Long Bridge & Potomac Yard - Washington DC Railfanning

The Washington DC area is a fascinating area to railfan with two commuter railroads (MARC and VRE) , Amtrak, CSX, and the WMATA Metro. This video will focus on Long Bridge Park and Potomac Yard station on the mainline into DC from the south. This is the CSX RF&P subdivision coming from Richmond. It hosts CSX, Amtrak, and VRE.
Long Bridge Park is a public park just south of the Potomac River featuring an elevated path overlooking the tracks.
Potomac Yard is the newest Metro Station opening in May 2023. The pedestrian bridge linking the station to the nearby developments crosses right over the RF&P sub providing fantastic railfanning.
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This was filmed on October 30 & 31, 2023
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[@michaelimbesi2314]

So cool to see you up here in my neighborhood. I walk over there practically every day

[@dennisud]

Nice to see you roaming again. You do a great job documenting this!

[@QALibrary]

nice to see trains from other places

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

This bridge is a major bottleneck for passenger and freight trains south of DC. It will be a total gamechanger when they build a dedicated bridge for passenger trains.

[@nathanpohl8732]

I've been here before and it is my favorite place to railfan!

[@russadams3008]

Where the Potomac Yard shopping center is located was the site of the Potomac Yard hump yard. I used to be able to watch it from my office in the Crystal Plaza office building.

[@philliplee980]

The csx 5413 and 131 sb mix is m415 I catch that same train at Randolph rd on the met sub and the 2nd csx is probably m409 or m421 or m301 awesome video and catch

[@branch10a]

Nice to see that you traveled near my neck of the woods. I have visited that park as well and got some nice shots of trains and planes. What days of the week were you there. I want to come back and railfan some more. Really enjoyed your coverage of the Brightline construction.

[@RoamingRailfan]

I was there on a Monday and Tuesday. Volume wise weekdays seem to be best since you have the added VRE traffic.

[@jacktaggart2489]

Thanks for the views of Long Bridge and the former Potomac Yard site. I look forward to a visit now. Pot Yard formerly had catenary for PRR electrics.

[@OhioCentralModeler]

I was in the area on the 30th, and there's a non-zero chance I was on that northbound Blue Line metro train funnily enough.

[@roboftherock]

A 4½ minute long train.

[@pinchy08]

I have a future plan to travel to Washington D.C. by Amtrak. For my many stays in the DC area I’m Alexandria VA at the Embassy Suites hotel with the King Street Metro station and Union Station across the street.

[@paulw.woodring7304]

The CSX freights going into track 1 at CP RO (throwback designation for Rosslyn Jct., when a branch North along the Potomac came off there going up towards the Rosslyn part of Arlington) are probably being sent to wait at CP AF, just past Alexandria station, where track 1 ends, and CSX trains are held during morning and evening commuter rushes. Where Long Bridge Park is today was where there was a concrete plant and the Marriott "Twin Bridges" hotel (really more of a motel) until the late 1980s.

[@patrickhuot001]

No wonder that trash/manifest train needed a DPU in the middle. That consist had to be close to 150 cars long.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Yeah, CSX runs some pretty long trains through here. Long Bridge is at 99% capacity during peak hours, so they put as many cars as they can onto the trains they have to squeeze as much capacity out of that bridge as possible. IIRC, it carries 79 trains per day, with only like 13 of them being freight trains. It’s one of the reasons that CSX was so willing to work with VRE to build a new passenger bridge: with Amtrak and VRE out of their hair, they can carry a lot more freight on their existing route.

[@Bill_N_ATX]

I lived in some condos that were built in the former Potomac Yards. Great place to live. I could train spot right from my balcony. Right after they took out the old yards, the Washington Redskins needed a new football stadium. The team tried to put the stadium in the newly available property but the locals screamed that they didn’t want the traffic and aggravation that a stadium would present maybe a dozen or two times a year, so the County said no. Instead, they now have a bunch of stores, condos, townhouses, and apartments and the traffic is a mess every damn day. Sometimes people are just so stupid.

[@jeffh5903]

In the summer those trash trains can really hum! You can smell it all too well when the wind is just right (or wrong). 😂
I really wish CSX would come by and cut down all of the weeds that have grown into trees between the park and the gravel service path. I’m afraid they’re slowly taking over the whole view.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Those’ll all probably be cut down when they redo this interlocking as part of the Alexandria 4th Track Project, sometime next year. If you look in the video, you can see that CSX has already started ripping up part of that team track in preparation for the beginning of that work.