CSX
Tallahassee Subdivision
Locals
M742
This is by far the busiest train on the subdivision. It often
does not come back with the same crew.
Industries:
Greenville: Georgia Pacific lumber plant, GPSX flat cars for
lumber; Interchange with the Live Oak Perry & South Georgia for the
paper mill in Foley, flat cars for lumber, woodchippers and box cars; The
interchange track was pulled in the Spring of 2002. All the traffic to
Foley is now handled from Thomasville by CSX and from Adel by Railnet (former
G&O).
Madison: Lumber yard: GILX flat cars; Meat packing plant
Ellaville: Florida Power gas power plant has a long spur from
the main line. The long back move is done with a caboose. Tank cars.
Live Oak: Grain elevator which has its own grain train. A GE
70 ton switches the covered hoppers at the plant. Fertilizer distributor:
covered hoppers with dry rock from New Wales. Lumber yard.
Chaires siding, Fl; December 1999.
It has been a cold night with temperatures falling below freezing.
Not cold enough to kill the weeds barely phased by the chill in the air.
M742, victim of the law on the day before, sat all night and a good portion
of the morning in the siding. The caboose is used to back the train into
the Suwannee River power plant West of Live Oak to exchange the tank cars
of natural gas seen ahead of the caboose. The thin sheet of ice that covered
the cold steel of the empty tank cars is finally melting under the rays
of the morning sun.
Aucilla, Fl; April 2000.
After a long night of hard work, the first crew handed the train to
a second crew. The conductor of the Maintenance of Way train is troubled
when the dispatcher asks him to go in the hole in Aucilla for M742:
-We all know what is coming when all the trains along the main are
asked to go in the hole! It muuuust beeee the Live Oak turn!
The train has an empty lumber car probably from Madison (why would
it be empty??? bad order?), a string of loaded lumber from Greenville and
2 fertilizer hoppers from Live Oak.
Tallahassee (CSX B yard), Fl; January 2001.
Another rare site on the Tallahassee locals: a pair of GP40s will handle
M742 tomorrow morning. The train is generally hidden behind other strings
of cars. The yard is suprisingly empty as the sun sets behind a white haze.
The train has 2 fertilizer hoppers for Live Oak, and a string of lumber
cars for Madison.
Tallahassee, Fl; April 2002.
After a long day on the road, M742 climbs its last hill of the day
toward the Magnolia overpass only 2 hours away from the law. In the lead
is 5959, the ex-Conrail engine now in fresh YN2, that was shoving M740
in Quincy in December 1999!!!
The short cut lumber is from Madison.
Tallahassee, Fl; May 2002.
Once again, I catch M742 after work at the Amtrak depot barely beating
the law.
