railphotoart/26724813582/in/album-7...
As for this train it is CSXT G693-30, a solid train of loaded system grain hoppers from Russell, KY to Rocky Mount, NC behind AC4400CWs 229 and 201 and recently rebuilt CM44AC 7027. The latter was rebuilt in Fort Worth from CSXT AC440CW 167 which was only along for the pull up out of the James River Valley to AY and would be dropped in Petersburg on the way south. They are seen here curling through Rivanna Junction on the viaduct along the C&O side of the station passing the 530 ft long trains shed built by the Pencoyd Iron Works of Pencoyd, Pa., which is one of the last remaining gable-roof train sheds still standing. Now enclosed in glass it is a 63,000 square foot premier event space.
Richmond, Virginia
Saturday April 1, 2023
Main Street Monochrome Monday
This scene really lent itself to black and white so here's another frame of this spot rendered that way for Monochrome Monday.
After shooting L245 southbound on the Bellwood we soon heard a CSXT loaded grain train talking to the dispatcher about getting out of Fulton Yard. Once we heard their symbol and realized they would be routed off the Peninsula Sub from Rivanna Jct. to AM Jct. then up the Bellwood to AY via the Richmond Terminal Sub to swing south on to the North End Sub we hatched a plan. And if it all worked out this train was going to be our ticket for the day I'd long wanted along the rails of the old Atlantic Coast Line.
But before that we set up at another quintessential Richmond location that I'd long wanted to shoot. The light was challenging to shoot this southbound train going north here, but I had to try. I'd long been fascinated with Main Street Station stemming from my earliest childhood memories. As a child, every February vacation my parents (who were school teachers and had the time off) would drive us from Rhode Island to Florida for a week in Orlando. But I cared less about Mickey Mouse than I did about trains to be seen out the window on the long drive 1000 miles down I95, and I have distinct memories of staring longingly out the window at the rails in north Jersey and Baltimore and other exotic places. But this place stood out amongst all others with its hauntingly beautiful Renaissance Revival styling that was starkly sad back then as the station I remember was a burned out and scary looking shell of itself.
Built in 1901 by the Seaboard Air Line and Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad’s it served into the early Amtrak era until they moved out in 1975. It was damaged by fires in 1975 and 1983 and despite its National Historic Landmark status it remained in that sad state for several years until repairs were made and the station served assorted commercial enterprises. Finally in the early 2000s it received a full top to bottom restoration and Amtrak returned in 2003 with limited service and today six trains a day stop here with more service planned.
To learn more about this station check out these links:
mainstreetstationrichmond.com/our-story/
www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/richmond-main-stre...
styleweekly.com/richmond/a-tale-of-two-terminals/Content?...
And to see an amazing photo of it back in the 1960s after the SAL had moved out but when the C&O still called here check out this by the legendary J. Parker Lamb:
www.flickr.com/photos/railphotoart/26724813582/in/album-7...
As for this train it is CSXT G693-30, a solid train of loaded system grain hoppers from Russell, KY to Rocky Mount, NC behind AC4400CWs 229 and 201 and recently rebuilt CM44AC 7027. The latter was rebuilt in Fort Worth from CSXT AC440CW 167 which was only along for the pull up out of the James River Valley to AY and would be dropped in Petersburg on the way south. They are seen here curling through Rivanna Junction on the viaduct along the C&O side of the station passing the 530 ft long trains shed built by the Pencoyd Iron Works of Pencoyd, Pa., which is one of the last remaining gable-roof train sheds still standing. Now enclosed in glass it is a 63,000 square foot premier event space.
Richmond, Virginia
Saturday April 1, 2023