Ride the VRE with me & see Nation's Capitol

[FJ and G]

From Union Station, D.C. to Crystal City, VA

No, that sleek Acela parked up there isn’t our train



AND, neither is that Amtrak freight locomotive on the left (I didn’t know they had big freight haulers; perhaps coal is a backup plan to passengers!). NO, it’s that sleek Coaster set coming up that we’ll be boarding today (actually this was yesterday evening when took photos)



We leave Union Station thru a long, long tunnel. I start to feel sick an nauseas because of the fumes and my eyes hurt really badly. Sure hope we don’t stop in here!

But out we pop, finally and there’s the Nation’s Capitol off to the right (thus the caution for trains carrying dangerous chemicals!). The building in front is the Library of Congress, where you must be a congressman to check out books.



Then, we pass an old PRR tower. Didn’t know towers still exist!



And, we arrive in D.C.’s Elephant Train Station (can’t pronounce the name so that’s what I call it). Eager passengers are clamoring to get their favorite seat.





Then we pass the Jefferson Monument and the Washington Monument; great scenery!



And cross the vast Potomac (populated with Snakehead fish). That trestle is the Metro subway yellow line. The far trestle carries the 14th street I-395, the site where a jet crashed a decade or two ago and where most perished beneath the ice except for a lucky few who got rescued by brave swimmer passers by



And finally, our arrival in Virginia (still under PRR catenary, minus wires) at Crystal City, where eager passengers are clamoring to find any seat at all if they are lucky.



And I hour later I arrive at the end of the line, Broad Run Airport, where this week a jet crashed into the railroad right of way.

Hope you enjoyed the trip; you’all come back now; ya hear!