This is one neat place! I went down there twice this week. It's about a two hour drive for me, but it was worth it both times!
The first time I went without a scanner, after reading that the platform had a scanner you could listen in on. Well, when I got down there, I found the electricity at the platform had been turned off. According to a local, the city doesn't like paying the $19/mo electric bill to run the scanner and the lights on the platform. I got there around 3pm last Saturday afternoon. I wasn't expecting to see alot, being a Saturday, but I did see about 6 trains in a two hour time span. Most of the train crews seem to be very aware of the railfans in the area, so they try to accomodate us by blowing their horns as they pass the platform, waving, and not seeming to mind if you park and watch from the roadways. My wife wasn't as into it as I thought she'd be, so we left early, but in the two hours, I saw two intermodals, an autorack, and three mixed freights with varying motive power, including CSX, BNSF, NS, and even a UP unit on one of the trains.
The second time I went down was Wednesday morning. I arrived at about 4:45am, thinking I'd catch the early morning traffic out of Atlanta. This time I brought my brand new Pro-84 scanner, with a replacement antenna (RadioShack p/n 20-034) for better reception. After doing a search through the railroad frequencies, I found that 161.100 (AAR Channel 66) is the channel used when coming through Manchester. I won't run down all the details of each train, but between 4:45am and 11:30am, I saw a total of 10 trains, averaging about 1 every 25-30mins, coming from every direction. I even got a chance to listen in and watch the local train crew start up, hook up, and head out for a local industry pickup run, and bring the cars back a few hours later, finishing up by sorting them in the Manchester Yard.
All in all, I give this place a definite two thumbs up! If you ever have a chance to go visit, it's worth the drive! My next trip out of town will hopefully be Folkston, when I can come up with an excuse to drive 6 hours south of Atlanta for some trains! LOL
Happy Railfanning, and Stay Safe!
Jeremy