Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Special Day On The CSX In LaGrange Georgia

After spending a couple of days on the busy CSX S&NA Sub in Decatur Alabama in early November and seeing all the CSX activity there it was time to take a trip to LaGrange Georgia and tackle the CSX Lineville and A&WP Subs. Many of the trains that run through the “River City” end up running through LaGrange on their way to Waycross Georgia. No better way then to spend the day with my son on his birthday. So off to LaGrange we went early one morning recently and in just under six hours we saw 11 trains. It didn't matter that the sun is low in the horizon this time of year.. what mattered is that I was with my son and there were trains.  

#1. Working its way south into town at MP ANJ819 on the CSX Lineville Sub is CSX Q645 (Birmingham,AL – Waycross,GA) a 1x1 manifest of 105 cars. The suns early morning rays are trying to shed some light on the rails of both the Lineville and A&WP sub as the double track begins here and will continue south for two miles to the southeast side of town. 

#2. CSX #3087 is the trailing DPU as this manifest is about to clear CP Main Street MP's ANJ818.9 / XXB71.2 

#3. Blending in with the fall colors sitting on the old Dunson Lead is a LORAM ballast cleaning machine that appears to be winterized and will be here a while. To picture right just past the crossovers is the A&WP Lafayette Connector north to Fairburn Georgia.

 ...more to follow...

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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#4. With two head end units CSX #100 leads an empty grain train V424 north bound on the #2 main past the Lafayette Connector crossovers. 

#5. Not long after V424 clears town the longest train of the day at 11,900ft is CSX V418?? An empty coal train??? I am still learning my CSX symbols here and I thought V was empty grain. Turns out it was a 2 x empty coal (OUCX) x 3 x empty grain combo train. 

#6. CSX V418 mid-train DPU view at Lafayette Connector crossovers. 

...more to follow...

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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#7. To the south of town we see another 1x1 manifest north bound CSX Q601 (Waycross,GA - New Orleans,LA) approaching CP South LaGrange MP ANJ814. 

#8. With the signals lit up like a Christmas tree Q601 will take main #1 into town as surfacing equipment occupies main #2. 

#9. CSX #3292 is the trailing DPU on this “BIG EASY” bound manifest that will take the A&WP Sub south to Montgomery Alabama. .

..more to follow...

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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#10. A loaded grain train G303 (Lafayette,IN – Baldwin,FL(FGAR) heads south out of CP South LaGrange MP ANJ814 

#11. Back to the center of town we catch CSX Q647 (Chicago,IL(BRC) – Waycross,GA) running on track #2 in a 2x1 power for this very long manifest train from the “Windy City”. 

#12. CSX #3424 mid-train DPU rolls past the LaGrange Farmers Market as the employees were busy this day selling a good many Christmas trees.

...more to follow...

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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#13. The final catch of the day was BNSF Q-LACATG Birmingham interchanged running as CSX Q185 East Thomas,AL(BNSF) - Fairburn, GA on the #2 main. Having entered the under construction limits of the new Greenville Street overpass this train will take the A&WP main north out of town. 

Thanks for stopping by and remember to always be safe when out track side. 

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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Like these, NSSpike with CSX photos.

gmojim

gmojim Wrote:
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> Like these, NSSpike with CSX photos.
> gmojim

Thanks Jim
With the Alabama East End line a night time railroad one doesn't see many daytime trains anymore. LaGrange is 56 miles from the house all 4 lane divided hi-way about a 1 hr trip.

With CSX shifting a large amount of the original traffic through Atlanta to Birmingham one can not go wrong spending the day at LaGrange!!!
Thanks for the reply Jim
 

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

Before PSR, one could see more trains at Manchester than at LaGrange. But Manchester-Atlanta traffic took a big hit, and now there's little difference in train counts between Manchester and LaGrange.

Orginally the ACL and A&WP rights of way snuggled together in south La Grange. Then (looking compass northward) they diverged by as much as half a mile before the ACL crossed the A&WP on the east side of the city. In the late 1980s or early 1990s CSX abandoned most of the ex-ACL through the heart of the city and rearranged the lines so that trains from B'ham run over the ex-A&WP to the east side where the lines split for Atlanta and Waycross. CSX also added a connector for Atlanta-LaGrange-Waycross traffic. 

 

ctillnc Wrote:
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> Before PSR, one could see more trains at
> Manchester than at LaGrange. But
> Manchester-Atlanta traffic took a big hit, and now
> there's little difference in train counts between
> Manchester and LaGrange.

LaGrange has a sight edge.  LaGrange averages 31 road trains per 24 hours and Manchester averages 26.

Andrew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/19 14:23 by florida581.

Outstanding images, Phil.  Congratulations on the Picture of the Day!  Definitely well deserved!

Phil, you have posted a an interesting array of photos and some well thought out angles. Congratualtions on your IOTD.
John

Amazing kind of thinking on the part of CSX:  you sell off the tracks from Baldwin, FL to Flomaton, AL and then reroute the trains via LaGrange, GA and Birmingham, AL.  Instead of 600 miles on the old route, it must has added at least 450 miles to the operation of these trains.  Corporate think......   Corporate stupidity I would call it.  

There's no need to reroute via Birmingham. Flomaton-Waycross (let's assume everything goes to Rice Yard, not Baldwin) is about 455 miles, taking the L&N to Montgomery, the WofA/A&WP to LaGrange, and the ACL to Waycross. Flomaton across the Florida panhandle on the L&N and SAL and then up to Waycross from Baldwin is 470 miles.. longer. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/19 10:06 by ctillnc.

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Amazing kind of thinking on the part of CSX:  you
> sell off the tracks from Baldwin, FL to Flomaton,
> AL and then reroute the trains via LaGrange, GA
> and Birmingham, AL.  Instead of 600 miles on the
> old route, it must has added at least 450 miles to
> the operation of these trains.  Corporate
> think......   Corporate stupidity I would call
> it.  

When you do the math via CSX timetable milepost numbers, routing trains from Flomaton-LaGrange-Waycross is actually 16 miles shorter than going Flomaton-Baldwin-Waycross across the Panhandle. Appears like this was Corporate Smarts.

Now you have to wonder WHY there is the "Silver Comet" trail and not the former SAL linking Atlanta-Birmingham ???

Track cut from Marietta,Ga to Rockmart,Ga and track remains between Rockmart and Cedartown,Ga. And out from West Cedartown to Wellington,Alabama.

Total of only 67 miles, why not put the track back, and use the shorter route between the two cities and Screw the bikers & hikers !