Recent activity on the Macon-Atlanta CofG line

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Central of Georgia Railway Historical Soc : One Thread

The following e-mails are collected from posts from the Thoroughbred post site. Seems as though activity on the former CofG line between Macon and Atlanta is picking up. I have heard that NS is now running 3 trains a day in each direction between Macon and Birmingham that formerly operated between Macon and Atlanta. I had wondered if diverting the Birmingham trains out of Macon to operate thru Columbus would cut down on activity on the fomer CofG between Macon and Atlanta since there would be less trains operating out of Macon to Atlanta. It doesn't appear to have hurt traffic thru Griffin yet. Just speculation on my part, but do you think we will see the day, and soon, that the former Southern line between Atlanta and Macon will be used primarily for coal trains (Scherer and Harllee) and trains continuing to Valdosta/Jacksonville (primarily piggybacks/Roadrailers) while the former CofG line gets the bulk of what I have called "the guts"?? In other words the boxcar type traffic. At least NS is showing a willingness to utilize the former CofG lines (whether they be thru Columbus or Griffin) rather than rip them up. Now if we could just get the fomer CofG line from Columbus to Albany via Americus (route of the CofG's last long distance passenger trains) back under the NS umbrella so we could see thru trains on that route again.

Appreciate anyone who hears or sees activity on the line thru Griffin letting us know. Would be nice to get a feel for just how much activity is gong on.

Be safe everyone and happy railfanning............Bryan

-- Bryan Smith (Bsmith3608@aol.com), July 25, 1999

Answers

That's correct. I took several photos from this bridge while living in Macon back when, including one of a northbound CofG train about 1968 - it was a pretty sizeable freight pulled by a single old Southern F unit, and as you can imagine it was making about 6 or 7 mph. It took about 30 minutes to get to this location from the yard. This cut was just as much a "kudzu kanyon" then as now.

-- Larry Goolsby (lgoolsby@aphsa.org), September 13, 2004.

The picture at http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=42147 appears to have been taken from the bridge that carries Park Ave. over the old CofGa tracks and connects Napier Ave with Vineville Ave. in Macon. It also appears that the train in headed toward Macon and the photographer was facing the direction of the Forsyth Rd. overpass.

-- Carl Anderson (CarlAnderson5@earthlink.net), September 13, 2004.

Saw this pic while surfing photo sites. Caption identifies it as NS train M75 detouring over the old CofG between Atlanta and Macon on 9/4/2004. I hadn't heard of any overflow activity over this line lately so I thought it might be of interest. Check out the kudzu in the pic. Classic southern (as in geography) scene of what??? Here is the URL for the great photo taken by Joe Hill:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=42147

Bryan Smith

-- Bryan Smith (bry3sm@aol.com), September 12, 2004.


Bryan: Glad to hear that traffic on Atlanta -Macon Central line is alive & kicking. I live too far away to monitor it, but it looks like some folks are keeping tabs on it. Great memories of Central traffic in & out of southside Atlanta when I was a lad in the 60s in the tri-city area. Keep us posted. Greg Hodges, Richmond

-- Greg Hodges (105452.2520@compuserve.com), July 27, 1999.

Oops.............heres the e-mails I was referring to:

This was posted on 7/23 at 955PM Southbound M61 down the Central of Georgia between Atlanta and Macon with NS 6083, 7005, MPI 9009 and 87 cars. Crew was told to tie the train down at Holt Ave. at Macon. Train will not be taken into the yard "until later" according to DS. Gary L ******************************************************************** This was posted on 7/25 at 103AM (this guy keeps some late hours) Northbound this time, M60 from Macon to Atlanta via CofG route. M60 was NS 8913 & 6643 with 94 cars. OS'ed the track warrant at MP 241 at 0017. Stayed tuned, part 3 is coming with Conrail in the lead! Gary L ******************************************************************** This was posted on 7/25 at 413AM As promised, this one was a prize! No identification on the radio, but was northbound with CR(PRR) 3422 & HLCX(QNS&L scheme) 6225 with 132 empty covered hoppers. By MP 241 at 0328. Gary L ******************************************************************** Can't believe I left off the best part.................oh well, better late than never....................Bryan

-- Bryan Smith (bsmith3608@aol.com), July 25, 1999.



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