Had a chance to take a quick stop and sunset to swing by the Alexandria UNION Station which turns 100 years old on September 15th and in those few minutes allot of action came rolling by.
With the Amtrek gone I took a few parting shots of some more "colorful boxcars before going back to the hotel.
Thanks Darren, your photos bring back many pleasurable memories. I routinely commuted on Amtrak's #19 & 20 between New Orleans and Alexandria during the 90's. Our office in Crystal City was just two Metro stops up from Alex station. With NS's strict adherence to maintaining #20's 9:00 arrival at Alex, I could easily make a 9:30 meeting, work all day, and make #19's 6:30 departure from Union Station that evening. It took me only one trip to convince Finance that this was far less expensive than flying into National (Reagan?) the night before, spending two nights at one of the Crystal City hotels, then flying back the following morning. Even Beenie-Weenies can understand the difference between $750 for the Crescent's r/t and $1500 for air and hotel costs. Of course it helped that I was eligible for Amtrak's Senior discount...