In General
Getting Here
Map
Sights
Pictures
Fire & Police
Signals
Floobydust
USGS Maps

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In General

Location / Name:
Doswell VA, Hanover County

What's Here:
Diamond Crossing
Former RF&P / C&O Depot
Former RF&P HN Cabin (Tower)
The Buckingham Branch Railroad

Data:
GPS Coordinates: as needed
Phone A/C: 804
ZIP: 23047

Access by train/transit:
None

The Scoop:

A rather busy little diamond, located in Doswell VA, north of Richmond VA.  Years ago, this served as a "suburban" junction between the RF&P and the C&O, both of whom had yards in Richmond.  The diamond is a 45 degree crossing.

I never get tired of stopping here on my way down to visit my daughter in Richmond, it's a great place to unwind :-)

Today, the Buckingham Branch RR maintains a few engines here to do local work, and they occupy the former RF&P/C&O station.  The folks from the BBR have always been pleasant, and years ago when I stopped at their HQ in Dillwyn VA, I found out that the owners daughter lived on the other side of the Light Rail tracks from where I currently live.  It's a small world.

Activity thru here is fair most of the time, although I imagine early in the week you can wait a while, but later in the day, say after 2pm or so, it's pretty active most days till about 6pm.  Amtrak has quite a few trains coming thru here, and the southbound Autotrain comes thru around 4:30pm.  I'm not sure of the frequency of trains on the C&O, but almost every time I have stopped here, I have caught a westbound freight..... Never caught a BBR freight working tho!

In February or March of 2007, CSX replaced a number of signals.  High signals at 3, 5, and 7a, along with the dwarf at 4 were replaced, and most of the old signals were laying on the ground when I came thru Easter week.  The signals at 8 were moved further south to position 9.... not convenient for photographing without putting yourself at risk.  Michael Watnoski and I stopped here in 2005 with the old signals still in place.

Doswell is located at milepost 111.8 on the C&O.   Back in the 1800's, the junction used to be known as Hanover Junction.

Following the RF&P north/south line by road is impossible, for nothing follows or runs alongside it.

Following the C&O line is a little easier.  To the west, VA 684 / Verdon Ave parallels the tracks west of US Route 1 for a distance of about 3.3 miles, before it starts zig-zagging across the right-of-way.  Heading south into Richmond, VA 688 / Doswell Road parallels the tracks south of Kings Dominion Road for about a mile.

Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd
Piedmont Sub dot com
Google Maps
Bing Maps

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
http://www.piedmontsub.com/Doswell.shtml

Getting Here

Exit 98 off of I-95, it is the same exit you take if you were going to the Kings Dominion amusement park.

When you get off at the exit, go west (to the right if you were SB, left if you are coming up from Richmond).  VA30 will cross over the old RF&P mainline (which isn't too bad a spot for pictures), when VA30 comes to a "T" with US1, take a right.  Go north about a half mile or so to Doswell Road on your right.

One of the cheapest places around in a 3 state area for gas is just north of here at exit 104!

And while you're here, don't forget to stop at Ashland, about 10 miles to the south, for some nice railroading thru the middle of town!

Maps


The above map in PDF format is here

  Google Maps

  Google Maps

  This shows the whole area from Richmond on up to Doswell/Bing

  The area around I-95 exit 98, Kings Dominion, and Doswell/Bing

  The immediate Dowell diamond area/Bing

  Doswell and Ashland/Bing


Map from the Piedmont Sub webpage.

Sights

Buckingham Branch RR
The Depot
The Tower
The Grade Crossings
Doswell Volunteer Fire Station #4

  The Buckingham Branch RR

     

           

                Monday 12/20/2010

  Saturday 12/19/2020

  The Depot

The C&O and the RF&P maintained a joint passenger station at Doswell. The original depot was destroyed during the Civil War and was replaced by a temporary building and water station. In 1870 a permanent station was built, which was again replaced 1907. The wooden station burned in 1927. The burned station was replaced by the red brick, Georgian style pictured below. By 1970 passenger trains only stopped at Doswell with advance warning from the station agent.

   



  HN Cabin

The RF&P, like the C&O, called their towers "cabins".

             

  The Grade Crossings

Crossing the RF&P

          Monday 10/14/2013

Crossing the C&O

            Monday 10/14/2013

Pictures


    Southbound CSX freight /2013

  Southbound CSX / 2016

      A westbound freight on the C&O







Amtrak

    Southbound Autotrain / 2013

    Southbound Autotrain / 2016

Southbound Autotrain, ~ 30 minutes late, 12/19/2020





The Tropicana Train

    Southbound

    Northbound

Looking across the RF&P

  Looking east on the C&O "towards" Richmond

  Looking west

A couple of shots looking north on the RF&P, towards DC

 

Looking south towards Richmond

    2013

Other Tidbits

You can still find a few of these still standing along the old "C&O" Trackmobile at rest.

I had the opportunity to meet a few railfans while stopping in Doswell on the way home. Here they are counting Tubby's on this WB CSX freight.



What's a TUBBY you might ask?.....  They counted over 25 of the grafitti on this train!  Brian and his sons Kristofer and Matthew often go out to watch trains here and in the Richmond around Acca.  Today, there were well over 100 cars on this empty train, and they regularly catch WB's here (this is only my second one :-).  I was impressed by the general railroad knowledge Kristofer and Matthew displayed, cause when I was that age, I was "stupid" :-).




Fire and Police

  Hanover County Fire Dept, Station 4, Doswell

I would like to thank PJ for showing me around!
This fire station is on the left side of US1 as you're headed north, between Kings Dominion Blvd and Doswell Rd.  In 2012, they got a new ambo, seen in the back of the station on the bottom row, middle picture.  The pictured tanker holds 2000 gallons, they also have one that carries 3000.  The stations in Hanover County are primarily paid stations, and Station 4 has about 17 volunteers to help out.  Station 4 is also on the dividing line between areas served by "city" water and not, hence the tanker trucks.  Pictures are from Monday 10/14/2013

           

       

             


Signals


I have taken the liberty of referring to the signals by their "old" names, the RF&P and C&O. This will hopefully make things easier to follow. The RF&P line runs north and south, the C&O line runs east and west.

  RF&P SB 4 Aspect Colorlight

This signal, in normal operation, will go to red with a passing train, and stay there unless another train is following - then, this signal will do the normal progression from red, lunar, and yellow to green.

       

Cast concrete milepost 22 with impressed numbers, adjacent to the 4 aspect signal.

         

  Dwarf Colorlight

2 aspect dwarf color light across from the 4 aspect signal. Odd placement for a dwarf on a siding, one would think it would be placed to control the siding going back out onto the main, instead of for trains coming off the main going onto the siding!  This signal is now gone.

     

 

  SB Siding - RF&P

This signal has also been removed.... anyone have pictures of it, I never managed to get any :-(

  SB RF&P Colorlights for the Diamond

I don't know how or why, but these "vintage" RF&P signals have so far managed to escape upgrading! :-)

         

     

  EB C&O Colorlights for the Diamond

Also governs the interchange track going onto the SB RF&P track.  The new signal:

         

       

      2013

The old signal:

             

  Mainline Entry Signal - Interchange Track to C&O Sub

          The new signal at this location

            The old signal at this location, 2005

  WB C&O Colorlight Signal for the Diamond

              The new signal at this location

      The old signal

  Mainline Entry Signal - Interchange Track to SB RF&P

The dwarf signal is about 50 feet south of a small private crossing, several hundred feet south of the diamond.

 

At the private crossing: an old crossing gate foundation, whistle sign just north of the crossing, looking north towards the diamond, and a freight on the C&O heading out of Richmond.  All six pix 20DEC2010

     

  NB RF&P Colorlights for the Diamond

Old signals, removed in 2007, interlocking moved about 1000 feet or so south.  These are the old signals that used to stand watch over the diamond for north bound trains.  If the RF&P ran mostly left hand traffic, I wonder why the right track has the high signal?

           

         

photo from Piedmont Sub dot com

  NB CSX Colorlights for the Diamond

These are the new signals that stand watch over the diamond for north bound trains.  They also control the crossover between the two mainline tracks, and the interchange track on the left.  These signals are approximately 1700 feet from the diamond.  The new cantilever bridge can be seen in the distance (my location 10).



The left two shots are from the Kings Dominion Blvd overpass looking north,
The right picture is looking south from the diamond.
These pictures were taken on 20DEC2010.

   

  NB/SB CSX Colorlights on Cantilever

These signals are 1.25 miles north of the diamond crossing.
The third industrial track comes to an end beyond the signals, and there is another small industrial siding here.
These are the signals seen in the distance in the picture at the top of the page, so from Kings Dominion Blvd, they are 2.25 miles distant.



  10/14/2013

The Old Signals Part 1

I found these just laying around during an April 2007 trip to Atlanta,
Too bad it wasn't on a day the Signal Guys were around :-(

           

           

       

The Old Signals Part 2

On yet another trip to Atlanta to visit my daughter,
More signals had been recently removed, and one of the signal heads was missing its lenses.  20DEC2010

       


Floobydust

Google Streetviw Tour from 2012 / Still on their Server as of NOV2020

               

The Crossing Gate for the C&O Tracks and Doswell Rd.

         
   

A Few General Views

 
The antique store.... Lotsa cool stuff!.... you gotta check it out, sometimes they have railroadiana.

         


Between Kings Dominion Blvd and Doswell Rd, by the firehouse, is this sign, anyone remember the NKP 759 trips around Baltimore back in the 70's?






Historical USGS Maps

Courtesy of the University of Texas Library, click here for their index page.




doa2005-0607, dob2007-0414c, do2007-0414b, doc2005-1016atl1

Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given!  Please be NICE!!!  Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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