The Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway

The A&FR of 1872 became part of the 113-mile-long Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railway in 1904. Washington commuter services are provided today by The Virginia Railway Express, while longer distance passenger trains on this important NE to SE route are run by Amtrak. Both are diesel locomotive-hauled. The modern development of Woodbridge station was completed in the Georgian Revivalist style in 2010. Fredericksburg station was restored in 2011. The old station building is now occupied by restaurants. It dates from 1910 when it replaced the 1837 [and, therefore, very early] original version.

Our brief visits by car to both stations coincided with passenger train arrivals, though the route was actually busier with freight. Walking the Civil War battlefield site at Fredericksburg, the tranquillity of today was in stark contrast to the mayhem that took place there in the 1860s. It was broken only by the mournful wail of the diesel locomotives pulling their long rakes of mixed freight trains through the riverside town.

The photos show Amtrak No. 124 calling at Woodbridge and a VRE double-decker commuter service pulling into Fredericksburg.