[75][4k] In the Funnel! CSX Trains in Folkston, GA 10/14/2019 

Thanks! Yep, I have observed that, too.

Thanks! Well, traffic through Folkston is not what it was before CSX's PSR changes, but it's still one of the hottest places to watch CSX action in Georgia.

Lol, many thanks! I'm glad you have fun watching the videos :)

@@mbmars01 Yes indeed.

Only the occasionally attached SDs and GPs still have standard cabs. With some luck one can still find them, but it's true they are rare nowadays. Thanks!

I would railfan much more often there if I lived closer. It's a great place. Thanks, great you enjoyed the video!

Yeah, it was yet another train that railfans liked to see and that's gone. During my last visit to Folkston in Summer '21 it was still a good place to watch trains, but train frequency was down to 50% or so of what it used to be.

Many thanks!

Well, thanks so much for your kind post!

And I even shortened it for the video. It had at least 170 cars and it took 10 minutes to roll by my location lol. Great you like the video!

@@mbmars01 waw thats allot.

Thanks! I'm glad you did :)

Thank you, good you enjoyed it!

Thank you!

Thanks!

It's a PSR local. Lol. A764 is actually mostly just the old Q455 that ran to Taft yard in Orlando. The autoracks are for TDI in Jax and some go to Taft.

Thanks, Joe!

Due to the Howard st. Tunnel in Baltimore, they have to be single stacks.

Thanks Casey thanks for the info I appreciate it

Cool, many thanks. This A train is impressive. I'm not too familiar with the CSX trains in the south, but I didn't expect to see that.

@@mbmars01 A794 is another of my favorites. Often a pair of SD40-3's for power, and sometimes coming back North the train length/weight seems to be about all they can handle. Love hearing them pretty much all out on their way up the very slight incline into Folkston.

I can imagine they, must sound great.

Thanks, Jacob! That's great. By now you must have seen 8101 more often than I ever did :)

Folkston is always fun. I wish I lived closer.

Not in summertime. Yeah the days are longer but it’s hot and muggy.

Thanks! You're right, I always keep forgetting that this is still part of Florida :P

Many thanks! I love watching Australian trains. When I visited Melbourne in 2010, I chose my hotel with view to the main station. It was fun to see the trains from that bird's perspective! Unfortunately, this was before I started making videos. I only have photos.

Well, it's still fun to see these unique reefers. Who knows, maybe the juice trains come back one day. Everything may change, but people will still drink orange juice from Florida lol.

@@mbmars01 Yep! That they will.

Lol, exactly. It was surprising. He wasn't really fast, but it took about 10 minutes for him to go by (I cut it shorter in the video to avoid it getting boring). Thanks!

@@mbmars01 You're very welcome.

Land must be flat out there. No way a train that will up and down hills without braking a knuckle. Only two engines, crazy.

@Vondrey McClurkin Land is indeed flat in South Georgia and Florida, but I also found two engines underpowered for that train.

Right, they had done maintenance before. Unfortunately, the Sperry car didn't move while I was there, but I've already shown it "in action" in several of my Abbeville Sub videos.

No, other railroads also put engines in the middle of a train.

Thanks so much! Lol, no problem :)

Thank you!

Yea, it's worth a visit!

Definitely worth a visit. There is literally trackside lodging and a hotel maybe 10 minutes up the road if you don't want all the noise. Not too far from JAX airport either (roughly 40-45 minutes) if you are an out-of-towner.

Thanks!

Danke sehr! Schoen, dass es Dir gefaellt :)

That's a Sperry track inspection car. It's equipped with sensors and used to detect flaws in the rails.

These so-called DPUs (distributed power units) are controlled from the lead locomotive by radio.

One of his first videos...

Nope! If you scroll down on my main page, under "Great Railfanning Spots", there is a little playlist from Folkston. This here is actually the third video from there.

im just saying it's the first time i saw a folkston video uploaded since ive only been subbed for like 2 months

Gotcha. Welcome to the channel!

Thank you! I didn't pay to much attention to it, but you're right, no EMD this time.

This is just the road number of the locomotive. It is not related to the age of it .

It is! No, it was the third visit. The earlier videos are in the Folkston playlist (in the Great Railfanning Spots section).

I have no records of the engines I've ever seen.

I have and I also saw 969 with K5HLA

That's fine, too. That's how CSX calls them. Technically, they are heavier versions of ET44ACs with enhanced traction control if I remember correctly. Well, no-one knows what change is for good and what is temporary in railroading. If it would make economic sense again, they might reinstate the unit juice trains one day.

@@mbmars01 alright

Don't bet on seeing a unit juice train. At least not as long as James Foote is the CEO.

Well, Waycross - Baldwin is a actually more than just "local." I believe, in the course of the PSR changes, CSX has expanded the use of the A symbols, which used to be reserved for truly local trains in the greater Atlanta area (serving industries in the surroundings of a yard) only.

@@mbmars01 I miss seeing those really long trains, I live in Pensacola, where CSX ends and The New Florida Gulf And Atlantic Railroad starts.

I understand it, but Pensacola is an interesting interchange point between these two railroads now, isn't it?

@@mbmars01 I don't get to see Florida Gulf And Atlantic Railroad Trains that much, they don't even have any engines in the Rail USA paint scheme yet here in Pensacola. The only mainline trains that come to Pensacola anymore is M705 and M706, those are Mobile Alabama to Pensacola, and Pensacola to Mobile Alabama, daily trains. And the local M733 that works a couple plants in the local area. I don't know much about the other railroad schedule.

Ah okay. Would be nice to catch an FGA train, though.

Lol, nice! Well, I guess, it's more economic in these days to include the Tropicana cars in manifest trains than running "unit juice trains". In contrast to typical unit trains, the juice cars in unit trains would still have to be distributed to various destinations - which is what mixed freight trains are for. Another factor sure is the competition by trucking. Trucks can go anywhere easily, trains cannot. Also, modern reefers don't require special treatment anymore. They can be included in any train. In the old days, when the juice and fruit trains were introduced, reefers needed to be iced or at least maintained in the yards.

I think when Tropicana ran on the hotshot piggybacks like Q031 and Q032 it slowed them down. Plus the reefers were handled several times. Q046 to Jax then Q032 to Jersey then picked up by Q410 and dropped off. Seems to make more sense to run it right out of Tampa to Waycross on Q442 and then put the blocks on the corresponding manifest trains to Selkirk, Memphis, and Cincinnati. Q455 also handles the Tropicana traffic to and from the FEC

We used to run them to jax on Q740/741 (now abolished) and they been running on Q045/Q046 tampa to jax/jax to tampa but a few months ago seems like they stopped and now put it on the tampa to waycross trains. Doesn't make much sense when both intermodal and juice go to jax and 441/442 go to waycross. although I heard rumors about 045/046 moving to winter haven which I don't know how true that would be considering the UPS that is on those trains (hottest trains in central florida).

@@csxfloridafunnelrailfan3065 So maybe they drop New Orleans reefers in Balwin to connect with Q180?

@@HotRodJax Q179 and Q180 haven't run between Jax and new Orleans for a couple years now. All the Tropicana traffic out of Florida runs to Waycross now.

They sure do, but UP operates at the limit as well. Actually, it's not necessarily wrong. I know that some railroads including CSX use dedicated software to calculate the needed horsepower and traction and the optimal DPU locations. To save fuel and maintenance costs is not a bad idea. It does not only save money for the railroad, but it's also better for our environment.

Do you mean the number at the end of the train symbol? This is indeed the day of the month when the train departed at its origin.

Lol

Thanks :)

Actually, on the Abbeville Sub the AC44s are quite abundant. For "bumpy" lines, AC traction is favored over DC and that's why we see a lot more AC power than DC power here. The same applies to DPUs. Most engine types I can tell, but I typically look them up to be sure. UP is the hardest, because they have always had all kinds of modifications on their engines.

@@mbmars01 that's right, they do. the ones I can't easily tell apart are the AC44CW's, CW44AC's, and CW44A"H". also the GP40/50/30 or whatever. I know the for the ES40/44DC I have to know which numbers from 5200 to 5501 are ES44DC's and which ones are ES40DC's. I know the 700-900 something are ES44AC-H's as well as 3000- 3200 (not 100% accurate)

Check the webpages of thedieselshop or bullsheet. They have more or less complete and up-to-date information about the current CSX roster.

thanks for the info, it's probably better than raiilroad picture archives

... which is also a quite valuable resource of information!

You should do it. Folkston is still a great spot for railfanning CSX. I wish I could go there more often, but it's 5 hours from where I live...

If you don't mind flying, it is roughly 40-45 minutes north of Jacksonville. Fly into Jacksonville airport and rent a car. There are lodging options in the area if you don't want to make that long drive every day.

Well, there is no actual juice train anymore. If you see Tropicana cars going through Ashland, it's likely they came from or go to Florida, though. Thanks!

yes Tropicana..once a day..there is a live cam by VRF on yt

Right, there might actually still be something like a more local juice train in that area, but it doesn't come all the way from Florida (anymore).

its a very long manifest with some Tropicana cars...same as in your video..i dont know from where he comes and where he goes...im not often at the ashlandcam...they talked about that train in the chat

Ah, gotcha.

There are Amtrak trains (or at least one) in my older Folkston videos. Honestly, I'm happy if Amtrak trains are not close, because they always tend to delay the (for me) more interesting freight trains.

@@mbmars01 Amtrak's to me are blessings in disguise outside of NEC. Usually once an Amtrak gets through that means means more trains are behind it.

A railfan's life is hard... :)

Why not whats wrong with them

@@aircraftsandtrains2309 They're annoying, they're everywhere, and they sound like trash

Nah I think actual horns make it more realistic