Eastern Railroad Discussion > Trip To CPR's Thomaston Division & CSX Fitz Sub

A fellow railfan has been dealing with health issues and isn't suppose venture to far from home unless someone is with him. So it was time to pick up my buddy “R.L.Grinder” down in Peachtree City Georgia and hit the NS, CPR & CSX southward from there. First on the days itinerary Griffin Georgia to the NS Griffin District in hopes of catching the southbound NS 186 (BIRMINGHAM, ALA – MACON, GA) and/or northbound NS 180 (MACON, GA – CHATTANOOGA, TN) NS MOW crews and their contractors were busy at the Griffin yard loading material for the days scheduled work. We waited around for a while but decided we best head to the CPR Cater Parrott Railnet connection track in Barnesville and catch their Tuesday run from Thomaston.

Back in 2016 CPR took over operations on 15.8 mile former NS Thomaston District “B-Line” with three busy customers... Quad/Graphics (paper products) Dart Container (plastics) and Interfor (saw mill). Not seeing the CPR in Barnesville we headed southwest toward Thomaston. We finally caught up with them as they were servicing the Dart Container “Solo Cup” facility just north of town. After taking a few photos we headed west to Woodland Georgia to the CSX Fitzgerald Sub and worked our way north to Manchester Georgia and watched a north bound freight work the yard. It was kinda quiet so we headed for lunch at the Duck Trolley. By now with the sun angles as they were there just weren't many good photo locations available. We ended up going south of Manchester caught a couple of trains there and then headed back to Peachtree City.

Web site for the Cater Parrott Railnet: https://cprailnet.com/ 
#1. GP40-2 #7000 works the Dart Container “Solo Cup” facility in Thomaston Georgia. 
#2. #7000 coming out of the plant lead to the main. 
#3. After coupling up to a cut of cars the #7000 makes a shove south to the saw mill
. ...more to follow....

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/19 11:47 by NSSpike.

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#4. On the main #7000 will work the Interfor facility picking 4 loads and set out empty center beams. Note their other unit # 7002. 
#5. On the CSX Fitzgerald Sub about 6 miles south of Manchester CSX manifest Q645 heads south on the sidingtrack and will meet Q142 at South Woodland. 
#6. Q645's trailing DPU #3266

 ...more to follow....

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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#7. Northbound Q142 at the Pleasant Valley Rd crossing in a 1x1 configuration. 
#8. Q142's mid-train DPU # 812. In addition to several loaded wells this train had several empty wells.  

Thanks for stopping by and always be safe when out track side!!!

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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