11-05-19 PHOTOS: A-Line Partly Cloudy

Once again it is time for another one of my twice yearly trips to Georgia and back. If you remember last time I was slightly irritated by the addition of private cars to the rear of train 79. The reason it was so irritating was because out of the 4 trips I have taken, that was the only one that had reasonable lighting. Most of the photos on this trip, like the other three where I could take photos, are grainy, dim or blurry because of the overcast weather so I'll be somewhat limited in what I can show. If you are interested in a rather grainy dim survey of the CSX RF&P Sub and A-Line between Fredericksburg and Selma, NC by all means go nuts, but you are probably best off just sticking to the featured pics shown below.

We begin in Baltimore where the new fleet of uninspired looking MP36 locomotives are now making up the majority of what can be seen leading the MARC trainsets.

However a few of the old hands are still poking about as evidenced by GP39-2P #72.

South of Fredericksburg I discovered that CSX has begun to cleanse the remaining RF&P signaling such as this example at HAMILTON. That would have been nice to get in the sunlight.

Waiting in the background for our train to pass was CSX C44-10W #5282.

A CSX high rail track inspection truck was out north of HN tower aka the Doswell Diamond.

 Upon reaching Richmond Staples Mill Road station I encountered the CSX Juice Train passing through GREENDALE interlocking (aka GN tower).

Managed to get some video of the juice train as well as we pulled into the platform.



South of Richmond on the CSX A-Line I got another kick in the gut when I saw that the stretch of track between the James River and Collier Yard south of Petersburg was also getting the old Darth Vader treatment.

Lost in this particiular project are the ACL vintage mast-bracket signals at NORTH COLLIER.

Here is more video of my train overtaking a CSX mixed freight train near TREGO interlocking across the border in North Carolina. Another ES44DC #5295 is on point.



Due to a conflict with the northbound Train 90 at Rocky Mount we were forced onto track 2 at BATTLE interlocking. Unfortunately the Rocky Mount station only has a platform on track #1 forcing a reversing move at CHARLIE BAKER interlocking. A year prior to this our train had to perform a similar "pull-in" move a BATTLE. You'd think they could just install some duckboards at Rocky Mount or something. Anyway, here we see the Medium Clear signal for the reverse move at CLARLIE BAKER interlocking.

Our conductor acting as the eyes for the engineer.

Back on the move south passing the yard tower and employee overpass at the Rocky Mount yard.

Passing some track workers at Contentnea Junction. The original Atlantic Coast Line route went via Wilmington, NC, but competition from the more direct Seaboard "S-Line" forced the construction of a cutoff between here and Pee Dee, SC. Today the cuttoff is the main line and the old main line has been partly abandoned south of Wilmington.

Passengers escape from the triangular island platform to the car park at the recently rehabilitated Salma, NC station. The Palmetto make a stop on the A-Line platform.

Lots of people waiting to board Train 79 at Raleigh. The Carolinian functions as a late afternoon commuter train for folks traveling westbound in the North Carolina corridor. On both this and a subsequent trip an entire car had been reserved by a school group making a field trip to the state capitol.

Amtrak P42DC #23 and Train 79 waiting to depart Greensboro, NC and take the Diverging Clear signals at both EML and POMONA interlockings.

And video of it doing so.



Shortly thereafter Train 76 with F59PHI #1755 arrived on its eastbound run. If the nose looks a little more angular than usual it is because this unit was involved in a grade crossing accident and the rounded fiberglass nosecones are no longer in production so NCDoT just painted the underframe.

Video of #1755 departing Greensboro.



NCDoT uses heritage carbon steel coaches that were part of a Kansas City Southern order in 1964. Here we see the end of Train 76 before it takes the Clear signal at FIELD interlocking on the former Southern H-Line.

After a short 6 hour layover it was time to board the southbound Train 19 with power provided by P42DCs #72 and 65.



Although an hour down departing Greensboro, my Train 19 was on time at Gainesville, GA. Here we see it departing southbound and taking the Approach Diverging signal at MIDLAND.



Hanging out at Gainesville that day was former Contain SD50 #5425.

Standard cab equipped C40-9 #8859.

NS SD40-2 #3423.

And another pair of SD40's over on some yard tracks which consisted of HLCX lease unit #6209 and ex-Southern high nose unit #6203.

Well that's all for my partly cloudy trip down the eastern seaboard. Stay tuned for some more photos around Georgia as well as a another set of two of classic photos.