I decide to visit my daughter who is going to school at Amory, MS. I know from internet that they have a yard.
Later I would like to take a roundtrip From Memphis via New Orleans, Tallahassee, Jasckson, Savannah, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Knoxville and back. My main interests are photos from regular services.
Where are interesting spots and what are the main lines?
Is there anybody out there who can help me with further informations?
This is an example what I want to do. The photo was taken in 1981 when I stayed at Columbia, TN
Greetings from Germany
If someone is interested in my homepage, the link is below. unfortunately in German
I lived in Atlanta for a number of years, although that was a while ago, so things MAY have changed,
But as I recall, there is a mega Yard in the near NW side, in the “Marietta Road-MariettaBlvd- Bolton road” area, that was a never ending display of railroads at work back in the '80’s
A Suburb on the far west side called “Austell” was a friendly little town with a heavy RR preferance and a busy through main line at the time.
It would be worth your time to find those areas, unless they have fallen prey to the downsizing axe.
Same thing too about the old passenger station called “Brookwood station” located right in the cr0tch of where I-75 N and I-85N split… cool station there by where Deering Rd and Peachtree Street (The REAL “Peachtree St”) intersect.
There is a BNSF line from Memphis through Tupelo that goes to Amory. From there I would go south along the BNSF to Columbus MS. From there the KCS goes south to Meridian. Norfolk Southern goes straight to New Orleans from there with a line that has Amtrak’s Crescent, or you could follow KCS west to Jackson MS and follow Canadian National (former Illinois Central) south to New Orleans along the route of Amtrak’s City of New Orleans. Here is a New Orleans website- http://lrs.railstuff.net/
Axel 1: The yard at Amory, Ms is the first Division point south of Memphis, on BNSF between Memphis and Birmingham, Ala.Have not been there in a number of years, but there used to be many spots in the area from which a person could shoot photos. US Hwy 78 parallels the ine in a number of places and offers many opportunities for shots, as traffic is heavy, a scanner would offer som insights as to activities on the line. I would assume that you would fly into Memphis; there are a number of vantage points on the East side of the RR bridges across the MIssissippi River that are public, and good vantage points to see, and take photos from. Also, Memphis has a pretty interesting street railway now with so good spots for photography, most of the trolley cars are from Barcelona, Spain and have been updated for current safety compliances ,with both two axel and larger two truck ckars.
Enjoy your trip.
Sam
If you get to Jackson, MS there should be some interesting opportunities for train-watching. KCS’s “Meridian Speedway” (heavy with NS traffic) crosses CN/IC’s north-south main. Also, when we moved from there in late 1999 a renovation of the old IC passenger station was beginning - should be finished by now.
If you go from New Orleans to Tallahassee you’ll be on I-10. Reasonably short side trips will get you to CSX’s ex-L&N/SAL line to Jacksonville at any number of places. There are probably yards in Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL, but I’ve never been to either one. I believe rail traffic will be heavier around Pensacola and to the west, since the former L&N line from the north intersects east of Pensacola. Years ago the old Mobile & Ohio station in Mobile was still standing; don’t know if it still exists, but if so it’s an interesting building.
If you’re going from Tallahassee to Savannah you can get on US 319 in Tallahassee and go north to Thomasville, where there’s a cool ex-ACL station. Head east on US 84 all the way across southern GA to I-95 near Savannah, paralleling CSX’s ex-ACL main almost all the way. You’ll cross NS’s line from Macon, GA to Jacksonville, FL in Valdosta. From just west of Valdosta all the way to Waycross (just over 60 miles) you’ll be traveling beside one of the 10 longest stretches of straight track in America. Rice Yard, a hump yard and the hub of CSX operations in the southeast, is in Waycross; unfortunately it is almost totally screened from view by pine trees.
An alternative would be to stay on I-10 from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, where the road will cross one end of a vast flat-switched yard that may be of interest. From Jax you can hit I-95 north to Savannah.
In Savannah you could see the former Central of Georgia passenger station, which is now the city’s visitor’s center. The adjacent warehouses, some 100 years old, have been acquired by and probably converted for use by a local art & design college. There’s also a
Dave:
You were right, Oporto, Portugal, not Barcelona, charge that to faulty memory…
Here is a web site that has some pretty good photos of the original street railway, note the open car and the Frisco 0-6-0 [about the second picture down] http://www.cbu.edu/~mcondren/MRP/Memphis-Street-Railway.htm
