Lorton station is a railroad terminal in Lorton, Virginia. It is the northern terminal for Amtrak's Auto Train, which operates between this station and Sanford station in Florida. When Auto-Train was originally established in Lorton in 1971, the station house was still under construction. Until it was completed sometime between 1972 and 1975, it consisted of tents and pre-fabricated houses and trailers, and the parking lot was still paved only with gravel. When it was completed, it included a former caboose and boxcar previously owned by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad that was converted into a gift shop. As with the rest of Auto Train, the station closed in 1981 and was reopened in 1983 when Amtrak acquired the service.
Lorton, VA | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The waiting area at Lorton | |||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||
| Location | 8006 Lorton Road Lorton, Virginia United States | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°42′30″N 77°13′15″W / 38.7084°N 77.2207°W | ||||||||||||
| Owned by | Amtrak | ||||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | Short-term only | ||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||
| Station code | Amtrak: LOR | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | 1971 | ||||||||||||
| Closed | 1981–1983 | ||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 2000 | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| FY 2023 | 272,896[1] (Amtrak) | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The current station, which opened in 2000 as a replacement for the original Lorton Auto-Train station,[2] features a large, modern waiting area designed in a modern Art Deco style, with high glass walls, a small gift shop, a snack bar, and a children's playground. There is one long low-level platform (which is 1,480 feet (451 m) long) designed for Auto Train boarding and 6 vehicle ramps for boarding vehicles onto the 20+ autoracks that are on the Auto Train.[3][4][5] This station is one mile south of the Virginia Railway Express Lorton station. No other Amtrak trains stop at either station.
Image gallery
edit-
Contemporary platform at Lorton station. Superliners are lined up at the left
-
Autoracks are lined up on the right.
-
Autoracks lined up at their loading ramps
References
edit- ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
- ^ Photography from the collection of Harv Kahn (1971–1981 Auto-Train railfan site)
- ^ Weinstein, Donald; Warner, David & Sutton, Harry (2008). "Auto Train Travel Tips". On Track On Line. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
- ^ "Lorton Auto Train Terminal". Travelblog. 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
- ^ "Lorton, VA (LOR)". Amtrak. 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
External links
edit Media related to Lorton station at Wikimedia Commons