http://www.cctrail.org/cct_history.htm
Determined to overcome this problem, the B&O contrived a plan to develop its own rail connection to northern Virginia rail systems by bypassing Alexandria and crossing the Potomac on the western side of Washington. The proposed rail line would leave the B&O’s Metropolitan Branch just west of Silver Spring and turn south along the western boundary of the District of Columbia. It would then cross the Potomac just west of Chain Bridge, where the river was unnavigable and narrow so that a bridge would not interfere with commercial river traffic. Once across the Potomac, the line would proceed to south to Quantico via Fairfax Station.If that ever came to fruition, where exactly do you think the rail line would have traversed? What do you think this would have done for the area? I'd also imagine that the line would be double-tracked from Silver Spring to Quantico.