A couple of questions come to mind that I don't even know where to begin asking things/begin looking:
1) Which track was torn up when they went to single-track operations? From what it looks like, the track that is "missing" at Williamsburg (WBG) is the one on the north side, based on the pre-existing paving and the gravel on the ground behind the tracks when looking from the station.
2) The station platform cover is far enough back that, when compared with stations such as Deland, FL, Jacksonville, FL, etc., the trains stop a substantial distance from the cover. Seeing as there was at least one short siding that terminates next to the station, was there a third track there at one time that was paved over? There's certainly room for it between the brick platform and the tracks.
3) Observationally, NPN-WBG is an exceedingly fast run on 66 (23 miles in 22 minutes from one departure time to another)...it's notable for being over 60 MPH, and NPN-RVM is 70 miles in 70 minutes. That these runs are doable in that sort of time (and that this is doable in spite of the train having to run through a freight yard east of Richmond) suggests that the trains along that route are running close to 79 MPH much of the way (accounting for time to speed up leaving NPN, slowing down for WBG, and then time for the stop, the train would have to be going close to full speed most of the way along there...and I'd dare say the same about the rest of the section as well). The fact that the track is so flat and gently curving (the Virginia Peninsula exists around the line here and not the other way around) makes me wonder...when the PTC stuff goes into effect, how much benefit will we see down here?
4) Other than Lee Hall (now defunct), Newport News (albeit further downtown), and Williamsburg, what other stations existed on this line at one point? I think I recall reading about a stop at Lightfoot and excursion trains stopping at the Pottery in the 30s and 40s, but were there ever stops elsewhere along the line? The "happy location" of a bunch of small/former small towns along the line (Providence Forge, Lanexa, Norge, Toano, Grove, and once upon a time a couple of towns within Warwick County, now swallowed into Newport News) makes me suspect that there were at least a few more small stops, but I can't tell for sure.
5) Is there any plan to repave the crossing at Lee Hall? CSX recently did a repaving job at Harpersville Road, and the Lee Hall crossing/yard is a basket case and then some. Similarly, does CSX have any plans to get rid of the disused sidings there?
6) As an incidental question, is the line into Fort Eustis still used by the military at all? It's still got wood(!) filling in the crossing over Rt. 60 so that folks can drive over it.
1) Which track was torn up when they went to single-track operations? From what it looks like, the track that is "missing" at Williamsburg (WBG) is the one on the north side, based on the pre-existing paving and the gravel on the ground behind the tracks when looking from the station.
2) The station platform cover is far enough back that, when compared with stations such as Deland, FL, Jacksonville, FL, etc., the trains stop a substantial distance from the cover. Seeing as there was at least one short siding that terminates next to the station, was there a third track there at one time that was paved over? There's certainly room for it between the brick platform and the tracks.
3) Observationally, NPN-WBG is an exceedingly fast run on 66 (23 miles in 22 minutes from one departure time to another)...it's notable for being over 60 MPH, and NPN-RVM is 70 miles in 70 minutes. That these runs are doable in that sort of time (and that this is doable in spite of the train having to run through a freight yard east of Richmond) suggests that the trains along that route are running close to 79 MPH much of the way (accounting for time to speed up leaving NPN, slowing down for WBG, and then time for the stop, the train would have to be going close to full speed most of the way along there...and I'd dare say the same about the rest of the section as well). The fact that the track is so flat and gently curving (the Virginia Peninsula exists around the line here and not the other way around) makes me wonder...when the PTC stuff goes into effect, how much benefit will we see down here?
4) Other than Lee Hall (now defunct), Newport News (albeit further downtown), and Williamsburg, what other stations existed on this line at one point? I think I recall reading about a stop at Lightfoot and excursion trains stopping at the Pottery in the 30s and 40s, but were there ever stops elsewhere along the line? The "happy location" of a bunch of small/former small towns along the line (Providence Forge, Lanexa, Norge, Toano, Grove, and once upon a time a couple of towns within Warwick County, now swallowed into Newport News) makes me suspect that there were at least a few more small stops, but I can't tell for sure.
5) Is there any plan to repave the crossing at Lee Hall? CSX recently did a repaving job at Harpersville Road, and the Lee Hall crossing/yard is a basket case and then some. Similarly, does CSX have any plans to get rid of the disused sidings there?
6) As an incidental question, is the line into Fort Eustis still used by the military at all? It's still got wood(!) filling in the crossing over Rt. 60 so that folks can drive over it.
