Train Street Running in Gadsden Alabama - ATN Z390

[@JawTooth]

Wow, that was awesome! I travel around different states looking for street running trains to film for my channel and I am putting this on the list!

[@BamaRailfan]

It is a neat place for sure! It is kinda hard to catch a train here though. I think they run 3 times a week, but since I dont live near there now I can't say for sure.

[@MrCrossIsBoss]

This video is excellent and even cinematic with a down-home, unrestrained feel. Street running has become more rare so it's always a joy to see it captured.

[@clstan]

My mother had an office near these tracks. The train horns were so loud that she couldn't hear her customers on the phone. Had to tell many of them to hold for the train to pass or call back. I always enjoyed watching the trains run down this line when I was visiting at her office.

[@andrewcranmer9653]

Yes, I worked for about 7 months staying in Gadsden. Lucky enough to see this coming out of the pizza place on Locust Street one time. Amazing sight.

[@windonedge7574]

Maters Pizza...it's still there.

[@andrewcranmer9653]

Windon Edge And as I recall, very good pizza it is too

[@BamaRailfan]

This train was headed South out of Gadsden. The yard where the ATN operates out of is located there, across from the old steel mill. The trains that run in Guntersville and Albertville are different ones entirely, but are run by the same railroad.

[@AJMartinezmtzsubproductions]

This takes me back to when i saw SP in the streets of Oakland ca.

[@GMTX-kg8ep]

Great view of the no left turn signals!! Keep the video up, man!!!!!!

[@JawTooth]

Awesome video!

[@espeeboy]

Great street running video! As great as it is today to see a nearly untouched SP Tunnel Motor (actually DRGW) running around in scarlet and gray today, this unit is actually now officially the LTEX 5387 - one of the few to escape McDonald, OH and Larry's black paintbrush!

[@Chiefbobaloo]

The L&N actually could join the TAG (& Southern) at a junction between upper 4th and 5th Street downtown. The junction started on the L&N tracks at 6th Street, ran across what is now Meighan Blvd, (tracks removed in about 2009) crossed a small bridge and interchanged with Southern and the TAG in the middle of what now is a field. The original TAG trackage still exists (on the Gadsden end) up to its junction with the Southern.

[@AGSGuy]

the branch you're referring to is the AG Branch, it's what basically connected all 3 railroads, it's still used everyday as a interchange to the ATN from NS via NS A54, they travel down the branch and shove in caboose first into the Yard before getting another cut and carrying it back to Attalla

[@Chiefbobaloo]

I have not kept up with ATN like I should, thanks for this information.

[@bhamrails]

Nice vid, they came through last night in the snow, bug I didnt get to see them!

[@CHP324]

GREAT HORN ON THIS (SP) N AWESOME VIDEO..THANKS 4 SHARING!!

[@BamaRailfan]

All of the traffic lights are tied into the railroad and turn red when a train is approaching/passing. There are also signs that light up signaling traffic not to turn left. There are advanced warning signs on the side streets. Thanks for the comment!

[@Cnw8701]

Wow, very nice horn!

[@robertwterry]

Loved it! Great job, I always loved street running.

[@TylersNeighborhoodGarage]

There was a line that branched off in Alabama City to the northwest and crossed W. Meighan at an angle about where the new drug store was built across from the Food World. It would end up in the vicinity of where the lead to the steel plants connects to the TAG line in Alabama City.

[@anneschneider9860]

I can't believe how many people walk in front of the train especially with their kids.

[@Cnw8701]

Odd hearing a Leslie RS3L on a former SP unit! Normally it would either have a Nathan K3LA or P3!

[@BamaRailfan]

Thanks Robert. Much of this line through the area is 10mph track as the track conditions are relatively poor. The signals, I believe, were installed by CSX back before they leased out the line. From my understanding, there was a fairly large yard here long ago before this street existed.

[@Matt56120]

Awesome video loving the SP loco as lead unit

[@JasonElser]

I lived in Anniston for many many years and visited with my Grandparents in Gadsden quite often. I was never in the right place at the right time to catch a train in this location and I was going there since before there was a CSX

[@bhamrails]

nice vid, good catch of that SP

[@bonhommerichard1]

Looks like them sd40-2s were, "TAKIN' OUT THE TRASH"!

[@BurlingtonNorthernModeler]

That's really neat! great video!

[@michigantrucker]

love the horn.

[@mikgazine]

You know when you're relaxing, thinking of nothing but comfort, peace, calm, silence, ahhh...and then WGNYAAAA! WGNYAAAA! WGNA! WGNYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! SH-SH SH-SH SH-SH SH-SH... Where are you Scotty, we need teleportation please...

[@SPUPRR]

would take about 5 minutes to go from one end of the street to the other.About 7 blocks.Flapper disk was the old style of signals.They had little wheels with flaps inserted in them to trip a switch.The wheel would rotate and and the flap would trigger the swtich to change the signal to Yellow then to Red.Old school style signaling.As for the congestion,ehhh,not a whole lotta traffic there but some.Really sucked for the conductor.He had to get down,Flag each crossing individually rain or shine.

[@SPUPRR]

about 10 years ago they would come though pretty fast.Then the City complained and CSXT was forced to stop at every crossing and flag them individually.Finally,the City and the railroad came to a happy medium.City installed new lights(Old ones were Flapper disk timed) and a 10MPH speed limit for Locust street.

[@BamaRailfan]

@espeeboy You are quite correct in that this is LTEX 5387. This unit had big black patches over all of the SP lettering at one time. I guess it was merely some sort of tape as it has obviously since been removed. :) I'm glad Larry was out of paint when he processed this one! LOL

[@SPUPRR]

Actually believe that was an old industrial siding at the bridge.The old L&N to tag branch was north of 5th street.The old bridge is still there with the new bus station.There used to be a turn table and a large yard where locust street is now along with some other tracks that reached down and across 411 going to Rome.The ROW is still visable in the deep cut just past the water works(the parking lot outside the works is the ROW).

[@jessmdevans]

used to live next door to goodyear, when trains coming out i used to hop them when i was young to visit friends, saved many footsteps...late 70's, and yes the traffic control all thru town was crap, it was easier to turn around and get in front of it or wait for ever, seems every light in town turned red till the slow thing passed, if you were caught, you were looking for someting to break

[@robertgift]

Nice video! Thank you, BR, for posting it. Why so slow? Impeding traffic far too long. Those traffic signals stop cross-traffic (Note the NO LEFTURN SIGN already illuminated) too early and wait too long before changing after the train has cleared. Must be on very one long train detection track circuit. Track was probably under pavement long before traffic signals were put in and they did not want to go to the trouble of installing sufficient track circuits.

[@AngelinaRose347]

we have something like this were i live the tracks go on 7th street and cross over into the park

[@BamaRailfan]

Thanks for the comment! I got lucky on this day and was in the right place at the right time. This train runs 3 times/week. I would have loved to have seen trains here before, or even during, the CSX era,

[@BamaRailfan]

I am sad to report that the SP lettering on 5387 has recently been pained over in order for the ATN to achieve FRA compliance. Sad to see it go. Yet another piece of railroad heritage lost forever. :(

[@carmichaeltrainproductionc9663]

You Can not find too many for the Southern Pacific's around that much anymore they are getting more Rare!!

[@GTRailroadVideos]

Awesome!

[@BamaRailfan]

@WhoSaidTyler It does indeed need a fresh paint job and likely a decent amount of structural work. ;-) I got wind that one of the old CN units might actually be getting painted soon. Some sort of a battleship gray color. I have some idea where the other (or at least another) connector was, but have never really searched it out. My best guess on what might have been a connector at one time would be the remnants of a spur track at the other end of the street. No?

[@Treysrailfanning]

Man it's crazy how u can hear it way off In distance when it passed

[@TylersNeighborhoodGarage]

I wonder who will ever paint that bridge? The city tried to get CSX to and they refused...and I'm sure ATN won't since they don't even waste paint on their locomotives. There's actually another L&N/ TAG junction further up near the yard..know where it was?

[@BamaRailfan]

@MrCrossIsBoss Thank you. I wish I had more free time to see them do it more. They work on a loose schedule and are hard to catch in this area. I got lucky this day. ;)

[@SPUPRR]

Also,this street is just a back street for down town.One block left is main street.One block and a half block right is the main 6 lane highway through town.

[@BamaRailfan]

@SPUPRR Aah. That makes sense. I would really like to see some old maps of the area.

[@genpvrailroad]

Awesome video

[@BamaRailfan]

Thanks!

[@tiffanydouglas2686]

This is pretty darn weird if you see a train on 6th street in Gadsden.

[@BroadwayNexp]

why do the cars make those sounds like around 4:42?

[@nikosjk1]

Awesome video! that later evening glint light makes even those old junkers shine. ATN sounds like a very cool line to railfan, would love to get them coming through Gasden? Do they run every day?

[@BamaRailfan]

@timmyd6781 Yes, I believe it is. There are the remnants of a yard about 2 blocks North of where this video was shot. It is at the end of the TAG line and just before the current NS line wyes into it.

[@BamaRailfan]

@seabulls69 Yes he is a great guy! I miss getting to visit him when they ran through Albertville.

[@robertgift]

Googlearth reveals not one crossbuck sign at any of the crossings.

[@BamaRailfan]

Robert Gift That is correct. The traffic lights are tied into the RR to provide a red light to cross traffic upon approach circuit activation. Also the "no turn" lights illuminate with this activation. This setup is somewhat fancy IMO. Not many (that I know of) street running setups have this "feature."

[@nickythurman5822]

Is this street running railroad tracks still be used and how close was the train to that guy that was crossing the street with the street running train?

[@dwightstewart7181]

+nicky thurman Not likely all that close. *High camera zoom ratios greatly distort dimensional perspective*, making objects appear closer to the viewer, objects within a scene appear closer together, and so on. Thus, the guy was much further away form the train than it appears. This phenomenon is routinely used by the movie industry to make actors appear to be just barely avoiding speeding cars, explosions, and similar. In reality, they’re much further away from the danger than it appears.

[@charalinedreemurr2953]

I live there, I haven't seen a train run though yet

[@SPUPRR]

oh,and you didn't drop a line on Alrails group?I am less than a mile from there.

[@TravisDGordon]

@seabulls69 Jerry's a good guy. I volunteer with him at Tennessee Valley Railroad

[@freighttrainsahpassing9790]

nice !

[@BamaRailfan]

@ironman1438 Yeah I use a tripod, if you want to call it that..lol. It shakes if you breathe on it. It's just a little cheapie to get me by for a while. I haven't been over to Cullman yet. That is still on my to-do list. ;-)

[@benschlechter]

What was a matter with that kid? Couldn't he have waited for the train to pass?

[@nickythurman5822]

Is street running train train still active? And what is this train halling

[@AGSGuy]

This line operates every day, rostering 7 locomotives and operates on 120 miles, just a few miles North of this location is the Alabama Tennessee River Railway's headquarters, what this train was hauling is nothing but scrap steel from Progress Rail, they are headquartered in Albertville and the facility is pretty big.

[@Treysrailfanning]

I watched this vid when I was like 2 and all that

[@BamaRailfan]

@sf5700 Ah. Ok. So noted and corrected. :-) Thanks!

[@BamaRailfan]

@JgordonAmtrak1 Thanks Jeff!

[@dannyhaley7610]

man i cant get over people walking across in front of a train.do they not see a train?wake up people.wake up.

[@BamaRailfan]

@SPUPRR Sorry. :-) I really don't know how to do that from my phone. Is there a way to just text it in?

[@jeabo0adhd]

Does it stop at the lights?

[@fatcatkcfan]

Is it gping towards the bridge or away

[@BamaRailfan]

Towards

[@sf5700]

Thats actually a 'Z' 390. :) Trains running onto CSX that are not CSX trains get a 'Z' designation.

[@BamaRailfan]

@WhoSaidTyler Ok. Yup that's about where I was thinking. It still shows up on my GPS for some reason. LOL

[@BamaRailfan]

@jimmyxtc69 No kidding! LOL Thanks.

[@BamaRailfan]

@xtremewrestling4eva Thank you!

[@robertgift]

"...CSXT was forced to stop at every crossing and flag them" Wow! How absurd. Train must have taken forever to cross and would block many streets for how long? Could the crossings not be treated as typical passive crossings and vehicle drivers listen for the horn? But most of the time there is no train and traffic would be always slowing to look/listen for a train. All of those vehicleslowing creates congestion and wastes fuel and generates air pollution. "Flapper disk"?

[@RyanChugg]

Hey I might have saw another railfan right in front of you

[@MsTayma]

What how did that hap pend trains dont go on the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Treysrailfanning]

Wow forget I commented

[@BamaRailfan]

@timmyd6781 Not much remains there except the tracks and a light pole or two. :(

[@JPLtrain]

franchir ses pentes est peu habituel aux chemins de fers européens ,encore moins quasi en rue ..

[@BamaRailfan]

@dhankins02 Thanks Daniel!

[@jacobfain9]

think of a red light

[@jimikrentkowski4073]

Bam

[@BamaRailfan]

@seabulls69 Ha ha. Nope. Not that time. :)

[@brandongautreau217]

dont play chiken with a train, its not worth it

[@seabulls69]

@TVRM610 A very good guy indeed.

[@seabulls69]

Could that have been Jerry DeBene driving that SD40-T2?

[@BamaRailfan]

Thanks for the comment! I got lucky on this day and was in the right place at the right time. This train runs 3 times/week. I would have loved to have seen trains here before, or even during, the CSX era,