Excellent video and chase. That was like stepping back in time with all the vintage EMD Power. Looks like the track and track bed is in need of some Major upgrades. Keep up the Great work. Stay Safe. Can't wait till next video. Excellent as always. 😎✌👍😎
Great video, brought back some memories from the middle of 1970 when the "J" 654 was brand new. I was a brand new brakeman for the "J" when we got that first shipment of SD38's. Spent many hours working with the "54" then later with the rest of the SD38-2's when we got those. Watching the trains rock like they did was a reminder of what they did in a couple of the foreign lines yards when we delivered and they would rock all the way to the stops and it sounded like the wheels were lifting off the rails, stuff was flying around the engine like, coffee cups, thermoses, bodies and the like. I laugh now but a couple of times it scared the bejeebers out of the crew. Keep the great videos coming, I really enjoy your channel. Living in the Gainesville area like I do I may some day run into you out there.
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing your memories with us. I can imagine that all this shaking is not pleasant for the crews and that it can be scary at times. I sometimes go to Lula for watching NS Piedmont trains.
So relaxing to watch when listening to the stick rails clickty clack on those Short line tracks. Another amazing video my friend! Thanks for sharing with us. :) Stay well.
Well, maybe I can go there another day. But the setup was almost perfect on that day. To see these three trains with three different "historic" leaders was amazing.
It's incredible a locomotive, which was built in 1957, can lead a train in 2020. But the most surprising thing is, despite their age, the old girls are not smoking that much. All four vintage engines are awesome. The ex EJE SD38 is pretty far from her original home. I really enjoyed this video, it's always good to see rarities here. Thanks a lot for this terrific update. :)
Yes, I fully agree. Mechanically, they seem to be in good shape; I wish the same could be said about the livery. Anyway, these were awesome catches. Good you enjoyed the video!
Hard to believe by the look that they still work, but they get the job done! I wish the railroad would pay some more attention to the appearance of these historical pieces.
Hi MB thanks for this video. I could not believe how much rocking back and forth the engines in this video were doing. I hope all is well with you MB happy you could get out and take some videos
Thank you! The day started somewhat rainy, but then it cleared up - right in time for "The J" lead that train back south. I agree, it looks so beautiful.
Nice video sir!! Cool shots and catches sir!! Keep up the fantastic work sir it’s awesome!! Great catch imma assume that’s pretty rare to see all of that!! Keep up the fantastic work sir!!
I know. I'm very happy we got to see three of these unit lead different trains on the same day. It was an extremely interesting day and great fun! There's actually a sequel to that from the same day as hinted to by the teaser at the end. Really something to look forward to... :)
It’s pretty incredible how the filmer is able to get so many interesting trains on! Over here in Holland the trains are all passenger that are really evident. The freight trains are kept a little hidden. But public train use is real common here until corona virus. I am sure it will be back to normal in the near future if they let go of the virus.
I'm fairly familiar with European railroads and have to agree. It's more interesting to watch trains over here. Passenger trains get a bit boring as they all look the same and there aren't many freight trains anymore in Europe. In contrast, these long freight trains and their impressive massive power consists we get to see here are simply amazing and fun to watch.
Had to make time to watch this but it was well worth it! That was a lot of fun. Would've loved to hear the story behind the derailed hoppers. In my opinion, (and I may have shared this with you), short-line and yard switching railroading is the meat and potatoes of the industry. The grunt work, if you will. That's no slight on any other kind of railroading mind you, especially MOW. Speaking of MOW, the rocking and rolling at the beginning I bet made things interesting for the crew, but I know for them it must've been business as usual. Great video as always my friend.
Yes, I know. But since there aren't many customers to serve and thus they run only a few trains each week, railfanning a short line is really a challenge. It was very nice it worked that day. Good you enjoyed the video!
I love this video this is stuff you see on a day. The only Shortline I see Georgia Florida Railway. That was cool. The ex cr and the sd38 was the the best part of the video and that sd7 or 9. But that was cool
What did they do with the other two engines? From the way they were swaying about there, I think I'd want to stand a little bit further back as tthey came past. It looks like he has his right turn signal on 11:55.
I don't actually know. They just left them in Toccoa for some reason, which was good, otherwise we wouldn't have seen the Conrail geep leading the interchange train. I only noticed how much the trains swayed when I edited the video footage! While filming I have to keep my eyes at the camcorder's small display and I didn't actually see it.
The part I like most of the video was the E.J.E. Elgin Joliet & Eastern. Which is now a fallen flag. I’m from the suburbs of Chicago. Before Canadian national took over the EJE it was a fun Rail Road to Rail fan on.
Yea, this engine was actually the major reason for the visit to the line. I wanted to get nice footage as long as it still looks decent. It was a treat to see it leaving the southbound train in perfect light.
Love your channel. I lived in Elkhart, In. and I thought your overland route series was great. I have a question for you? Has there been a video done on which engine is better the EMD SD70ACE or GE tier 4 , 4400 series? The new EMD’s are beasts. Great design, powerful upon first glance, but are they.? The GE’s ,on the other hand, are tried, tested, and respected I’d like to hear your opinion. A good friend of mine works for NS as an engineer out of Fort Wayne Indiana and swears by the EMD’s. Just a thought.
Thanks so much, I really appreciate you like watching the videos here. Because of the ongoing virus crisis I'm still undecided whether or not to make a major summer trip. So I've stayed on home terrain most of the time. Visiting the Hartwell line has been on my list for a long time anyway. I couldn't believe it would work out that well. - Unfortunately, it will be difficult for anyone to answer your question, because there are so few SD70ACe-T4s out there and there's hardly any comparative performance statistics available. EMD was late in introducing a Tier 4 engine and when it finally did, GE had already saturated the market with the ET44s, which as you said, are based on a proven concept. I know from a former CSX mechanical engineer working in a major shop that there have been significant reliability issues even with the SD70ACe. In fact, I noticed that BNSF almost never makes an SD70ACe lead their priority trains. So when railroaders hail EMD, then it's mostly for the SD40-2s, which have been solid and versatile workhorses for decades, and the geeps used nowadays for smaller jobs. In the high-horsepower segment, GE (now Wabtec) units rule, without any doubt.
HRT #654 is now out in one of Canadian National’s Chicago yards. Not sure if it’s on lease to them or they bought it. But I see it pulling switching duties with a couple GEEPs.
@@mbmars01 Is there any rhyme or reason to their operations? I've heard their crew just goes to wherever the train was left the previous shift and gets to work
I don't know, but this sounds about right. Also, this company operates the Athens Line, so they go back and forth. The footage in this video was filmed on a Tuesday between 7am and noon, but this was in May 2020.
Since I'm quite possibly the only transgender railfan here the logo HRT has special significance to me,love the short lines,I miss the Boyne City railroad,it was the last short line that was in close proximity to my home,it closed around 1980,it had a 65 ton GE loco.with two 350 hp prime movers,and a British tank engine an 0-6-0t and 2 British passeger cars that ran excursions in winter to the ski lodge of Boyne Mountain Resort.The shortline was 7 miles long and connected to the Penn/Central rail line in Boyne Falls,Michigan.
I don't know if you're the only one :) It actually doesn't matter, because everyone's welcome here except those with radical and racist views. It's a funny coincidence with that abbreviation (frankly, I had to look it up). Short lines are fun, no doubt, but they are difficult to railfan unless one is familiar with their schedules. I think it was just an amazing day, with a lot of luck included.
@@mbmars01 Well I was a personal friend of the engineer and conductor and sometimes they'd let me ride in the cab,but I had to keep my hands in my pockets so to speak or on a hand rail,wobbly track.
Nice video with the old units. Fun to see that kind of power still working. What was hanging from the front end of that first hopper on the return trip?
MB if you're ever able to go up to Hickory North Carolina you need to check out the Caldwell County Railroad because they use to GP 16 locomotives that have been kept in Family Lines paint
You can see some of the Southern lettering showing through the paint on the right side of the ex NS unit. The old tuxedo paint scheme is still under all that black paint. I went to college at UGA ~10 years ago and did a lot of riding around up in this part of the state. The thing that always stuck out to me on this line was how many old sidings there were to businesses not used anymore. And the chip mill that doesn’t use rail anymore and Columbia Farms moved to Comer. This railroad has lost a lot of business over the last 10-20 years and really hasn’t added much new business to replace it. I wonder how long they can hold on. It was interesting they rebuilt the connection to CSX at Elberton with a small yard, but it’s all basically cut off because of the storage cars on the southern part of the line.
Absolutely, but it's the same story almost everywhere. Railroads are inflexible to regain or gain new customers. Their business models are focused on short-term return and this is not the ideal way to create new business and please potential customers. I was very much surprised when CSX and HRT restored their link in Elberton, but as you said, this hasn't had much effect by now. I wonder if HRT speculates there will be more bridge traffic between CSX and NS in the future, but I wonder where this should come from.
All I know is that they do not work every day. This was filmed on a Tuesday. So this is a good day to catch some action. But all this can change as business demands change all the time.
Aside from the fact that I work on the Athens Line Railroad. I know that the Hartwell railroad runs about 3-4 out of 7 days. Mostly weekdays during midday. It depends on the demands of the industries we serve, as @mbmars01 said, but that's a rough schedule.
They have an old R,f &P unit in Hartwell. Just sitting near the depot. I posted a very short video on it a while back. They also have an sd7 near bowersville at the old shop. And somewhere that yellow and black gp38 that used to be an MKT unit. Also those hoppers that were derailed have been there for at least 2 years now.
I’ve heard rumors that they’re redoing the depot in Hartwell. And rebuilding the turntable to possibly have a passenger service. We will see what comes of this though
@@RailroadJourneys It depends on how much money we have and if TORCH (The UGA program) can keep up their side of the deal for the park. Passenger service is still being debated, but it's possible if we can find the extra funding.
You know rail scapes trains and travel actually was able to ride in the cab of the locomotives on this Railroad back in 2008 and 9 there are videos of it on his channel
That's the rolling museum as my friend calls it. I caught their SB run from Toccoa a few years ago. Chased them to the bowersville mill. Did you know they have an operation in Athens GA also? Out near Commerce, they have an IC unit that still has the IC numbering and the death star on the nose. I don't have any idea when that one operates, it's an as needed thing I think.
Yes, I know these 9 miles of the Athens Line. There are only a few customers so it's not easy to catch them doing any work. Most of the time the engines are parked at a place called Center. I took some pictures of them a couple weeks ago.
NS runs to the Commerce Toyota distribution center with car carriers so if the Athens line has freight, I would think that they pick it up there and spot it at their customers going on into Athens. Is this the same line that goes on to Watkinsville?(the kitty's pal)
8396 (The IC Unit) is the locomotive I run occasionally if Jim isn't in charge. We run the line About 2-3times a week depending on what needs to be done.
@@fayeharris7391 That is spot on. We usually collect a large set of 15-20 cars before heading for commerce, dropping it off, picking up the new cars, and heading back to Athens GA. And yes, this is the same line that goes to Watkinsville GA, down to Bishop and on to Madison GA (Though the final 18 miles are abandoned for now).
@@itzzheniahere6824 Any chance of rebuilding and opening the line back to Madison. Hasn't most or all of the line past Bishop been removed? How many or often does Bishop see a train?(the kitty's pal from Ga) Has any thought been given to offering excursions on these rails from Athens to Commerce and/or to Bishop or any part thereof for rail fans in the area?
I have heard that Mr. B. R. Anderson has sold HTR to Genesee and Western. I don't think he would have let the HRT get that bad. At one time he was replacing the rails with welded.
I don't have any information about selling HRT to G&W. As much as I appreciate G&W saving many short lines, I don't like that they repaint the historic equipment in their corporate colors (which aren't bad I should say, but I've already seen enough of it lol).
The G&W Do not own our railroad, nor has Bennie ever thought about selling it to them. This railroad is practically a family company, and selling it off to a corporate owner who will deface every locomotive, isn't what he would ever want.
Too bad they couldn't purchase an old Wisconsin Central Ltd. locomotive for this line. There certainly is very very few of these left since the Canadian National purchase of this railroad!
Video molto interessante per i locomotori ma la sicurezza della linea è scarsa vero che ad un certo punto c'era dei carri deragliati grazie per i locomotori
![[7b][4k] Heritage Railroad: Trains on the Hartwell Railroad, Bowersville - Toccoa, GA 05/12/2020](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
