Georgia Magazine - August 2010 - (Page 22)

On the right track Train-watching in Georgia BY RANDY SOUTHERLAND fanatical. “Railfans,” as they’re called, travel across the country to find a good location for viewing their favorite engines. “A lot of people like the sights and Above top: A wide variety of trains pass through Folkston sounds,” says Dalton nearly every day. Inset: Located at a rail junction of CSX lines resident Jim Baird, a in Manchester, this platform is ideal for viewing the rail action. former conductor at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Mu- aboard a boxcar and heading to new seum in Chattanooga, Tenn. “If and unimagined places. “You wonder when you see you’ve ever been close to one [a train] them, where are they going and working hard, it’s quite an experience. When I was 7 years old, my where they came from,” he muses. Dalton evokes many such parents took me on a train ride thoughts, as it’s the only place outbetween Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., for my birthday. That’s what side Atlanta where two different rail started it all. In fact, I still have the lines (CSX and Norfolk-Southern) converge and run side by side. newspaper clipping from it.” “We’ve got 70 or 80 Watching the trains go by can [trains], depending on seaalso elicit romantic son, coming through in a notions of climbing 24-hour period,” says Brett Huske, director of Dalton’s Virtually every freight train from the Convention and Visitors Bureau, whose office, along with a eastern U.S. comes through Folkston on small rail museum, occuits way to Florida … pies the depot and gives him a clear view of the passing parade. If you like watching trains, Georgia offers a variety of locations. Trains go through big cities and small towns alike. Atlanta and many other communities owe their very existence to the railroad. Austell, Blue Ridge, Cartersville, Cordele, Macon, Marietta, Savannah and a host of other cities are great train-viewing Train enthusiasts gather in Folkston for Rail Watch, an annual event that takes place the first locations. Most of these places aren’t Saturday in April. 22 More online at www.georgiamagazine.org GEORGIA MAGAZINE ou can’t imagine how loud and powerful a locomotive can be until you watch it thundering past so close you can just about reach out and touch it. It inspires an almost primal feeling as the mammoth piece of metal and its stream of clattering freight and tanker cars pass the viewing platform in the North Georgia city of Dalton. Today, a small crowd of men has gathered in front of the city’s 1914era depot downtown. A couple of them hastily ready cameras mounted on tripods, while others listen to scanners to monitor conversations between conductors and dispatchers. Within minutes, the long train has passed by, leaving these viewers smiling and waiting for the next one. The romantic era of train travel may be long gone, but for a loyal cadre of hobbyists, trains still evoke a passion that sometimes borders on OKEFENOKEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MANCHESTER DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Y OKEFENOKEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - August 2010

Georgia Magazine - August 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Festival Guide
Currents
Warner Robins Hits a Home Run
More Little League Action
For the Birds
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot
Additional Snapshot Photos
Bonus Recipe of the Month

Georgia Magazine - August 2010