Hi all! This June I will be driving from Lubbock, TX to Atlanta, GA and will be stopping to overnight in the Jackson, MS area. I have absolutely no idea about railfanning in Mississippi other than along the Gulf Coast (which I’ll be checking out on the way out to Texas a few weeks earlier). I’ll be traveling I-20 west to east along the entire width of the state. Any ideas or any must see places? Thanks! Jamie
By June it’ll be a bit warm in MS and lots of reptilian friends will be moving about. Be safe.
Check out downtown Meridian. You can exit off the I-20 at 22nd Avenue and go north into downtown. You will pass over the KCS yard and the KCS and NS mains on an overpass in about a mile. Make a right at the very first light at the bottom of the overpass and head down a block to Union Station. There are many opportunities there to watch mainline NS and KCS traffic and local switching by KCS. Also, Amtrak’s Crescent comes through daily in the afternoon. The local RR museum is next door in the old freight house.
There ar ealso two local short lines. The M&B Railroad, now part of G&W’s Rail Link and the Meridian Southern (MDS) which you will cross over on the freeway near a large Georgia Pacific woodchip mill (look for the big yellow crane). You may see the M&B interchange with the KCS while you are at Union Station. The MDS is a bit more elusive as they seldom come up into the KCS yard.
LC