Flowery Branch, GA 1/7/12: New Year, New Day, and a Great Start

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I know I did- the NS jacket, Yaesu radio, and my brand new Canon Vixia HF R20 camcorder are paying off! My mom offered up the opportunity to go railfanning this morning, and I'm glad I took it. Though I only got to stay out for an hour, I saw some pretty cool stuff in a whole new way. Radford Road being a shot I've gotten twice before, I wanted to start out here. Last year, my first railfanning outing was this same weekend in Flowery Branch, so I figured that I'd start here again.

At about 8:20am, NS 203 called a clear signal at Chicopee, five miles up the tracks. With the tripod leveled and the camera ready, I set up and got ready. While the train came, I watched three Purina employees fix a pipe about 50 feet up at the Purina grain facility just north of the crossing. Hearing 203 call out an approach diverging at Oakwood, I knew I was in for a treat. NS 203 called the diverging approach at Grif and passed by us at 8:25am, dynamic brakes screaming for the upcoming stop at Allen, with GMTX SD60 9037, NS C40-8W 8361, and NS ES40DC 7600 on the point.

As 203 continued to slow, a headlight popped around the corner south of Flowery Branch and a horn blew for the three crossings in town. Here was 212, approaching the stop at Grif before 203's tail end cleared. Getting the clear signal, 212 throttled up and successfully, with the help of 203, blocked all of the crossings in town to avoid the potential of a train-car collision. With some nice toots on a loud K5LAR24, NS SD70M 2639 led NS C40-9W 9655 (displaying fire damage), NS SD70 2563, and another long string of intermodal freight north toward the crew change in Greenville.

This sure was a happy start to a new year, and I really hope this is an omen of what's coming up during 2012!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

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• 203
• 212
• Intermodal
• Freight
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• Meet
• Flowery
• Branch
• Georgia
• GA
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• EMD
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• SD70
• GE
• C40-8W
• Greenville
• District
• Piedmont
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[AMTK510]

Nice K5LA on that SD70.. Good stuff

[trainkid16]

@AMTK510 Thank you!

[SAXRTProductions]

Nothing better than a rolling meet. My compliments to you.

[trainkid16]

@SAXRTProductions No, there's not. Thanks, Sam!

[altoonaPArailfan]

Wow nice double! Good lighting as well with decent consists!

[trainkid16]

@altoonaPArailfan Thanks, it's a beautiful shot in both directions, so it's going to be getting some more attention soon!

[trainkid16]

@RailroadExpeditions Thanks Casey!

[trainkid16]

@steampower2001 Thanks! It was awesome!

[steampower2001]

Great meet Chip!

[RailroadExpeditions]

Great!!!!