The Georgia Railroad - Neglected Roadname

[Anonymous]

This is for any of you folks who have been wishing for Lionel, MTH, Weaver,Williams, or Atlas to model the Roadname "Georgia Railroad". I have been looking for this since I was a kid. I became so excited to see GP 9's modeled after my favorite road by Atlas, but to quickly realize this was in HO scale only. The Georgia Railroad is a classic Dixie line which ran through the heart of Atlanta to Augusta and all points in between up until the 70's. The lines hallmark was beautiful solid black locomotives with a striking contrast of white trim and a bold Red "State of Georgia seal".Check out the HO version, they are beautiful productions by Atlas. I only wi***hey would model this in O scale.

This may sound like a whish list but it has been a source of frustration to me in the hobby. I think this would be well purchased by all the southern modelers.

[phillyreading]

Welcome duamau,

Have you checked around recently, I think that Williams has something in Georgia roadname. If not MTH may have something.

Lee F.

[cnw1995]

Welcome indeed, I know of a few great railroads of a southern theme in some of the smaller scales. There are some great road names that are relatively underrepresented - L&N comes to mind...

[Anonymous]

If all else fails, have an engine custom painted. I did this for the same reason, waiting forever with no results. I found a painter through a dealer and got him a picture of what I wanted. An older but reliable engine I chose and he did a perfect job! Only $50 and I was thrilled and still am today.

[Anonymous]

Some people might be confusing The Central of Georgia with Georgia Railroad. There are two railroads with the name Georgia, and one was was merged into the bigger Southern Railway, so that is what is produced. There are cars for Sandersville and Central of Georgia, but no Georgia Railroad. That is a tough one.

Andrew Falconer

[brianel027]

Think of it this way: even with the majority of modelers living in the northeast section of the US, there are still roads that get passed by in favor of others. With the 7 former northeast lines merged into Conrail - and then Conrail into Norfolk Southern - you might think these two roads would show up on more beginner and starter related products, espeically with the all the desire to see new and younger modelers into the hobby.

Yet the last Lionel affordable Conrail set was in 1993. There's never been an NS affordable starter set and the last CSX one was in 1991.

This is why I have done so much extensive repainting. And you would think that these two major Class A lines would be more represented on traditionally sized products but they are not - except when you visit my layout!!!

[overall]

duamau,

I lived near Atlanta from 1979-1980 and got to ride the Georgia Road mixed train from the Decatur depot over to Social Circle and back. In those days, Georgia Road still had an operator in that depot but they rented out the old freight room to a group of HO modelers who built a layout there. I was in that club while I lived there. Those were great times. I used to ride MARTA past Hulsey yard to get to the depot to work on the layout and saw a lot of Georgia Road and A&WP diesel power there.

As to a GP-9 model, Atlas O produces minority roads from time to time. They might be our best bet. I would love to have one too.

George

As to

[Anonymous]

there is also the Heartland of Georgia Railraod there blue and yellow and at the front they have a picure of a hog loks like the arkansas razorback and says H.O.G under then window i have pictures i can post if u want so there more then just 2 railroads with georgia in the name

[jefelectric]

duamau, Maybe you could get an Atlas dealer in the GA area interested in doing a private run of a Georga engine. Quite a few Atlas dealers do this. AM Hobbies and Norm's O Scale come to mind, but I am sure there are others. I have no idea what the minimum run is but I assume the dealer must put up the cash and hope he sells them.

[Anonymous]

Duamau,I understand your frustration. There are some road names I would like to see also. So what do they do??? they come out with "North Pole Express" I havn't been able to find that road in any of my literary readings. Go figure. Easter

[dwiemer]

Got another Georgia RR., Southwest Georgia Railroad. The owner is my neighbor. They are a shortline that runs west of Macon to Alabama. The colors are blue with a yellow placard with red and black. I can post photos soon, I hope.
Dennis

[Anonymous]

The big reason there are no Georgia Railroad freight cars is the fact that the Locomotives and Rolling Stock have such a basic paint job with very basic lettering.

The big sellers in O Gauge have more color and some hard to duplicate graphics.

This looks like a roadname that can be recreated using Atlas O and TrainMan line Undecorated Diesel-Electric Locomotives and Rolling Stock.

Then you could look through the Lettering by MicroScale or other decal manufacturers.

Weaver Models has a custom painting service as well.

A group of Hobby Shops in Georgia could get together to have custom painted cars made by the manufacturers or by a custom painting and lettering team in the state.

The Grand Rapids & Indiana scheme that was applied in the early 20th Century is similarly a simple paint scheme and a local road in Michigan and Indiana. There was only one O Gauge car mass produced: the TCA Wood Refrigerator Car made by K-Line. It was in PRR colors because it was affiliated with PRR and taken over by PRR .

Andrew Falconer

[Anonymous]

Thank you all to your postings. I have not checked this in a while and was shocked at the number of responses. George, I am very familiar with the Hulsey yard. I went to Georgia State University in Downtown Atlanta and passed it daily on the subway. Do you remember seeing the old passenger cars in the over grown far left field that looked like forgotten soldiers from an early war? As to your train ride, the Georgia Route used to have a run they called “The Athens Supermixed” that combined freight and passenger service from Atlanta to Athens. Typically, the passenger cars road on the tail end of the train. Anyhow, this train carried Georgia Tech fans to and from Athens to Atlanta when the Bulldogs played the Yellowjackets.

Did you further know the Georgia Railroad was in the top 3 or 4 earliest chartered and operated roads in the country. At that time cotton was king and mud holes and wagon wheels did not mix well.

Anyhow, thanks for the postings….