Virginian Coal Cars

[NW Mailing List]

I remember Virginian and N&W hopper loads of coal being delivered to the D.C. Department Of Corrections prison reservation at Lorton, Va. where I worked for 27 years +. They came in via the Department's Lorton & Occoquan short line, usually pulled by their GE 44 ton switcher. The engineers were prison employees, and the switchmen and brakemen were "trusties" that had been trained for the job by them. The hoppers of coal were distributed to the institution heating plants, and freight car loads of supplies for the prisons also came in on occasion. The line came off of the RF&P main about where the Lorton Auto-Train terminal is now, passed under I-95, and extended down to the prison brick yard on the Occoquan River, just east of where Va. route 123 crosses the river. The brick yard was closed in the mid-'60's, the railroad was discontinued in the early '80s, the track taken up, and the equipment sold off. I did manage to grab a kerosene torch from one of the tool sheds when they were clearing things out. The brick yard and closed prisons are still there, now part of a regional park.
Greg Harrod


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Subject: Re: Virginian Coal Cars


I seem to remember a VGN gondola came up to Delray Power Plant in Detroit, MI with a load of coal.  Was a one time thing.  Probley got misloaded at the mine and just sent on its merry way.
Kenneth Borg________________________________________
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