Last run of the Great Walton Covington Line

On September 30th, 2009 the Great Walton's lease of the former CofG Porterdale - Covington - Machen line expired and all equipment had to be off the line by that date. Me and a few other area railfans gathered to witness the sad events. First we see railroads GP9 and GP10 lugging the last storage cars off the Porterdale branch. Once the cars were passed the interchange switch, we begin the final move backwards as the geeps shove back towards the CSX main. Once on the main the power of CSX's local job A721 backs on and hauls the train out of town for the last time.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Great
• Walton
• Railroad
• train
• Covington
• Georgia
• CSX
• A721
• last
• run
• final
• SD40-2
• SD50-2
• SD50
• EMD
• GP9
• GP10
• 567

[jshrader13]

I'm gonna miss seeing that old Green and Gold 6580. They did a beautiful job repainting that old Geep. I had a buddy of mine in highschool who even worked for the GWRR and got me a ball cap with their logo on it. I know they had to be losing money, but I still hate to see yet another shortline die. :-( Alot of history on that line, dating way back to Southern RWY. I wish I'd known they were having a last run train. I definitely would've been there. So long GW! We'll miss you!

[nikosjk1]

@jshrader13

The Covington branch is done for but the Great Walton isnt, their Monroe branch is still alive and well. I agree though its sad to see the branch go, we have lost so much already as it is, i wish i had been able to get it in action before the last run. The 6580 is definitely the classiest unit the GWRR owns, and hopefully it will still be put to use on occasion on the Monroe Branch. Who's the guy you knew who worked for them? Maybe i know him if he's still working.

[Vanakatherock]

I used to live in Newborn. I'm now in Conyers, and am very familiar with the railroad. The sad part is the rails were barely maintained and they had a lot of trouble keeping the cars on the rails for a while. I do see they want to turn it into a walking trail, I was pulling for the passenger rail transformation.

[nikosjk1]

@Vanakatherock Yes from what i saw the track was in very rough condition, on the 6580 they cut notches in the pilot so it wouldnt hit the rails. i cant see how with one customer and around 30 miles of track they could even be breaking even on it, so its easy to understand why maintenance would be deffered. Personally i think it would make a good excursion run from the mill in Porterdale to Covington or maybe even down to Newborn but i doubt we will see this happen.

[Pellaz2112]

Wow, that's sad.

I just re-read the book Atlas Shrugged, which centers around a railroad and the fight to keep it running -- among other things -- so this hits kinda close to home.

[nikosjk1]

Ive heard thats a good book, i should read it sometime. thanks for the comment.

[pruitt3507]

what did they do with the trains?

[auburn2008db]

I went by there about 2 months before this happened trying to catch the Great Walton in Covington, but was unsuccessful. 

[calebtallent]

Man ive grown up in covington most of my life and i lived in mansfield too,and that railroad was a big inspiration on me because i liked trains so much.that was a big part of my good memories of railroads in my childhood,i just cant believe that this has happened.I remember i would be in mansfield and here the trian coming and we would run down to the tracks and wait for it to come by and the engineer would throw me a blow pop,lol.

[CSX31]

Its the economy

[jshrader13]

The guy I went to school with was Nicholas Peters. I'm pretty sure he said it was his dad who worked part time for them, I wanna say as an accountant or something. I honestly can't remember, cause that was about ten years ago. All I remember about him, from what Nicholas told me, (and this is if I'm remembering right) was that his dad was legally blind, or awful close to it, so they wouldn't let him work out on the rails, but he was supposed to be good with keeping the books.