RECENTLY, I was able to escape the home area. to see some of the country I had not been in for a while. My bride had never been in the Southeast so it was totally new for her [:-,]. She has been getting a little intro to railfanning since we married. Chasing the 3985 and 844 as they have come through SE Kansas, as well as riding the SP 475 out of Pittsburg.
Got glimpse the replica “Best Friend of Charleston”. It currently resides in a building adjacent to the City’s expansive Visitors Center, out of public view, but scheduled to be put on display at some point in the future. It is still campaigned, apparently, from time to time by NS[ formerly Sou RWY]. I was told the last trip was to the Washington,DC. area. Got to go to Jessup, Ga and see their viewing facility, medium activity when we were there, over to Waycross and Rice Yard, apparently was slow when we were there. Which brings me to my questions:
Rice Yard is publicized as the largest Computer controlled yard in the country? It is a huge facility although it is supposed to be approx 850 acres, by my count it apopeared to be about 5± miles in length. I found this web site on CSX and it mentions Rice Yard, but has much more on CSX in general.
Can anyone fill in some of the details about RICE Yard and that area?
I have read that Rice is the largest yard in the southeast US. There are five line leading out of the city. One west, two north, one east, one Southeast. It seems that while I was there a horn was blowing somewhere, whether I could find it or not. I also saw one of the F40s by the loco terminal. If I remember correctly that was where all the GE dash-7s were assigned for maintenance.
Thanks, Neil 300, The Rice Facility is truly an immense operation. We stopped at the City’s Visitors Center in downtown Waycross,located in the old railroad station. Beautiful old structure located along on of the lines in/outbound to Rice Yard. As previously stated there was not alot of activity viewable when we were there. The yard itself is only partailly viewable from Hwy 84, and we only saw one apparently local train in operation in the area.
Railfan 1; We did not get down to Folkston, I truly regret it. But were pushing to get to an appointment in Pensacola.
A gem we found on our trip was the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, N.C.[ Formerly, the Southern Rwy Shops]. Their collection is impressive as are their facilities. As with most museums, their imperative for preservation and the equipment that they have in their collection exceeds their available funds, but it surely is a stop for serious railfanning if you wind up anywhere close to central North Carolina.
At the risk of being accused of flacking a commercial venture, there is a railroad hobby shop across the street from the museum in Spencer; it is truly impressive [one whole room devoted to Lionel, and O-gauge]. It is strickly for railroad enthusiasts, with fresh stock in quantities, I had never seen the likes of before my visit there. Blew my little mind, and a pretty good selection of railroad books, MP173 and Murphy, take note!