Richmond VA 03.12.11: Why Ask Wye?

On the advice of several sources within Yahoo's Old Dominion Railfans group (a most excellent and learned group of enthusiasts I might add), my next stop was AY Interlocking at the south end of Acca Yard in Richmond. 'AY' is derived from 'Acca Wye' and marks the former location of a tower with those telegraph call letters. Acca was the southernmost yard on the RF&P before it was absorbed into CSX in 1991, and still serves CSX as its major Richmond-area facility. AY Interlocking marks the intersection between the ex-RF&P Richmond Terminal Subdivision, the ex-Atlantic Coast Line North End Sub, and the ex-Seaboard Air Line Bellwood Sub. The footage here represents the activity from 1:23 to 2:51 PM.
I arrived with a few minutes to spare before L415 began a switching maneuver prior to its departure, with ES44AC 730, GP40-2 6107, and C40-8W 7336 on the point. After some shuffling about, L415 was pulling out when it was joined by F723 (I think), heading on to the Bellwood Sub behind C40-8W 7683 and GP38-2 2778. L415 paused again to pick up its conductor before finally getting on its way south. With L415 out of the way, I had a clear view as ES40DC 5412 and SD60I 8736 plodded out of the yard - did 723 need more power? Whatever the case, the FRED was tacked on and fired up and the train got going again.
A few minutes later Q406 arrived off the North End Sub, led by SD70MAC 4740 and C40-8W 7681. While 406 crawled into the yard, the southbound Carolinian passed by behind P42 193 - with a good angle to look into the train, it appeared that every seat was full. About 20 minutes later, the visit was wrapped up as the northbound Carolinian rolled past behind P42 84 - its stop at the Staples Mill Road station was coming up in 3 miles.