Chris Parker and I arose this morning and decided to visit the Café Espresso for breakfast before our third convention trip.
We walked across the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo Choo and found our train had not yet arrived. Today's trips were in two groups. We are Group A, which would ride the TAG line excursion down to Kensington in the morning and then the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in the afternoon. Group B would do the opposite. Our excursion would be over the former rails of the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railroad, now owned by the Chattanooga & Chickamauga Railway.
Passengers waiting for the train to arrive.
Our train reversed into the track at the hotel.
This morning's TAG Line train.
Its consist was GP9L 1829, RDC 22, coach 3203 and RDC 20, all from the TVRM collection.
I boarded RDC 22 and settled in for the trip looking across the parking lot.
We departed a few minutes late and this is looking back towards the hotel.
Building Two, where we were staying. We passed Terminal Tower as we exited the gate from the property.
We were now out along the CSX mainline which we would cross to get to the TAG Line.
Another rail line comes into the junction at 22nd Street.
Lookout Mountain and the route of the Incline Railway.
We turned west and the north end of Lookout Mountain could be seen. Next we went under a bridge which carried the Norfolk Southern main line to Birmingham.
A few minutes later, Rock City could be seen far below.
A field of corn with Lookout Mountain standing behind.
Close-up of Rock City.
Passing an interesting farm.
More of Lookout Mountain.
A factory near Flintstone.
We blocked the traffic as we surprised many motorists who did a double take when they saw our train.
The High Point at the south end of Lookout Mountain, after which we stopped for a photo runby next to a large field.
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum coach 907, ex. Southern Railway 907, nee Central of Georgia Railway 543 built by American Car and Foundry in 1947. It proudly served on the "Nancy Hanks II", a passenger service connecting Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. During this time, the original Nancy Hanks II livery was replaced with Southern Railway's coach Green" or "Pullman No. 4 Green" with block lettering. Ultimately the Southern Railway found the 907 surplus and the car was donated to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in 1982. A few years later, after service with its original electro-mechanical air conditioning, Southern Railway lettering, and other machinery, TVRM rebuilt the car to be "self-sufficient" and was the first coach in TVRM's collection to be so rebuilt, enabling a wider operational area, and no longer limiting which coaches it could run alongside. or what locomotives could pull it. The rebuilt car was turned out in TVRM's Colonial Red Livery, with a refinished grey interior.
This car was one of several "Jim Crow" cars, marked by a central dividing wall. However, with the end of railroad segregation, the wall was dismantled over the winter of 1954-1955, converting it into a standard coach. Its dual restrooms at each end remain as silent witnesses to its segregated past. Of note, these Nancy Hanks II coaches all featured ACF's "Sunliner" lighting set-up, with curtains, and light fixtures mounted across the windows, designed to direct light upwards as if sunlight was always shining down. The Nancy Hanks II was the only trainset to ever be fitted with this technology. Although the fixtures were later relocated to a position above the windows, like standard fluorescent coach lights, they remain in place to this day.
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum RDC-1 22, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 22, exx. Baltimore and Ohio 9922, nee Baltimore and Ohio 1910 built by Budd Company in 1956.
Tennessee Valley GP7L 1829, nee United States Army 1829 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1951.
The reverse move.
Photo runby one, after which the photo line was relocated.
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum RDC-1 20, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 20, exx. Baltimore and Ohio 9920, nee Baltimore and Ohio 1908 built by Budd Company in 1956.
Photo runby two with RDC-1 20 leading.
Our train returning to pick us up.
Everyone was getting ready to reboard.
Some people had a longer walk than others.
The train and Lookout Mountain.
Back on board, another view of the mountain.
The view across a field.
We came upon a horse who must have jumped the fence and injured himself as he was cut by the barbed wire on the fence. He was standing in front of our train, blocking us, and it took almost half an hour to clear him from the tracks so we could continue south.
Part of a Georgia farm.
Milepost 22.
We arrived in Kensington but no one had a switch key so this delayed us another forty five minutes. In addition, the air conditioning gave out in our RDC but the crew managed to get it going again before we left later this morning.
Looking along our train.
The controls in RDC-1 20.
The view from the front door of the RDC.
The RDC eEngineer's view.
A look forward as we waited for the switch key to arrive.
The emblem of the Chattanooga & Chickamauga Railway, a shortline railroad headquartered in LaFayette, Georgia. It operates 54 miles of trackage, all of which is in Georgia, except for one mile in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From Chattanooga and a Norfolk Southern mainline connection at Shipp Yard, the line travels south through Chickamauga, Rock Spring, LaFayette, Trion and Summerville, terminating in Berryton. This route is the northernmost portion of the former Central of Georgia mainline between Chattanooga and Newnan, Georgia. It was leased from successor Norfolk Southern in 1989, a part of its Thoroughbred Shortline Program, to CAGY Industries, former holding company of the Columbus & Greenville Railway in Mississippi. Primary commodities handled are chemicals and plastic products. Locomotives are kept at the yard office in LaFayette.
The railroad previously operated 22 miles of former Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railway ("the TAG route") from Chattanooga south to Kensington, Georgia.
The Chattanooga & Chickamauga Railway pulled us backwards to clear our GP9.
Chattanooga and Chickamauga CF7 103, nee Santa Fe F9A 284L built by Electro-Motive Division in 1956, then cut off as we were now ready to head back to Chattanooga.
Our helpful C&C locomotive.
It was good to be moving again.
I really enjoyed all the views I saw while aboard these trips. That horse managed to delay us again on our northbound return but it was much shorter this time.
Down at the end of the road.
Another crossing different view.
The High Point of Lookout Mountain.
An outstanding view.
I had not expected to see Lookout Mountain so prominently from this train trip.
Rock City, including the flags.
Passing the barn that advertises Rock City.
A look back from whence we came!
Later we went under the Norfolk Southern mainline.
Crossing another rail line.
Curving into Norfolk Southern's Shipps Yard.
Crossing Chattanooga Creek.
Going under the Interstate 24 highway bridge.
Crossing the CSX mainline.
All the way through the junction. We returned to the Chattanooga Choo Choo later than planned, so the ride to TVRM would be a 2:15 PM departure by bus.
One last look at our GP9 that provided the motive power for our excursion.
One last view before I returned to our room, cooled off and changed my shirt for the afternoon event.
