The Last Hot Spot - Folkston

I haven't seen every railfanning hot spot in the country, but I've seen a lot of them.  Nowadays new ones are popping up all the time thanks to the internet and the economic impact of railfan parks.  'Back in the day' parks and platforms were unheard of and now they are all over.  Railroads and law enforcement are a lot touchier about trespassing than they used to be so having a place to sit and not be pestered just makes railfanning easy.

My personal list of railfan parks and places to visit started shrinking fast in the last few years.  I grew up with Sherman Hill and the Moffat Tunnel within easy reach so most western sights were already checked off.  A pair of trips to Altoona in 2002 probably kicked off the list reduction in fine form.  There I took advantage of Gallitzin Park, Cassandra Overlook, Cresson Platform and of course Horseshoe Curve Park.  It was just a lot more fun when you didn't have to watch the signs or look over your shoulder.  Later on other trips I checked out more park settings like Deshler, OH, Rochelle RR Park, and Kansas City Riverwalk.  A H.A.P.T. adventure to Sand Patch filled in some great spots on the old B&O.  Another H.A.P.T. trip to California in 2009 hit spots like Fullerton, Roseville, Cajon Pass, Tehachapi Loop,  Keddie Wye, and a small park at Portola.  Last year though really cleaned house.  Charles Kadyk and I hit Marion, Bellevue, Fostoria, Homewood, Rochelle, Galesburg, found more in Burlington, Keokuk and Fort Madison, IA.  We found perches throughout Nebraska including Grand Island and North Platte.  We even found a new park in Pacific, MO and a very hospitable town with street running in LaGrange, KY.  The final crowns were The Elkorn Inn in WV on the old N&W and a stop by the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke. 

There simply weren't many other big name places on my personal list, except for Folkston.  Sure I'd go back to any of those on my list but this was the only personal 'biggie' left.  I'll continue to fill in new places but I feel like I've reached some sort of completion level thanks to a road trip to Florida.  It didn't hurt that I hit my 48th of the contiguous states a few miles down the road when I continued on to Florida.

The park at Folkston is suitably located south of a junction which 'funnels' nearly all north-south traffic destined for Florida by the platform.   The platform is located on the east side of the tracks and is a good viewing point for most of the day.  The intense sun began to drive me out around 6pm.    Humidity was the only real annoyance.  Ceiling fans really made a difference with the abundant shade at the platform.  Trains were abundant too.  A scanner provided a good deal of info and a track chart was posted.  You can see from the photos that the platform itself is pretty well situated and well furnished.  They even have a permanent rest room building. 

On my visit, I saw plenty of trains.  It was a Dash 8 haven mostly.  But, I saw other oddities like the GP30 slug and a rebuilt SD40-3.  The Tropicana train and Amtrak get through here too, but I didn't see them in my 6 hour stay.  The heat slowed my activity so I didn't have the drive to visit the museum across the tracks.  They had a small covered picnic table and a long porch but it was too sunny while I was there.  They would have been good perches if I'd stayed overnight.  A local fan group apparently is working on the caboose as a clubhouse.  Some guys with clipboards were chatting with them just before I left.  Might have been a permitting process tour of some kind. 

I really enjoyed the visit.  There were various local visitors and railfans from the region to chat with from time to time.  Some cloud cover made movement tolerable and those glorious ceiling fans really made the visit comfortable.  Even though I'm not much of a CSX fan, the number of trains and the SCL heritage overwhelmed that bias. 

 BC

Montauk Branch revisited

During a recent visit to my parents on Long Island, I had occasion to stop off at the Babylon station on a summer Saturday around mid day. Babylon is the end of the electric MU district on the Montauk Branch; passengers for points further east transfer to diesel trains.  Back in the day, mid-day locals were met by the "Scoot" which shuttled eastward between Babylon and Patchouge which was essentially the east end of the commuter district.  East of Patchouge the line continues another 50 miles to Montauk, but was (and is) lightly traveled other than during the summer season when New Yorkers all head to the Hamptons.  Up until the late 1970's LIRR ran actual named varnish (Montauk Cannonball, Sundowner, Weekend Chief) complete with heavyweight parlor cars and open end observation cars for the east end summer trade.

When I was a kid the Scoot was typically an RS-3 and two random coaches, except during the summer when the train could really swell up as it made stops in Bayshore, Brightwaters and Islip, all south shore towns that had ferry service to the Fire Island beaches. Then it was often a C-420 and as many as 8-10 cars!   Here's a 1970's 6 car summer scoot at Bayshore, just east of Babylon

and here's a Montauk express led by an FA-1 converted to push-pull cab car

Okay here's the 2013 edition of the same service at Babylon, awaiting the MU train from Penn Station, with a diesel on either end.  These are EMD DE-somethings, basically LIRR-only budget F-59s designed for low clearances.  No more parlor cars or Alcos...

the MU connection from Penn Station rolls in from the west. Pennsy heritage lives on in the form of position light signals

conductors shepherd aboard the last of the transferring beach goers and highball the engineer

 and away they go!

the final act was a westbound local for Penn Station running with a set of M-1 "relics". I remember when these replaced the owl-eye PRR MP-54's and MP-72!!

old and new MU's share the lay-up yard just east of the station

Ocala Findings

While there isn't much to report here, because I mostly got skunked, I did find an interesting tidbit or two.  Ocala sports a nice depot at the diamond where the old ACL and Seaboard crossed each other.  The ACL line is now run by Pinsly's Florida Northern, and the Seaboard is now the "S" line of CSX and will soon be the primary CSX line to the southern part of the state.  The CSX "A" line (old ACL main) was recently sold to provide a state run passenger line. 

Amtrak remnant.  Only a bus connection now.

Bus and cab terminal on the ACL side.

Looking toward the diamond on the ACL side.

Sign at FN office in Williston.

The Florida Northern provided most of the  skunkage.  I heard them switching on the scanner but was never where I needed to be to actually see them.  A local fan told me I just missed them but I was not able to find them amongst the industries they were serving.  Osceola Street downtown also features street running which they apparently did the day before too.  This is over the diamond and a few blocks into town.  I saw a CF-7 in the yard off in the distance a few blocks the other way but it wasn't visible enough to shoot a photo.  I did get a photo of one of their signs in Williston and that is their interchange to the right of the CSX train below in Ocala. Apparently the two lines don't connect.  Williston is on a line that serves a power plant well north of Ocala and FN provides the local switching while CSX sends in unit coal trains with CSX power.  Map here.

Aside from the boo-hoo stories, I did see a northbound CSX pass through minutes after my first trip to the depot.  I had my 'throwdown' camera and was in a hurry so it's better than nothing.  The next thing was the feature of the covered platforms still in place.  They are curved on the SAL side.  Apparently the bus lines use the ACL side and Amtrak used to use the SAL side.  Other than some leftover Amtrak signs, the bus connection is the only reason the full sign still has reason to exist.

FN crosses over the CSX rails!  No cuts.

The coolest find I had seen but didn't recognize until the local fan pointed it out.  That is the FN crossing; it goes over the CSX rails.  No cuts in the CSX rails.  Look carefully.  I'd heard of these but never recognized one before.  I certainly didn't know I was looking at one the day before so I may have seen a hundred and not known it.  The wide girder structure would give it away.  Something odd about it caused me to photograph it. 


It's only some odds and ends this time.  I still have to type up a visit to the platform at Folkston, GA.  That provided a bit more action.

BC