| By: | Atlanta Rails |
| Dates: | 9/30/2009 - 9/30/2009 |
| Album Info: | September 30th was the last day of Great Walton operation on the Covington Branchline. NS had terminated the lease and September 30th was the deadline for getting all equipment off the branch. NS has no plans for operating the line and it will likely become a bike path, so the Great Walton train will likely be the last to ever ply these rails. The last train only ran from Pace St. to the interchange in Covington but there were still plenty of shots to be had. After pulling the cars stored on the Porterdale Lead, the crew backed the train onto the CSX Georgia Sub mainline, where A721's power backed onto the consist and hauled it to Social Circle for interchange with Great Walton's Monroe Branch. Upon arriving at Social Circle, the A721's power cut off and the two geeps roared off onto the Monroe Branch. Further up the line we witnessed a rare Great Walton meet with the power of a train that was tied down earlier in the day. After the Covington train cleared, the two Monroe branch geeps rumbled out of the siding and followed the train to Monroe. In downtown Monroe the Covington geeps cut off and backed into the siding and the Monroe geeps shoved the cars from the Covington line into storage. The Monroe geeps then proceeded back down to the Monroe storage passing track and stopped. The Covington geeps then came south shortly after and switched out several storage cars from the siding and then took off north to spot a car at a industry. They then returned to pick up a unit from the RailRhodes shop, and then coupled to the rear of the train lead by the Monroe geeps making for a amazing 5 unit consist on the Great Walton! We chased this rare move South to Social Circle where they tied up at the shops. |
