A Southern Shortline Short Slow Chase

Georgia & Florida; Quitman, Ga.; December 12, 2014

During the past month or so we've been recounting some of the shortline railroads I hit on a trip between New Jersey and Florida with my brother Bruce back in December. We devoted three posts to days spent on the Sandersville Railroad in Georgia, the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western in North Carolina and the Lancaster & Chester in South Carolina. We also had a post about an unexpected encounter with the Hilton & Albany using street running at night. We wrap up our shortline coverage for this trip with a short chase of the Georgia & Florida Railway.

We had finished shooting the Hilton & Albany in the early morning hours of December 12. After getting a little bit of sleep, we headed down to the yard office of the Georgia & Florida Railway in Albany to see what was up. They had a coal train in Albany with BNSF Railway power that would be going out later in the morning, and there was also a train running between Greenville, Fla., and Adel, Ga., that would be going out after lunch. Since we wanted to shoot shortline power and not locomotives from major railroads, we opted to head towards the Florida line in search of the train from Greenville.

While flying down the freeway near Sparks, Ga., we spotted an old Electro-Motive Division (General Motors) switcher at the Reames Concrete plant. Of course, we needed to investigate. We checked in at the office and got permission to drive back on the property to photograph the silver unit.

Reames Concrete; Sparks, Ga.; December 12, 2014

Since we were not far from Valdosta on the way down, we opted to exit the freeway and head to the yard of the Valdosta Railway at Clyattville, home of the railroad's largest customer. GP7u was sitting next to the office (in the same place we had seen it back in March). A track maintainer pulled up and said a road freight was out, and told us how to find it. Alas, we followed the tracks all the way into Valdosta and back and never found the train.

Valdosta Railway; December 12, 2014

The day was slipping away and our Georgia & Florida train was theoretically out of Greenville. Not knowing how fast the train could move or where it was, we opted to go to the halfway point on the train's northward journey at Quitman, Ga. We set up at a grade crossing south of town and waited. And waited. And waited. After about 90 minutes of that, we decided to head back into Quitman where the Georgia & Florida crossed a CSX branch on a bridge. Maybe CSX would send something while we waited.

Once in Quitman, a quick look at the CSX tracks led us to believe that a CSX train would be unlikely.  When it seemed all was lost, however, our northbound train made an appearance passing across CSX on the bridge (top photo of this post). The chase was on!

Now when I say "chase" I don't mean anything even resembling high speeds. The train was going maybe ten miles an hour, and the lateness of the day meant there were long shadows everywhere. It took us several miles to find a good spot to shoot, and then took the train quite awhile to reach us. Our second shot was near Morven.

Georgia & Florida; Morven, Ga.; December 12, 2014

Now the sun was setting, but the slow train speed worked to our advantage. We could predict where the train would be right after sunset and have plenty of time to set up strobes for a twilight shot. We picked the town of Barney, Ga., as our location and started getting the lights up. Right on cue, just after the sun set and while there was still some orange in the sky, the train showed up and we got our third and final shot of the chase. Since we were in Georgia, a peach shed made an appropriate place to frame up the photo.

Georgia & Florida; Barney, Ga.; December 12, 2014

All in all, our three-shot chase covered about 17 miles in 91 minutes. You can see more photos from the day here.

Classic Southern Shortlines 1: Sandersville Railroad

Sandersville Railroad; Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

The southern U.S. is just full of classic shortline railroads. Over the past few years I've had the chance to make several visits southward and have visited such classics as the Pickens Railroad, the Georgia Central, and more. This past December I spent the better part of a full day on each of three railroads and we'll do a mini-series here in the blog on these lines. First up is the Sandersville Railroad in Georgia.

The Sandersville was chartered in 1893 as a subsidiary of the Central of Georgia. Nicknamed "The Kaolin Road," the prime commodity held by the Sandersville is clay; many of the covered hopper cars used in the operation are owned by the Sandersville. The line extends about five miles northwest of its namesake town to serve Imerys Pigments & Additives and the Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company. It also extends about two miles south of town to the interchange with Norfolk Southern in Tennille.

Sandersville Railroad; Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Co., Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

I was visiting the area on December 11 along with my brother Bruce. We were coming down from Macon, Ga., where we had looked for something running on the Georgia Central -- there wasn't anything. We decided to regroup and hit the Sandersville. As we approached the north end of the line, we spotted SW1500 No. 1100 and a slug working at Imerys Pigments & Additives. Figuring it wouldn't be long before he came out, we waited. The wait wasn't long as the switchers came out with one car in tow (top photo).

Work on this end of the line was not done, however, as the train backed into the adjacent Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company to do a bit of work.

Sandersville Railroad; Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Co., Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

This didn't take long, either, and after shuffling cars at the small yard adjacent to the two industries, the locomotives continued on their way, now with a sizable train, to Sandersville.

Sandersville Railroad; Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

As the train gets closer to downtown Sandersville, it passes through a residential section of the town. And when I say it passes through, I mean it passes through... Right down the middle of the street.

Sandersville Railroad; Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

After passing the shop complex in downtown Sandersville, the train paused at the yard on the southeast side of town to shuffle more cars. This yard is adjacent to the railroad's bulk transfer facility, as well as Weyerhauser and a short branch serving a plethora of clay and pigment facilities. Once the switching was done, the train proceeded on to the Norfolk Southern interchange at Tennille.

Sandersville Railroad; Tennille, Ga.; December 11, 2014

Norfolk Souther was also in town doing switching, occupying the track the Sandersville train needed to use. NS quickly backed into the yard and changed tracks so the interchange traffic could come in.

Sandersville Railroad and Norfolk Southern; Tennille, Ga.; December 11, 2014

Once the interchange was done, we headed back to the Sandersville shop, where the the railroad's offices are also located. We entered the foyer and knocked on the door. Immediately we were waved into the office where David Ray, the railroad's general superintendent, introduced himself. He confirmed what we had feared -- the last train of the day was now in the yard and finished. However, he did offer us a tour of the yard and shop, which we eagerly accepted. We got in our car and followed him back into the shop area. Once there, he pulled out a couple of Sandersville ball caps  and handed them to us. Thank you!

Sandersville Railroad; Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

As we toured we got the complete rundown -- the railroad has three crews that come on each morning, staggered one hour apart. Each has it's own assignment and does its work as quickly and efficiently as possible; each crew takes interchange traffic down to Norfolk Southern, and by mid-afternoon the railroad is usually finished for the day. We also got to see the railroad's complete roster in the shop area, including four SW1500s, one SW1200 and two slugs.

Sandersville Railroad; Sandersville, Ga.; December 11, 2014

From here we ventured back to the Georgia Central and continued our trip. But we had a fantastic time on the Sandersville and look forward to getting back there for a visit again soon. You can find more Sandersville photos here.

Not Knowing When To Quit

Hilton & Albany; Albany, Ga.; December 12, 2014

Sometimes not knowing when to give up is a good thing. My brother Bruce and I headed into Albany, Ga., on December 11, 2014, as part of a recent trip from New Jersey to Florida. Our goal was to get a night shot of a train on the street running in town. I had seen photos of Norfolk Southern freight trains heading down Roosevelt Street and thought it would make a nice night shot.

Trying to find information on when the trains ran proved problematic. We checked at the NS yard office in town, but no one was around. Suddenly a train pulled out of the yard and headed towards Roosevelt Street. We quickly got ahead of it and set up our strobes in record time -- only to have the train retreat back into the yard, never to be seen again.

Still without good intelligence on when trains ran, I set out on foot looking for a local. My search was quickly rewarded when I found one of Albany's finest in his cruiser about a block away. Certainly the police would know if trains ever used the street running at night. My inquiry (strange as it was) was met with a rather certain reply -- "There is a westbound train every night at about 11:30." Since it was only 8:30, we settled in for a long wait.

Now for a little background. The previous night we had also been set up on street running, this time up in Augusta, Ga., where we had a real nice shot of the history museum at the north end of 6th Street all set up. The local people told us trains went down the street "all the time." Alas, from the time we set up at 7:30 until we called it quits at 1:45 a.m., we didn't see a train. Waiting on street running in the dark was becoming a recurring theme on this trip.

Well, 11:30 came and went with no train in sight. The clock ticked over to the early morning of December 12, and we waited. Then, just after 1:00 a.m., we heard horns in the wrong direction. An eastbound was coming! We quickly swung the strobes around to light up the eastbound train. It approached, we fired the strobes and checked the shot (above). Huh? This wasn't a Norfolk Southern train -- it had locomotives wearing the paint scheme of shortline conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming. Quickly hitting the internet on my phone, I discovered NS had leased the line to G&W subsidiary Hilton & Albany. Hmmmm.....

Now, since this was a shortline running to an interchange, there was a good chance it would turn back once it completed its work in town. Bruce drove to the yard a couple of times while I stayed behind to watch the photo gear to make sure the H&A crew didn't go home. The locomotives had left their train and coupled onto another string of cars. A little past 3:00 a.m. the train headed back west again and we got our second shot.

Hilton & Albany; Albany, Ga.; December 12, 2014

Now it was 3:15 a.m. We tore down our strobes, packed the car and stumbled into a motel a bit before 4:00. We were tired, but we got two night shots for our efforts. And it was of a railroad neither of us knew existed before it showed up in our cameras. There's a fine line between persistence and not knowing when to quit -- and sometimes not knowing when to quit pays off!

A Rainy Day In Georgia

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 16, 2014

In our last post we went from Florida sunshine into the rain at Georgia, finishing up at the Georgia Central's yard in Macon. We wanted to chase the railroad's fleet of old General Electric U23B locomotives on Monday's train, and Macon seemed like a good place to start. After a few night shots on Sunday night, we retreated to the motel and returned on Monday morning to threatening skies.

Friendly employees at the office filled us in on the day's activities. The train would first work a few industries at the southeast end of the yard to start the day. We soon shot the quartet of "U-Boats" as they made their way through the rain to a scrap dealer.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 17, 2014

Once done there, it was off to the Norfolk Southern yard in town to pick up any cars that came in for the Georgia Central over the weekend. The big GE locomotives are likely on borrowed time, as the Georgia Central is owned by short line conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming Industries, which has a history of shuffling locomotives between its operations and divesting itself of older power.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 17, 2014

Interchange work took most of the morning, and the rain only got worse. By early afternoon the road freight was ready to depart. The road freight would be heading east towards Dudley, and soon the chase was on over rain-soaked roadways.

Georgia Central; Jeffersonville, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The signature building in the town of Jeffersonville is the Twiggs County court house, built in 1903. We got the train passing there in heavy rain.

Georgia Central; Jeffersonville, Ga.; March 17, 2014

From here it was off to Snow's Pond just east of Jeffersonville. The rain had pretty much stopped as we got the shot near the spillway.

Georgia Central; Snow's Pond, Jeffersonville, Ga.; March 17, 2014

Small towns are located on the line east of Jeffersonville with some nice Southern charm. Allentown even has a classic Coca-Cola sign painted on a brick building.

Georgia Central; Allentown, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The train vanished into a paper mill west of Dudley. By the time the train got back on the road, darkness had settled in.

Georgia Central; Dudley, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The train tied up for the night shortly thereafter, so we headed to the railroad's main shop complex east of Lyons for a few quick photos. The rain started again shortly thereafter.

Georgia Central; Lyons, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The next day we were along the eastern end of the railroad in Savannah, and wrapped up our rainy visit watching switching operations at International Paper. It was a great two days of listening to the sounds of burbling hard-working GE U-Boats, even if the weather was challenging. More photos from the trip can be found here.

Georgia Central; Savannah, Ga.; March 18, 2014

Florida Sun, Georgia Rain

Norfolk Southern; Valdosta, Ga.; March 16, 2014

As we work to get caught up on a heap of recent travels, this post takes us back to March and a trip from Florida back to New Jersey. Along with brother Bruce, I flew down to Orlando to pick up a car to drive home. Our goal was short lines along the way, but with the first two days of the trip occurring on a weekend, short line activity was minimal. We wound up with a lot of Amtrak action, but did catch some freight stuff here and there. The weather in Florida was sunny, but as we moved north we were overcome by heavy rain (such as above on Norfolk Southern in Valdosta, Ga.). Here is some of the freight action we caught in between Amtrak encounters.

Saturday, March 14, found not much moving on short lines. The Florida Central has several lines in the Orlando/Ocala area, and we found this lonely CF7 not far off of Amtrak's route through Lake Wales.

Florida Central; Lake Wales, Fla.; March 14, 2014

We found another lonely Florida Central unit waiting out the weekend at Eagle Lake, not far from Winter Haven.

Florida Central; Eagle Lake, Fla.; March 14, 2014

The next day the sun was still shining and once again we were busy shooting Amtrak for the most part. However, right around the time Auto Train was to head north from Sanford, a CSX freight made an appearance. Off to the right is the new shop complex for SunRail, which had still not started commuter service to Orlando at the time of this visit.

CSX Transportation; Sanford, Fla.; March 15, 2014

A quick look at ATCS Monitor showed that Florida East Coast train No. 101 was still working its way southward from Jacksonville, so we zipped over to Titusville to intercept it.

Florida East Coast; Titusville, Fla.; March 15, 2014

From there it was back over to the Sanford area to get a night shot I've always wanted. The goal was a southbound train crossing the St. John's River at Lake Morgan. At 10:26 that night, the goal was accomplished.

CSX Transportation; St. John's River, Sanford, Fla.; March 15, 2014

We didn't get as far north as we would have liked that night, but that put us in St. Augustine around daybreak, right around the time the Florida East Coast northbound rush gets in. Being it was a Monday morning it wasn't much of a rush (intermodal trains don't load in Miami on Sunday night) but we got to the one place on the north end where FEC northbound trains are properly lit and were rewarded with one of the cool FEC heritage units on the point.

Florida East Coast; St. Augustine, Fla.; March 16, 2014

From here we headed to Baldwin, Fla.; where CSX has a diamond complex that includes interchange tracks in all four quadrants. We were rewarded with a southbound train here.

CSX Transportation; Baldwin, Fla.; March 16, 2014

Continuing along CSX westward, our next stop was at Lake City, Fla. By now our sunny skies were showing signs of going away. We caught an eastbound CSX train here.

CSX Transportation; Lake City, Fla.; March 16, 2014

From here we turned north into Georgia and stopped at the Valdosta Railway outside of its namesake town in Clyattville. As can be seen from the logo, the Valdosta Railway is under the Genesee & Wyoming Industries umbrella.

Valdosta Railway; Clyattville, Ga.; March 16, 2014

In Valdosta, the skies really opened up as we shot a Norfolk Southern freight (top of the post). We heard horns for a CSX freight in town and took shelter under an overpass as we shot it.

CSX Transportation; Valdosta, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Hoping for sun and moving trains, we packed up and headed to Albany, hoping to see something interesting on the Georgia & Florida. Alas, we got neither sun nor moving trains. In fact, the rain continued to pour down in buckets.

Georgia & Florida; Albany, Ga.; March 16, 2014

The rain finally let up as night began to settle in. We stopped at Fort Valley ("Georgia's Peach City," according to the water tower) and got a few dusk shots of the Georgia Southern in town. The railroad is a subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp.

Georgia Southern; Fort Valley, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Our final stop would be at the Georgia Central in Macon, which operates an impressive fleet of U23B's. But that's another story for the not too distant future.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 16, 2014

The Augusta & Summerville -- A Railroad In The Street

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 14, 2013

Last month we took a trip to Florida, and over the next couple of weeks we'll be presenting bits and pieces of that trip. We already spent an evening at Jesup, Ga., in a previous post. Today we'll look at at a railroad you probably never heard of -- the Augusta & Summerville.

The Augusta & Summerville was chartered in 1866, but by 1900 it was jointly owned by the Southern Railway, the Central of Georgia, the Charleston & Western Carolina and the Georgia Railroad. Today it is still jointly owned by the successors of these railroads, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. The railroad is only about three miles long, but its "main line" rolls right down 6th Street in Augusta.

Augusta is situated on the Savannah River directly across from South Carolina. At one time two lines converged at the north end of the bridge over the river -- the Southern and the Georgia & Florida (which later became a Southern subsidiary); the G&F line is now gone. After crossing the bridge the railroads became the Augusta & Summerville; the Georgia Railroad had two spurs branching both east and west off the A&S along the river, with the east line serving a freight house that still exists (all the trackage for both spurs is gone). the A&S wanders down the middle of 6th Street for several blocks, with the street running ending at a junction. The A&S had a line heading northeast here, going to Augusta's Union Station where the A&S ended. Beyond Union Station were two lines, the Georgia Railroad and Charleston & Western Carolina; these tracks are still used by CSX.

Heading southwest from the end of the street running the A&S enters Augusta Yard, and beyond the yard the Georgia & Florida and the Central of Georgia continued on (both now used by NS). Finally, also branching off at the end of the street running and heading southeast is the former Charleston & Western Carolina, now used by CSX. Today the A&S street running serves Norfolk Southern, while the branch to Union Station and beyond is used by CSX.

On December 14 I was joined by my brother Bruce in Augusta to wait on two fairly reliable southbound morning trains, NS trains 155 and 191. The weather was rainy, so we set up for shots that would not be favorable if the sun was out. We got there at about 9:00 a.m., and at 10:30 train 155 showed up, passing the storefronts along 6th Street. The bar says "Vegas Show Girls." We doubted that was true.

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 14, 2013

At the end of the street running the A&S freight house still stands. The A&S to Union Station diverges at a spot under the overpass and heads off to the left.

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 14, 2013

About an hour later train  191 made an appearance. Hildebrand's is a combination restaurant/deli/general store.

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 14, 2013

 After these trains went by we headed over to the Sandersville Railroad to check them out. Alas, it was a Saturday and they weren't running. The rain had picked up throughout the day and we headed into the motel for the night. But about 8:00 the rain moved out and we decided to head back downtown to attempt a night shot in the street. We had no idea if a train was coming, but we figured we'd give it until 11:30 or so.

This turned out to be highly entertaining. First, we got a visit from a local police officer who was the low man on the totem pole and wasn't assigned a regular police car -- he had a glorified golf cart. He was friendly and we had a good conversation. He lamented that whenever there was a call for all available units, he'd zip to the scene of the crime in his golf cart, only to find that the regular cars had beaten him there by several minutes and all the fun was already over. After he left, we had a long visit from a homeless man who told us all about Augusta and James Brown and other interesting tidbits.

About 11:00 we heard a northbound train working the Norfolk Southern yard just south of the street running. This meant a train was indeed coming and also meant our 11:30 curfew was no longer valid. We set up our shot at the Blue Horse Cafe (now closed, as the homeless man explained to us, due to a dispute between the cafe and the state office building that owns the parking lot next to the cafe (and apparently didn't appreciate what the cafe's patrons were doing to the lot at night)). At 1:15 a.m. our train showed up.

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 14 15, 2013

The next day the sun was out, so we decided to do the street running again. We got there at 9:00 once again and the first train we got was a northbound CSX train swinging briefly onto the A&S down by the freight house.

CSX Transportation; Augusta, Ga.; December 15, 2013

Then came the bad news. We heard train 155 in the yard ready to go south. It had gone down the street earlier in the morning and we missed it. We also heard train 191 come to a stop on the north side of the bridge. At least we'll get that one! He sat for almost two hours, then finally came into Augusta.

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 15, 2013

Since this was our only train and I had two locations I wanted to shoot, we used 5th Street to motor southward ahead of the train, coming out at the south end of the street running.

Norfolk Southern; Augusta, Ga.; December 15, 2013

And that concludes our 27 hours along the Augusta & Summerville, a railroad you probably never heard about until today!