They’ve been workin’ on the railroad
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A pair of heavy machines, including a ballast tamper, works near Old Ivy Road March 12, thanks to an $8.59 million, six-year state grant to the Buckingham Branch Railroad, which leases the CSX tracks through Charlottesville, to replace about 116,000 ties, as then state rail boss Kevin Page told a 2007 assemblage of rail promoters at the Boar’s Head Inn. Page noted that such improvements will enable the Chicago-to-New York Cardinal passenger train to resume speeds of 60mph (instead of the 40mph limit imposed after a year 2000 audit found gobs of rotten ties west of Charlottesville). On April 13, the repairs caused West Leigh Drive, located about four miles west of this point, to be closed most of the day.
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Friday night skates
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Walkin’ the tracks
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Replacement car wash
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U2 panorama and slideshow
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Eye-catching Les Yeux
If you missed this story in 2004 don’t miss it this time –for train lovers everywhere this is terrific “Shorting the C & O– is this anyway to run a railroad” –linked to this article
http://readthehook.com/Stories/2004/05/13/coverShortingTheCampoIsThi.html
Yeah, that’s all we need now, trains running 60 mph instead of 40 mph. If they install solid metal ties, maybe we can jump the speed to 100 mph.
This railroad came really close to abandonment in the 90’s. Thankfully it is now being properly cared for. Railroads are a precious irreplaceable resource, like farmland. Once they are gone they are gone forever.