Short Lines of Georgia Past and Present

Forgot one Georgia short line......Squaw Creek Southern, we have track from madison to machen on the old Central of Ga line, we should be getting a UP sd40-2 paired with our gp38 within the next couple of weeks, CANT WAIT--IT HAS A/C!!!

Cool did not know about this line. Is it fairly new? I found theses.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 442&nseq=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 191&nseq=1

Federal registered May 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ6oGLXGpcU

Where is a good location to check this line out?

46u wrote:- litz do you work all the time or what days do you volunteer? Might wait till the mid to end of Sept. when it is a little cooler. When I come I will have the hat on that is in the above pictures and if not to hot my hickory striped overalls.

I would love to ride in the cab but do not want to leave mother alone that long.

I try and get up there twice a month or so .... I work fulltime in north Atlanta, so only have weekends to play train ... and a 75 mile drive up there, to boot ... I usually end up with 20-25 trips a year.

Was just up there last weekend (and 2 weeks before that), next trip scheduled is the morning run on 8/8.



- litz

Litz I am fixing to start making plains now that I got most of my BS out of the way to ride the Blue Ridge excursion. Do you know what radio frequencies they use? I am going to bring along with my still camera, video camera all so my scanner so if I know the frequencies I can have it set before I get there.

Do you know if it is less crowed during the week then on weekends? Was thinking about doing the excursion during the week and all so motels are cheaper.

Going up to Duluth this Thursday to check out what has change at the South Eastern Railroad Museum. Have not been up there in about 5 years.

litz Road the Blue Ridge Senice RR on the 18th with mother and I think are car hostess was Wanna or Wanda I think. She was a GREAT hostess.

You were riding with Wanda Bell, in Car 405 ... 405 has an interesting history ... it was a "brake example" car used by CSX for teaching different kinds of brake systems ... the inside was utilitarian and bare. When the GNRR was founded, CSX essentially left the car in the Elizabeth yard, and the GNRR turned it into their offices ... with the construction a couple years ago of an actual building for the offices, the RR sent the car up to blue ridge for conversion (and a completely new brake system) into the configuration you saw it in - partial open air seating, and partial enclosed ... with 2 handicapped lifts, for disabled passenger boarding/deboarding.

How was the trip?

- litz

Very enjoyable trip. Yes the reason we rode on 405 is my mother is in a wheel chair. It was cloudy the whole time we where there but little rain and the temperature was great. We arrived on the 17th and spent the night then rode on the 18th. We ate at the Toccoa River Restraint Thursday which was VERY GOOD! Blue Ridge is a very neat town and we enjoyed walking around. I should say I pushed and mother rode. LOL

Like I said Wanda is a GREAT Hostess! I told her I had been talking to someone that volunteers on the forums. Next time you see here tell her you talked to the old man in the engineer hat and hickory strip overalls my train riding gear! LOL The ladies in the survivor shop in the depot where all so great but the guys in the ticket office could learn from Wanda and the ladies in the depot shop!

Sorry about the pictures I need to re size them one thing I do not like about this forum.

Pictures were fine, for those of us with high bandwidth ... you got about all the "standard" shots along the trip ... some really nice shots there, however. You can sure see how much all the water we've had has greened things up. And after your trip, is when we got nailed with the big deluge (you got lucky!) down in Atlanta ...

For those unfamiliar with the train, the 8704 is a GP-18 (rebuild GP9) ... if you look closely you can see the frame on the nose is bent a little downwards, that was from an accident years back prior to the BRSR ... it pulls just fine, though, so it pretty much has a permanent home these days pulling the Blue Ridge train ... you can couple on the front, you just have to be real careful.

Behind it is are the 106 and 105, former FEC intercity coaches, sold to the Bangor and Arastook, then VIA rail ... they came to us from VIA, still with english/french signage inside. These are really nice cars.

Barely visible behind that, the 3rd blue car is the 2705, which is a former LIRR coach. LIRR fans will recognize this car number from a thread on that forum on 27xx and 29xx cars, and where have they all gone ... 2705, 2975, and 2929 are all on the BRSR.

The car you were in was the aformentioned 405, the red car next to it is the 206, which is our concession (e.g. food) car; it came to us from the Southeastern RR museum, and prior to that, it came to them from Southern/NS.

In front of it is the 150 a very elderly former streetcar/coach ... 1924 vintage. This is a wonderful car - has those big tall "Polar Express" style windows.

Behind that are the two aformentioned LIRR coaches, converted to open-air seating, and then the 697 which is a boxcar converted to open air seating (Great Smokey Mountain RR did that conversion).

North end of the train is currently being pulled by the 7562, a GP10 (rebuilt GP7) ... we generally swap this engine with the 7529, its fleetmate, whenever a 90day inspection comes around.

Missing from the consist is the 332 (former CSXT 972332), which is getting its roof painted -- if it is ever sunny enough, long enough, to actually do the work.

And that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about the Blue Ridge Scenic!

- Jonathan

46u wrote:Hers a list of operating short lines in Georgia. One I do not know if you would say it is operating and I will cover this later.
The Athens Line
Chattahoochee & Gulf
Chattahoochee Industrial
Chattooga & Chickamauga
First Coast Railway
Fulton County Railway
Georgia Central Railroad
Georgia & Florida Railway
Georgia & Midlands Railroad
Georgia Northeastern
Georgia Southwestern
Georgia Woodlands
Great Walton Railroad
Golden Isle Terminal (Colonel’s Island Railroad Co.)
Heart of Georgia
Hartwell
Louisville & Wadley
Ogeechee
Riceboro Southern
Sandersville
Savannah Port Terminal (Savannah State Docks Railroad)
St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s West Railway
Valdosta Railway

Great topic. The two I have highlighted above should be I believe the "Georgia & Florida Railnet" (not to be confused with the old "Georgia & Florida Railroad") and the "Georgia Midland Railroad".