I'm planning a road trip for later this summer following the old Atlantic Coast Line main from Tampa to Richmond. Stops will include Charleston, Rocky Mount & Richmond. Any advice on must-see railfanning spots around those locations?
Thanks,
Danny Harmon
Tampa
Danny, if you're willing to go just a little north of Richmond Doswell is a great spot. There's a diamond there and you'll see CSX, Amtrak,Auto train, and the Buckingham Branch railroad, usually switching for the interchange. Also north of Richmond, by about 10 miles is Ashland, where the CSX main rolls through the center of town. The Selma Smithfield station is good spot also, with a diamond for NS crossing into Goldsboro. The Silver Star breaks off the main there and while heading south, heads west toward Raleigh. The NS line sees about 8 freights a day. I recently railfanned around the Fayetteville station. It's nice and open and to my surprise, there was an Aberdeen and Rockfish geep working a nearby yard. Dillon station is OK. I went north of there a bit to the east west crossover to Hamlet. It was interesting, but not a great place to hang out and wait for a train. I've never been hastled at any of these locales. In fact, at Selma Smithfield there was a rather large, pleasant, southern gent, in a lounge chair taking in the action. We chatted. Turns out he was a retired sheriff, who worked in the area.
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