CSX and Amtrak at Ashland, Virginia

Ashland, where the former RF&P, now CSX, main line goes right down the middle of the street, is one of the best-known railfan hot spots and most railfan friendly places in Virginia. Ashland is fifteen miles north of Richmond on the CSX and Amtrak main line between the Northeast and the Southeast.

This program shows all the trains for 24 hours in March 2011 on the former RF&P two main track line that bisects Ashland with the tracks running right down the middle of Center Street and Railroad Avenue for nearly a mile and half through the center of the town.

The track also runs right next to Randolph-Macon College and pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the tracks are a common sight. Traffic on the CSX main line is beginning to recover from the Great Recession and on peak days of the week forty CSX and Amtrak trains pass through Ashland.