The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (often called the DMV for District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) receives scant attention in the model railroad hobby. As a longtime resident of that area, I find that perplexing, as the region is chock-full of interesting and diverse railroad operations.
As far back as the Civil War, the rail-roads of the DMV were both vital to the war effort and extremely busy. In the later steam era, the growing city relied on seven different railroads to serve it. Potomac Yard, which was the main rail-road yard in this area located in Alexandria, Va., hosted trains from the Pennsylvania RR; Baltimore & Ohio; Chesapeake & Ohio; Seaboard Air Line; Atlantic Coast Line; Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac; and the Washington & Old Dominion railroads. The PRR…