Trains of Cordele, Georgia; 12 Hours of Railfanning at the Best Train Hotspot of Southern Georgia!

Рет қаралды 1,986

Күн бұрын

Hello everyone, and welcome to the charming Southern town of Cordele, Georgia! Located just two hours south of Atlanta, Cordele is one of the great hidden gems of railfanning as it is perhaps the best railfanning hotspot in Southern Georgia and features a wonderful diversity of train action. Three railroads, two Class I railroads and a shortline railroad, converge at the junction a couple blocks west of downtown; CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Heart of Georgia (or as locals call it, "The HOG"). The three rail-lines feature a combined 40-50 trains per day, making it one of the busiest train hotspots in the Deep South.
Like all great railroad hotspots in America, Cordele has its own unique railroad history. Cordele was once home of three railroad mainlines: the Georgia Southern & Florida (GSF), the Atlanta, Birmingham, and Coast (AB&C), and the Savannah, Americus, and Montgomery (SAM). In time, the GSF and the AB&C would become subsidiaries of larger railroads, with the GSF becoming part of the Southern Railway and the AB&C becoming part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The SAM, unlike the other two successful railroads in Cordele, would fall on hard times and separated into two smaller railroads after 1895. Today, the three mainlines continue to serve as important routes for the three modern railroads; the GSF is now the Norfolk Southern mainline between Macon and Jacksonville, the AB&C is now the CSX mainline to Waycross and Jacksonville, and the HOG serves the small towns of Southern Georgia.
On the average day here in Cordele, one can expect a variety of trains on both Class I railroads and two daily train movements on the HOG. Norfolk Southern traffic mainly consists of intermodal traffic between Atlanta and Jacksonville, along with a handful of manifest trains and the occasional unit trains. On average, NS sees about 12-15 trains per day. CSX traffic features a high volume of manifest trains with a handful of intermodal and unit trains running between Jacksonville and other major cities of the Deep South. CSX sees about 25-30 trains per day; the high number of manifest trains are thanks to the Waycross Hump Yard in Waycross, Georgia.
This day of railfanning (March 24, 2022) was without a doubt my best day of railfanning on the entire Georgia Railfanning trip in terms of action. In 12 hours, I caught a total of 26 trains. Traffic was steady throughout the day with a train every 20-30 minutes, with CSX providing the wide variety of locals, manifests, intermodals, and unit trains. Norfolk Southern was a little slower than expected today due to maintenance, but it did feature an old Southern Railway ballast cleaner. It's not everyday one sees a ballast cleaner in original railroad colors, even in original railroad ID numbers. Even with the maintenance, NS still featured its usual variety of intermodal and manifest trains. Best of all, the HOG came through in the morning with its local train running eastbound then westbound through Cordele.
If you have not visited Cordele, it is a place worth railfanning at. The town built a new railpark just east of the diamond, and the railpark features a number of great sightlines for all three railroad lines. From the platform itself, one can see the three lines converge. I am more than happy that I visited this great railfanning location in Southern Georgia, and I hope to come back to this spot at some point in the future. This video is the first of three days of railfanning in Cordele, and the only full day of railfanning I had while there. I will be uploading the other two videos from this location within the next month, so be on the lookout for those as well.
Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!
-N&W475