It's easy to forget that MARTA is a thing that exists. The last large heavy rail system to be stood up in North America, MARTA takes after the DC Metro with a bit more transit mojo. For my first ever trip to downtown Atlanta I wasn't about to pass up riding as much of MARTA as I could and I prioritized the east-west Blue/Green line over two mornings with a final trip to the airport on a third day. You can find the full set of photos here.
Starting service in 1979, MARTA currently operates with three batches of railcars. The initial batch of 120 cars from Société Franco-Belge in 1979, a follow-up batch of 120 cars from actual Hitachi in 1982 and a final batch of 100 cars from Breda in 1999. Here Hitachi car #257 arrives at Peachtree Center on the Red/Yellow line. Note the exposed bedrock which makes the area above suitable for building skyscrapers.
The four color services runs on two main trunk lines, Red/Yellow going North-South and Blue/Green going East-West. The two trunks meet at the Five Points station, which I think is a legacy title from referring to an unbuilt 5th MARTA line that would have also served the station.
With new vehicles from Stadler already on order, I was eager to ride the most vulnerable Société Franco-Belge cars. I got my wish with #188 on a Green Line routing. The interior has a style very similar to the contemporary Budd UTV seen in Baltimore and Miami. Most notable is the deep cab area that creates a tunnel effect when halfed mid-train.
Bankhead is the Green Line's only unique station with a two car platform that make it the limiting factor on Green Line operations. As one might suspect this was the remnant of a northwestern line that was never build with Bankhead itself opening in 1992 to make use of the junction and righto of way that was built in 1979. Today the Green Line provides supplementary service on the Blue Line between MLK and Bankhead. Here Franco-Belge married pair 188-187 is seen at the platform and reversing direction on the tail track.
The Blue Line's western terminus is the Hamilton E. Holmes Station, which is not named directly for the civil rights leader, but an adjacent arterial roadway named in honor of the civil rights leader after his death in 1995. Prior to that the station was named Hightower, I assume after the famed law enforcement officer. Here we see MARTA car, #699, adjacent to fellow Breda car #676 at the Hamilton E. Holmes Station platform in addition to the #699 departing eastbound.
Here is Hitatchi car #279 arriving at Hamilton E. Holmes. You can still see that hint of 1970's styling that would vanish with the 1999 Breda order.
More MARTA action in the form of Franco-Belge car #151 at Five Points and Hitachi car #219 at Peachtree.
The Hitachi cars, like #236 seen here, had a shallowed cab-end tunnel and a similar beige interior with explicitly 80's two tone plastic bucket seats.
The Avondale station was the East-West line's original 1979 terminus with the main tracks proceeding directly into the yard. When the line was extended to a park-n-ride on Atlanta's perimeter beltway the tracks has to be built on flyovers over the yard. Here we see the Breda trainset with #676 at the station platform with Franco-Belge car #147 on the yard lead with its ends open. Something may have been the matter with the #676 train as we crossed over the wrong railed to the Indian Creek terminal.
Opened in 1992 and seemingly refreshed somewhat recently, Indian Creek serves a function similar to the DC Metro's Greenbelt, a large Park-N-Ride with direct highway access. Here we see the gorgeous station concourse along with Hitachi car #286.
On my way back from Indian Creek I got this photo of part of the Avondale Yard. Avondale, GA is best known for being home to the first ever Waffle House restaurant.
As you may have noticed the car end views are all pretty reasonable. Here is a through-end photo of Hitachi car #265 near the Georgia State station.
The East-West line was built alongside the CSX Abbeville Sub with views of the now defunct Hulsey Intermodal Terminal. From the train I managed to catch CSX ET44AC #3265 and C40-10W #5435 with a manifest freight in the Hulsey Yard area.
Hitachi car #219 at Five Points and a Franco-Belge car from above at Peachtree.
Heading to the airport here is the cab and interior of penultimate Breda car #701. If you thought that #699 should have been the ultimate car on a 100-car order, the numbering started at #601 and pair 655/666 was skipped due to the association with Satan.
Hitachi car #276 arrived at the track opposite just before #701 departed.
Arguably the busiest airport in the world, the MARTA Hartsfield-Jackson Airport station features a staffed 4-bay ticket window to help travelers purchase a Breeze Card. Due to open payment and a general upgrade, the Breeze Card was to be phased out in 2026.
That concludes my first trip to downtown Atlanta. Next week I'll be heading back down to Tidewater Virginia, but I suspect I'll be returning to Atlanta again.
Finding new rail things to do for my annual trips to Georgia has become a real struggle as rear placed baggage cars prevent generating content en-route and I have also covered most rail locations of interest within casual driving distance of my friend. For the 2024 visit I used what might have been an otherwise inconvenient knitting group meeting to perform a walking tour of the old Seaboard Coast Line station in Athens, GA. Combined with the typical Washington, DC power changes, Greensboro, NC layover and waiting three hours at Gainesville, GA for the midnight train going Anywhere (station code ANY?), I managed to collect enough content ( mirror ) for an engaging post.
Because Amtrak Carolinian Train 79 does not stop at BWI, I must start my trips with a short hop on MARC to Washington Union Station. Today my mid-morning train seemed to be a B&O set with single level cab car #7761 eventually leading the consist into Washington track #7, the non-electrified, lowest numbered station track typically reserved for Camden and Brunswick line trains. Split level Bombardier cab cars #8047 and #8053 were on the adjacent tracks 8 and 9.
Train 79 arrived behind ACS-86 #664, which was swapped out for P42DC #94.
The next I saw of #94 was during the smoking stop at Richmond Virginia RF&P Station. These engines might be going on 25 years old, but they are currently more reliable than their Siemens Charger replacements.
CSX SD40-2 #8232, SD40-2 #8253 and GP38-2 #2645 were hanging out in Richmond's Acca Yard that day.
Arriving roughly on time at Greensboro I managed to exit the station and run up to the Elm St grade crossing before #94 and T79 departed.
The former Sothern Railway 1899 Greensboro Depot and later Eastern Division HQ appears to have been sold by NS for redevelopment. Meanwhile, Train 79 was being shown an uncommon R/R/G Diverging Clear signal indication for a slower, but not necessary slow speed, secondary route through ELM interlocking.
After last call I caught the tail end of a southbound NS intermodal train at the same Elm St crossing.
That nights southbound Crescent Train 19 was roughly on time with a pair of new ALC-42 Chargers, #343 and #321.
After somehow managing to avoid a Charger breakdown, Train 19 dropped me at Gainesville and proceeded through MIDLAND interlocking on a Diverging Clear signal indication.
The Seaboard Coast Line's Athens Georgia station currently serves as a CSX MoW base for the Abbeville Sub. Athens is home to the University of Georgia and the station probably had more than its fair share of passenger traffic back in the day.
Some nice touches include "Seaboard" cast into the concrete of the road underpass and "Athens" spelled out in white painted concrete letters.
There was a Southern RR station right nearby with some of the track still in place, but I'll have to visit that next time.
Fast forward to Sunday night and I was back at the Amtrak/Southern/NS Gainesville station waiting for the midnight departure. The train used to arrive a bit after 9pm, but three hours of padding was added to the schedule south of Atlanta to help improve on time performance. As was typical a pair of engines, ET44 #3654 and SD40-2 #3379, were tied down at the station for switching the New Holland yard.
As with past years a cut of road power was also present, likely having delivered a regional manifest freight to the local yard from the Atlanta hub. These included ET44 #3661, ES44AC #8128 and ES44 #8007.
Before my northbound Crescent Train 20 arrived with P42DC's #144 and #45, I was treated to a northbound manifest freight with SD60E's #6999 and #6932 and a southbound manifest with a pair of AC44C6M's taking a Diverging Clear signal at MIDLAND interlocking for a move from track 1 to track 2.
Train 20 and engine #144 getting a re-crew at Charlottesville.
After arriving at Washington DC I headed up to watch the power change. A RailVac unit was sitting on the still unfinished Track 22.
While waiting for #144 and #45 to come off T20, Capitol Limited Train 30 arrived with a somewhat shabby P40DC #817. When the passengers were off, the short Train 30 set was shoved towards Ivy City Yard by #817, before Train 20's P42DC's #144 and #45 are pulled off to be replaced by ACS-86 #668. Just after #668 coupled, an afternoon VRE trainset arrives from the yard with MP36PH-3C # V64 leading and gallery cab car #V723 on the rear.
After that concluded a light engine move including Amtrak P42DC's #128 and #79 coupled ahead of MARCC MP36PH-3C #19 and #17, and SC44 #85.
Also on the MARC front, MP36PH-3C #31 was pulling out with a Penn Line train while #15 sat ready to go all while VRE MP36PH-3C #V59 was pulling into a low level berth.
Well that's all for my 2024 Georgia trip, I'll be back next time with a West Jersey Chapter NRHS sponsored trip to Long Branch, NJ via Rahway.
