I suddenly find myself free the week after Christmas, and since I’ll be in Charlotte anyway, will try to visit Folkston, Georgia, (which claims 60 trains per day past its shelter), or further north at Jesup (40).
Folkston’s two hostelries seem already to be booked, and according to Triple-A, Jesup only has a couple of places to stay as well. Any comments will be much appreciated about how you lodged. If you “commuted” to either town by day for train-watching but spent the night in a nearby community like Kingsland, Brunswick or Hinesville, I’d especially like to hear from you. (We don’t camp.)
I’m guessing that the week between Christmas and New Year’s may suffer train “droughts” longer than the average. Again, I’d like to hear from you, summer or winter, good, bad or indifferent about train composition and how long between them. The more who respond, the merrier. Is Folkston really twenty trains a day more trafficked than Jesup? Do you know the scanner frequencies?
I’ve never been to this neck of the woods before and am looking forward to the experience. I can reciprocate with experiences, opinions, etc., about the Rochelle shelter.
I went through Jessup a few years ago. In addition to CSX you can also see Amtrak action. Silver Star, Silver Meteor, and the non-stop Auto Train polish the rails.
The area near the station, imho, looked like it was frozen in time (1960s). The north/south former ACL line is slightly below street level. I can’t remember exactly but there were at least two tracks present, possibly three.
I was only at Folkston for a few hours, but definitely enjoyed the show.
You are about 40 miles from the Jacksonville airport - presumably lodging would be available there with little or no problem. I know it’s a bit of a hike on 2 lane state highways, but it’s an option.
If you look up my web site you will see pix I took at Folkston last summer. I have never been to Jessup so I cannot furnish you with a comparsion between the 2 spots
Haven’t ever been to Folkston other than to drive thru, and I’m very familiar with Jesup as it was in 1992, so can’t tell you a whole lot but here goes.
If you go to Folkston your best bet for a place to stay would probably be in or around Jacksonville. The last time I was thru there US 301 was 4-lane from the Florida border to Jax; Georgia has a long-standing program of 4-laning the two-lane US highways where traffic is heavy, so they may have extended the 4-lane. If you don’t want to stay in Jax, you could strike out east of Folkston to I-95, but I don’t know how the roads are in that direction. The hotels along I-95 should have space between Christmas and New Year’s, but will probably be full for a few days after 1/1 (what seems like the entire populations of PA, DE, NJ and NY will be heading back home after going to Grandma’s in FL for the holidays). I would say the rail traffic thru Folkston is significantly heavier than thru Jesup (only one “s”), because Jesup has only the Savannah-Jax line while Folkston is the junction of that line and the Jax-Waycross, GA line.
If you go to Jesup your best bet would be staying somewhere like Hinesville (large military base should mean hotels there) or along I-95. I believe US 84 or 82 (never can remember which) is 4-lane all the way to I-95, about 40 miles. While in Jesup if you want old-fashioned home cooking, get a local to give directions to Suzy’s Kitchen, a local restaurant. It isn’t impressive or fancy, but they have older ladies from out in the country doing the cooking and put out a huge buffet for lunch at dirt-cheap prices (or at least that’s how it was in 1992). Nothing much other than train-watching to do in Jesup, unless you want to drive by the Federal prison south of town or the paper mill at Doctortown.
hey chico. jessup is 30 trains or more but folkston is 40-60 in 24 hours. folkston has shelter scanner restroom rr musuem signals… 6 or 8 amtrak a day…stacks,mixed,pig trains,autos,tropicana juice train,molton sulfur train and some times military trains to port. amtrak dont stop at folkston but some do at jessup. folkston is better. also to north is waycross home of rice yard,largest yard in the south.
i lived at rochelle years ago and like it best cause 2 different rrs and global 3 container yard largest in usa is there…lots of trains 60-100 a day, no amtrak though…enjoy…merry christmass
I stayed a few days at a local hotel (maybe .6 miles south of the Folkston platform). Folkston is worth every minute. The real action is from 6:00a.m. until around noon. Then It dies for a few hours until about 3:00p.m. Then the action lasts until around dark. Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. I saw 7 trains on a particular Saturday. I never had any luck with Jesup. If your going to be down that way, I suggest stopping by Waycross, about 30 min North of Folkston. You can visit the old station in town and stand a few feet away from the trains backing into Rice Yard (no public access). I went in late June, so I don’t know about train frequencies this time of year. Enjoy.
Hey if you’re going to Charlotte anyway, take a little trip to Spencer, NC. The State’s transportation museum is free and for $10 bucks you can ride in the cab of an old F unit. ( 1957 F-7 I think).
Jesup actually serves as the junction for the north end of the Jesup Sub. (Waycross to Jesup) and the Nahunta Sub. (Savannah to Jax.), so there’s actually two lines in town.
Folkston is definitely the better choice of the two as far as train count is concerned. I also recommend dipping down to Hilliard, FL further down the line. As I’ve probably posted on here before, the intermodals are cleared for 70mph and Amtrak at 79mph through this little town. And the area is more open for parking and railfanning…just have to poke around a little to find the spot downtown. Here’s a little video taste of the intermodals coming through at track speed.
[:)]As a native Georgian, I can assure you that Folkston, though much smaller than Jesup, is the better of the two. The Folkston tunnel handles some 70 trains on the busy CSX Waycross to Jacksonville line, as well as the Savannah-Jesup-Jacksonville route. The trains through Jesup aren’t as plentiful, because Folkston(population 2500) sits right at the bottleneck for trains out of Jacksonville that go NW to Waycross and NE through Jesup. However, due to Folkston being a heavily traveled and sought after tourist spot (the Okefenokee Swamp is the main attraction), accommodations may be tight. In that instance, Jesup (population 10,000) may be able to accommodate you, but provide less train coverage.
Yep: Folkston is the best place for the most trains. I use to go there a couple of times a year. The only down side maybe the time you are going. Usally most RR that time of year slow down as not much being shipped due to Holidays. Course could be wrong. Later RJD
Thank you for your message. I have been to the double diamond however before I acquired a digital camera & built a web site. If you travel to Texas Houston/Austin/Dallas area give me a buzz @ spbed@yahoo.com & we could connect. If the UPRR completes the Edelstein connector I am considering motoring up there to see the operation next spring
[quote user=“al-in-chgo”]
I suddenly find myself free the week after Christmas, and since I’ll be in Charlotte anyway, will try to visit Folkston, Georgia, (which claims 60 trains per day past its shelter), or further north at Jesup (40).
Folkston’s two hostelries seem already to be booked, and according to Triple-A, Jesup only has a couple of places to stay as well. Any comments will be much appreciated about how you lodged. If you “commuted” to either town by day for train-watching but spent the night in a nearby community like Kingsland, Brunswick or Hinesville, I’d especially like to hear from you. (We don’t camp.)
I’m guessing that the week between Christmas and New Year’s may suffer train “droughts” longer than the average. Again, I’d like to hear from you, summer or winter, good, bad or indifferent about train composition and how long between them. The more who respond, the merrier. Is Folkston really twenty trains a day more trafficked than Jesup? Do you know the scanner frequencies?
I’ve never been to this neck of the woods before and am looking forward to the experience. I can reciprocate with experiences, opinions, etc., about the Rochelle shelter.
When I was at Folkston last year I stood in a very clean motel about 1 mile from the viewing platform. There is also several eateries there to quench your hunger as well.
[quote user=“JOdom”]
Haven’t ever been to Folkston other than to drive thru, and I’m very familiar with Jesup as it was in 1992, so can’t tell you a whole lot but here goes.
If you go to Folkston your best bet for a place to stay would probably be in or around Jacksonville. The last time I was thru there US 301 was 4-lane from the Florida border to Jax; Georgia has a long-standing program of 4-laning the two-lane US highways where traffic is heavy, so they may have extended the 4-lane. If you don’t want to stay in Jax, you could strike out east of Folkston to I-95, but I don’t know how the roads are in that direction. The hotels along I-95 should have space between Christmas and New Year’s, but will probably be full for a few days after 1/1 (what seems like the entire populations of PA, DE, NJ and NY will be heading back home after going to Grandma’s in FL for the holidays). I would say the rail traffic thru Folkston is significantly heavier than thru Jesup (only one “s”), because Jesup has only the Savannah-Jax line while Folkston is the junction of that line and the Jax-Waycross, GA line.
If you go to Jesup your best bet would be staying somewhere like Hinesville (large military base should mean hotels there) or along I-95. I believe US 84 or 82 (never can remember which) is 4-lane all the way to I-95, about 40 miles. While in Jesup if you want old-fashioned home cooking, get a local to give directions to Suzy’s Kitchen, a local restaurant. It isn’t impressive or fancy, but they have older ladies from out in the country doing the cooking and put out a huge buffet for lunch at dirt-cheap prices (or at least that’s how it was in 1992). Nothing much other than train-watching
Another note on Folkston - for photography - earlier in the day is better for pictures from the platform, although there is green space on the west side of the tracks (in front of the fire station) where you can set up for pictures later in the day.
…Our first trip to Florida was 1959 and included down 301 and into Jessup, Ga. It was so warm that the wife and I pulled off and got a model in mid afternoon {and swam in their pool that afternoon}, so we could get an early start in the morning when it was cooler…Driving a '57 Corvette {of course no air}, it really got too hot that afternoon to travel.
Noted lots of railroad activity around there more recently…Just a few years ago coming back from Florida after spending the winter there and came up through the Jessup area again and found 4-lane highways and no problem moving through the area.
Area was of course much more built up recently as compared to our earlier trip and seemed to be a generous supply of motels. Alough did not stay in that area on our trip north.
Folkston is the better place out of the two. Folkston gets alot of traffic, better place, resturants near by plus a unisex bathroom which is to the right of the platform.
Jesup has trains but are in the wait and see what happens next catagory. The Amtrak station is burn and destroyed which isn’t good for the city. The nearest food place is about 2 miles away compared to Folkston you can walk to a resturant rather than drive.
Folkston is the place to go in the south. Folkston is also a nice community with nice people that pass the platform and around town. You might meet the Folkston celeberties, one is Cookie Williams the one that brought the idea to Mayor Dixie McGurn. Another Cricket Hatch don’t know some bio about him but he hangs around there alot. Look for the Blue scooter to see him.
Spbed- We don’t need someone posting about their site and telling someone that I have pictures when no one asked for pictures. If we would we would go to Railpictures and rrpicturearchives. Much more pictures about Folkston.
Like your Ferromex billboard you posted on BNSFRailfans topic. I think we all know what a FXE looks like a Pink engine with Poka Dots with a german on the top playing poka music as the horn isn’t that a Ferromex. 2 topics in a row that I have been to with this kind of stuff. I think I have seen a hockey team with no goalie do less constant things that somebody I know that reminds me of somebody on here.
This certain thing reminds me of a guy in Pensacola at ‘‘The Hangar’’ who…wait thats something I…forget about it.
THanks for your input however the starter of this thread thanked me personally for posting what I posted so I guess he would disagree with your view/postt.
As for the Ferromex loco that fellow who started his thread I thought would like to see what he expected to see. So far he has missed them so at least he had the opportunity to see 1 operating on the UPRR
[quote user=“oskar”]
Folkston is the better place out of the two. Folkston gets alot of traffic, better place, resturants near by plus a unisex bathroom which is to the right of the platform.
Jesup has trains but are in the wait and see what happens next catagory. The Amtrak station is burn and destroyed which isn’t good for the city. The nearest food place is about 2 miles away compared to Folkston you can walk to a resturant rather than drive.
Folkston is the place to go in the south. Folkston is also a nice community with nice people that pass the platform and around town. You might meet the Folkston celeberties, one is Cookie Williams the one that brought the idea to Mayor Dixie McGurn. Another Cricket Hatch don’t know some bio about him but he hangs around there alot. Look for the Blue scooter to see him.
Spbed- We don’t need someone posting about their site and telling someone that I have pictures when no one asked for pictures. If we would we would go to Railpictures and rrpicturearchives. Much more pictures about Folkston.
Like your Ferromex billboard you posted on BNSFRailfans topic. I think we all know what a FXE looks like a Pink engine with Poka Dots with a german on the top playing poka music as the horn isn’t that a Ferromex. 2 topics in a row that I have been to with this kind of stuff. I think I have seen a hockey team with no goalie do less constant things that somebody I know that reminds me of somebody on here.
This certain thing reminds me of a guy in Pensacol