From: weinstoc@sei.cmu.edu (Chuck Weinstock)
Subject: Trip Report: New Georgia Railroad
Organization: The Software Engineering Institute
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 20:25:27 GMT


When we last left off, I had just returned from riding the UP3985 excursions
down to Houston.  I managed to get out of town just in time to avoid most of
the Republican Convention antics.  What I left out of that report is that,
during the ride to Houston, a group of my friends twisted my arm and convinced
me to join them on a trip from Atlanta to Montgomery and return over the
weekend of the 21st of August.

The trip was sponsored by the New Georgia Railroad, an organization operated
by the Georgia state government (particularly the Georgia Building Authority).
Although they run a regular dinner train, I had never ridden it.  But I had
been on two of their previous long distance excursions (one to Savannah from
Atlanta, and the other to Atlanta from Brunswick) and enjoyed them thoroughly.
They also provided the equipment and car hosts for last years Cooperhill
excursion out of Etowah, TN.  Their equipment is among the best in excursion
service in the country, and their staff friendly and ready to please.

One of the reasons I was able to on the trip is that it didn't start until 1pm
on Friday.  That meant that I could catch a Friday morning flight to Atlanta
and still make the train.  So I boarded a USAir flight for Atlanta on Friday
morning and got to Atlanta about an hour ahead of my friends.  One friend, who
was coming in from Milwaukee, arrived on the same concourse as USAir, so I
went over and met him.  We then took the airport train to the Marta station
where we met up with three other friends from Chicago, Minneapolis, and
Kansas.  (Aside: Atlanta appears to be building an "E" concourse, even though
the "C" concourse previously inhabited by Eastern sits empty.  Go figure.)

Marta was a quick and efficient way of getting to downtown Atlanta.  We got
off at the Five Points station, and walked through Atlanta Underground to get
to Milepost Zero, the location of the New Georgia Railroad's station.  The
station is new, and actually has the original milepost zero inside of it.  The
fourteen car train was awaiting us outside, and soon my party was guided to
our car, an ex-ACL business car, third in the train.  The first two cars of
the train were American European Express cars (including the New York, nee
Sandy Creek observation car) being used by CSX to entertain.  They were using
the cars as partial payment for charges owed to them by AEE.  The rest of the
train consisted mostly of coaches, except for a concession car, a crew
sleeper, and a parlor observation car "Blue Ridge".  The train was pulled by
290, an ex-Atlanta & West Point 4-6-2 heavy Pacific and an F-unit, placed
in a back-to-back configuration.  The 290 was to operate on home rails for the
first time since retirement (I'm told).

Our group settled into the "living room" portion of the business car, and soon
were chowing down on lunch: shiskabob, chicken, shrimp wrapped with bacon,
salads, and more, including some incredible brownies.  Did I mention that the
Georgia Building Authority runs cafeterias in public buildings?  I didn't?
Well that's because the food gave no indication of that kind of operation.  It
was superb.

The miles flew by as we headed down the rails of the A&WP (now CSX) towards
West Point where they would become the Western Railway of Alabama (now CSX)
on into Montgomery.  Unlike NS, CSX places no special speed restrictions on
excursion trains.  They are allowed to operate at track speed.  This meant
that we exceeded 50 miles per hour at times.  The Pacific is one of my
favorite steam locomotives probably because it reminds me so much of the
locomotives that hauled the commuter trains that my dad would ride home from
work in Chicago.  From the vantage point of the third car, and with an open
platform to sit on, we were able to listen to the locomotive to our hearts
content.

We made several passenger stops along the way, and one lengthy service stop at
West Point, to re-coal the engine.  The train arrived in Montgomery about 70
minutes late, but no one minded.  It had been a great ride.  Everyone loved
it...well almost everyone.  The CSX dispatcher was heard to say "this train
has been a thorn in my side all day".

We walked the block or so to our motel, the Riverfront Inn.  This motel was a
converted WRy of Alabama freight house, and had once been a Sheraton and once
a Clarion and now was a nothing, with good reason.  The rooms were big and
clean, but in my first room the AC was inoperational, and all the rooms were
dark.  During Saturday they checked one of my friends out of his room because
he had taken his bag with him and then gave him a hard time about finding
another room for him!  The food there was mediocre at best, but there was
nothing else to do in downtown Montgomery, and we were warned not to venture
far from the hotel at night.

Saturday was an off-and-on rainy day during which the 290 would be pulling
excursions to a siding called Sprague on the ACL line to Dolthan (route of the
old Floridian).  The F-unit was on the other end of the train, and it would
operate in pull-pull style all day.  A series of five excursions were planned,
and they were all sold out.  My friends and I hoped into a taxi cab to the
airport where we met another member of our group and rented a Mercury Sable
for chasing.  We then spent an enjoyable day taking pictures of the train, and
various freights (in between rainstorms).  The excursions ran progressively
later and later in spite of shortening the trip so that it returned well short
of Sprague.  The last one left after 6pm, when it was supposed to leave at
5pm.  I have no idea when it returned...we were off to dinner at a great
steakhouse called the Green Lantern.  After dinner we started a game of Rail
Baron in my room.  I drew an off-line trip at the start and was never able to
recover.  We've suspended the game until next week, but the handwriting is on
the wall...I have about half the money of the leader and am not likely to win.

Sunday was a really nice day...perhaps the nicest of the weekend.  The train
pulled out at 10am, with us back on the business car.  There had been a cooler
failure on the train and the New Georgia apologized to us about the food.
There were some store bought biscuits with bacon and eggs, sausages, danishes,
fresh fruit, juices, etc. and it was all very good.  No apologies were
necessary.  The return trip ran pretty much as the trip down, with one
exception.  Something had happend to 290 during the excursions (we had heard a
call on the radio to bring a welding truck at one point) and the F-unit did
most of the work.  Not nearly as satisfying in the stack talk department.  We
again made a series of passenger stops, and a service stop, and arrived in
Atlanta about 6:15pm, about 75 minutes late.

We hiked over the MARTA and went out to the airport and rented a car for the
night (split 5 ways it allowed us to stay at a cheaper motel than one with a
free airport shuttle...it also gave us transportation for the evening.)
Anyway, we quickly cleaned up and two of us were dropped at Fulton County
Stadium where seats sixteen rows behind home plate were awaiting us.  We
watched the Braves get trounced by the Cardinals and then were picked up and
taken back to the motel.  While we were at the game, the rest of the crowd
partook of another railfan tradition...a visit to the nearest Steak and Shake.

The next morning one of my friends, who was to be the last to leave, had
shuttle duty.  He dropped me at the airport in plenty of time for my USAir
flight home, and I was back at work by lunchtime.

Next week it's the final leg of the UP3985 excursions started oh so many weeks
ago.  We'll be riding from Little Rock to Kansas City.  More about that (and
perhaps something about the Little Rock minor league game we're attending and
the Kansas City major league game we're attending) when I return.



Chuck Weinstock				weinstock@sei.cmu.edu
Software Engineering Institute		(412) 268-7719
Carnegie Mellon University		(412) 268-5758 (Fax)
Pittsburgh, PA 15213