Subscribe to download
Virginia Railway Express DX

TTFT is back with another U.S. commuter train. This time it's the Virginia Railway Express.

This network consists of two lines - the Mannassas and Fredericksburg lines, and services began in 1992. Both lines start at Washington DC Union Station, with the Mannassas line running 35 miles west to Broad Run Airport and the Fredericksburg line running 54 miles south to Spotsylvania. The Mannassas line branches off just down the line from Alexandria station. Services on the two lines only operate in the peak period on weekdays, with trains running towards Washington DC in the morning and away from the U.S. capital in the evening.

As I alluded to earlier, the two lines share tracks as far as Alexandria. The intermediate stations on this section are as follows:
Washington DC Union Station
L'enfant
Crystal City
Alexandria

And from there the Mannassas line's intermediate stations are:
Backlick Road
Rolling Road
Burke Centre
Mannassas Park
Mannassas
Broad Run Airport

Meanwhile, the Fredericksburg line's intermediate stations south of Alexandria are:
Franconia/Springfield
Lorton
Woodbridge
Rippon
Quantico
Brooke
Leeland Road
Fredericksburg
Spotsylvania

The current motive power on the Virginia Railway Express is the MPI MP36PH-3C locomotive, although they have used EMD RP39-2C, RP40-2C, GP40H-2 and F40PH-2's in the past. The RP39 and RP40's are actually modified GP40's. The MP36PH-3C's entered service from 2010 onwards, and they are the first VRE locomotives that are not second-hand. The coaches used by the VRE are a mix of Pullman 'Gallery' cars from the 1950s and 60s, as well as Nippon-Sharyo 'Gallery' cars from 2006 to 2014. Between 2003 and 2006 the VRE leased two F59PHi and 18 bi-level cars from Sounder Commuter Rail in Seattle. These were returned to Washington State and replaced by the MP36PH-3C locomotives.

The number carried by this reskin - 5500 - is that of a real-life DX, specifically KiwiRail's DXC 5500.