The Office of Historic Alexandria has debuted its annual holiday ornament: a solid brass decoration depicting Potomac Yard’s rail yard history.
The 3 x 2.75 inch ornament features a steam-powered locomotive in the foreground and the Capitol Building in the background. The ornament is $25.
The Potomac Yard Metro station opened earlier this year, though if the ornament were themed around the Metro station instead of the train yard, it would have been delayed multiple times due to internal issues.
The ornament comes with a collector’s box and a card detailing the history of Potomac Yard.
According to the city’s website:
Potomac Yard opened in 1906 on land that had been part of the C&O Canal only decades earlier. It was the largest rail yard on the east coast for years, shared between five railroad companies. Flanked by Richmond Highway and the Town of Potomac on one side and the Potomac River on the other, it connected the exchange of produce from the south and manufactured goods from the north. It closed in 1987, even though trains continued to travel through the former yard. The Potomac Yard Metro Station, which opened in 2023, is the most recent rail development on the site.