Homecoming Day – Part 2 of 4, Alabama Along the NS

[Jimbaux is finding a way to leave this wasted life behind him.]

Go Unnoticed . . .

The last time I drove across the central portion of the state of Alabama, which was in the summer of 2010, not only did I not get off of I-20, but I did not even stop anywhere in the state, succeeding in getting from Georgia to Mississippi without refueling.  However, the last time before that that I drove across the state, in April 2009, I did get out in several places and take pictures, and the Seether album from which today’s song comes was playing constantly in my truck.  I had plenty of reason then, as I have since then, to ponder how much of life has been wasted, but it is not necessary to think that way; in fact, such is indeed a “waste”ful way of thinking, isn’t it?  When I was driving westbound across Alabama in 2009, I was thinking of a woman from the year before as well as the visit to Aunt Vivian that I just had, how they were related, and how it all related to today’s song.

I Feel Disdain, Just Like You Do, I Feel Decay . . .

(You’re not listening to today’s song?)  To be sure, most reassuringly, of all of my recent drives across the state of Alabama in the last few years, I was comforted with a greater sense of hope and optimism on this day than I ever had been.  Isn’t it wonderful?

The Crescent Corridor

In all of Jimbaux’s drives across the state of Alabama in the last few years, however, none of them have included the section between Chattanooga and Birmingham.  Although I traveled that section by bus twice in 2009, this is relatively new territory for Jimbaux, who normally went east to Atlanta (or west from it.)

As it is, we will see mostly train pictures in this episode, just like last time, and just like last time, they’ll basically all be on the Norfolk Southern Railway.  Even those of you without a real interest in railroads may have heard about NS’s “Crescent Corridor” since it was announced in 2007 (I think), probably from NS’s own public relations department.

Back in the 1990s, as a punk little teenager, I remember reading a column in Trains magazine from regular columnist Don Philips about what he called the most underutilized mainline in the United States.  This was, of course, before the Conrail split, meaning that what is today the Crescent Corridor was just a linear collection of mainlines owned by two separate railroads, the part north of Hagerstown, Maryland, belonging to Conrail and the remainder belonging to NS.  Now that NS owns it all, and as I-81, as Philips complained back then, is still full of trucks, NS can make this dream into a reality.

The Crescent Corridor should not be confused with the route of the Crescent passenger train, which originated with NS’s predecessor, the Southern Railway, though the route is the same from New Orleans to Birmingham.  From Birmingham, the main part of the Crescent Corridor goes northeastward to Chattanooga, Knoxville, Bristol, Front Royal, Hagerstown, Philadelphia, and the New York Metropolitan area and northern New Jersey.  Conversely, today’s Crescent passenger train leaves Birmingham on a route that is considered secondary in the Crescent Corridor (because NS track on this line only go as far north as Washington, DC) and goes east-northeast to Atlanta, then into South Carolina and North Carolina, and then to Washington, DC, where it then gets on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the former Pennsylvania Railway, via Baltimore, Wilmington, and then to Philadelphia and New Jersey and New York.  That route is considered a secondary part of the NS’s Crescent Corridor, particularly according to this map.

Get To The Pictures Already!

Okay, okay!  Look, I did warn you, didn’t I, that out of the four posts of pictures from this day, that these would be the least impressive?

Anyway, by the time I got into Alabama after passing through the few miles of Georgia through which I-59 passes, I gleefully set the clock in my truck back to Central Time (albeit DST, which I absolutely hate.)

I Was Really Tired

Not very far into Alabama, I pulled off of I-59 for two reasons.  I wanted to leisurely take the old highway, US 11, and I needed something to pep me up badly as I could feel myself fading away.  In the two nights that preceded this, I may have slept a total of six hours, but probably not even that much.  I found a convenience store and found one of those canned Starbucks coffee-energy drinks and a Skor bar, both of which really helped.

I saw that NS had a small yard it Attalla, along with some railroad crossing it.  So, I got out and got some pictures.

Check out the caboose!  Below is a wider view from the same spot as above, this one showing the yard office and a signal platform.

What’s the story behind this line that crosses the NS here?  Maps show both a shortline and CSX nearby, but the track seems not fit for fast and heavy trains.

Below, we see a few from a little farther to the left, which shows some of the second locomotive behind the first one.

That second unit was a high-nosed EMD, which is what had initially caught my eye from the highway to the right!

Am I In England Again?

Earlier, I had seen a sign with a reference to garbage using a word for garbage that I don’t ever recall seeing used in the United States.  It reminded me of being in England.  I decided I’d stay on US 11 until I found another one of those signs and shoot a picture of it.

Thanks, Alabama.  I keep saying I won’t give away parts of the story for the rest of the day until you see those posts, but when I entered the state of Mississippi later that day, I did grin when I saw a sign that prohibited throwing “garbage” on the highway.

A Truck In The Grass

Not long after that, I got gasoline and then got back on I-59 before entering Birmingham.  Before that, I got these two pictures.

Here I present a contrast between a cloudy day shot and a sunny day shot.

Make what you will of that.

Back To Boligee!

In April 2009, I did stop in Boligee, and I was happy to be back now!  Boligee is nothing but a dusty ghost town.  So, what’s the big deal about it?  It’s where the NS and the Alabama Gulf Coast Railway, the former BN and Frisco line to Pensacola, cross.

I saw what I thought was a train heading south on the Alabama Gulf Coast Railway, and I went down on found the nearest crossing.  I shot this picture because of the history that it showed.

Check out the mark of “BNSF” lettering that you see behind the AGR markings on the crossing box.  Subsequent research indicated that it wasn’t until 1997 that the AGR started.  That makes the BNSF markings on the box somewhat surprising because it means that it must have been applied there only in the first year of BNSF’s existence.

I can only wonder, too, if more port traffic comes into Pensacola with the opening of the new Panama Canal in 2014, will the BNSF try to reacquire this line?

Just (Almost) Like Last Time!

The time in April 2009 when I stopped in Boligee, I got there just ahead of the westbound NS local, and I got to shoot it from the overpass just east of the diamond.  Just like last time, the local was here when I was, but unlike last time, he beat me there.  Here he is setting out cars on the AGR mainline.

So, from where do those mileposts start?  Memphis seems much too close, and I don’t think that St. Louis is 700 miles away, is it?

The shots I got here in 2009 were much better than that.  Oh, and the number NS 5509 seems really familiar; I likely have photographed or have at least seen the locomotive in New Orleans.

The Happiest I’ve Ever Been To See Armour Yellow

Further along, we’re not very far from Mississippi now, and as I arrived in York, comint indicated that a meet was about to take places, perhaps a four-train meet.  After Union Pacific took over and swallowed my beloved Southern Pacific Railway, the railroad of my youth, and it became so enormous that I called it the “Ubiquitous Pacific,” I really didn’t care much for Armour Yellow.  However, after a six month absence of not only the railroad but also its more sensible way of naming trains, I was thrilled to see this!

It was early afternoon, and the train is coming out of the sunlight here, which prompted me to go greyscale and remove the sky from the shot.  So much for being excited about Armour Yellow, eh?

To be sure, sigh, this is NS train 22E, a maritime intermodal train that originated in Long Beach, California, and is bound for Atlanta.  It’s name on the UP is ITINSX-18, as it was an extra train originating in Terminal Island (in Long Beach) on the 18th of July, but I don’t know what its KCS symbol was.  In any case, here you see continued evidence of the success of KCS’s Meridian Speedway, of which NS now owns 30%.

Alabama Is Crossed

At 14:52, not long after this picture was taken, I exited the state of Alabama, having enjoyed myself tremendously more than my previous three visits there!

Like I said, this is the weakest of the four posts that comprise Jimbaux’s homecoming day.  Stay tuned for better material in Parts 3 and 4!

Thanks.

Jimbaux