North Georgia “C-Line” NS 600 Coal Drag

[NSSpike]

Friday evening February 13 on the scanner, I heard NS 600 request from the North Atlanta dispatcher a TW from Green at the MP 92.1H to Cedartown on the "C-Line". Saturday morning I did some checking around and a crew was called for 10am to take the train south to Georgia Power Plant Wansley just south of Carrollton Georgia. Today's 57 mile one way trip has for power NS 1115, NS 9896 and NS 8109 in DPU and will include a total of four track warrants as local NS G66 is out and about on the "C-Line" as well, working between Carrollton and the East End storage tracks in Bremen. In the photo below to the left is the Cedartown depot and the track with the derails is where the "Pusher" units use to be stored back a few years ago. Now all SB loaded coal drags run with DPU units applied.


NS 600 on the main line as the conductor is busy releasing hand brakes on the head end loaded cars.


By 11am the NS 600 begins its trip south on the "C-Line" and having received a "proceed on approach" signal at MP C352.1 it will cross over the CSXT just south of the depot. In years past the CSXT controlled this automatic interlocking, however it is now controlled by the NS North Atlanta dispatcher


Just shortly past noon the NS 600 runs over the Tallapoosa River Bridge at MP C336.6 after having climbed up the 1.22% grade up Dugdown Mountain.


By now local G66 has come into the picture and is working the storage tracks off the East End main line in Bremen. What to do? Continue following the NS 600 south into North Bremen or go after the NS 3510. Turns out the G66 ran north out of Carrollton to Bremen long hood forward and I missed its run off the south connector to the East End main line. But I did manage get a few photos. G66 moves west on the Bremen storage track #1. The track in the center is the Alabama East End main line looking east. The track to the right in this photo is the south connector off the East End main line to the "C-Line"


Below the NS 3510 couples up to a cut of cars it will take south down the "C-Line" It will continue shoving west out onto the East End main line, then head back east to the south connector.


NS G66 Carrollton / Bremen local off the south connector to the "C-Line" will go into the short passing siding  at the tank farm just south of Bremen so NS 600 can head south through Carrollton to Wansley Jct.


Some two and a half hours after departing Cedartown, and after G66 clears up with the Atlanta North End dispatcher and getting a TW to proceed to Wansley Jct. as well as permission from the Birmingham East End dispatcher, the NS 1115 finally rolls south over the Bremen diamond and heads toward Carrollton. It will be close to five hours before this coal drag operating as NS601 will be heading back north up the "C-Line" to Cedartown. A crew change there will continue north to Green and on to Chattanooga TN.


Currently there are two NS train sets providing coal to Plant Wansley with coal from from Illinois and Indiana mines.

[Backyard]

  Thanks for covering this area and the Appalachian coal trains that serve the Georgia Power plants there. There seem to be some new numbers for the trains there, I remember NS 706. Do you have any new information?

[NSSpike]

Allen, Sorry for the delay in responding to your inquiry on coal drags down the C-Line in west Georgia. Yes back in the day there were a number of coal drags operating on the C-Line to the two power plants south of Carrollton Georgia. Train ID's to Plant Wansley were: 74E 702 712 724 792. The 74E was coal from mines in Alabama the others were all eastern coal with the 792 being Illinois coal.  As for plant Yates ID's were: 706 726 all eastern coal. Today, it appears that only a 600 train operates to plant Wansley and as a rule it originates at the Galatia Mine in Illinois. Routed through Memphis / Chattanooga.   I have also heard some coal may be coming from Indiana? Yet to confirm that.  The good news is that we continue to see limestone trains heading into Wansley so they continue to burn coal and natural gas.

Below photo is NS 69W rolling over the diamond at Bremen with about 70 GLIX loads of limestone that is used in a slurry that the coal exhaust runs through to reduce SO2 emissions. Ends up as Gypsum


GLIX Georgia Limestone hoppers

[NSSpike]

Today's 600 Coal Drag
NS600 (Gallatin Mine IL - GP Wansley ) South Bremen Georgia

[Backyard]

  Thanks for the update, I have  noticed a large building at Plant Hammond, (Krannert) for limestone storage, seen on Google Earth.