Alabama Hot Spot

[edahrenhoerster]

I was recently visiting relatives in Huntsville, Alabama and spent some time at a place that really should be in Kalmbach's Hot Spots book. It is Decatur, Ala., about 20 miles west of Huntsville. To get there exit I-65 on I-565 West. Go over the bridge into Decatur and take the first right at the end on the bridge. At the first traffic light you can either go left 2 blocks then right to the tracks and have a good view of the wye where NS and CSX join or go right to a very pleasant park that has a great view of NS/CSX joint bridge and a local track parallel to the river, as well as tow boat and pleasure craft traffic on the river. The park is very well kept, the people are extremely friendly and there are a couple of nice covered pavillions to shelter from rain or sun. I was there for a little less than 3 hours and saw 14 trains. Definitely worth a little time if you are in the area,

[Anonymous]

MOBILE IS ALSO A GOOD PLACE TO SEE SOME TRAFFIC BNSF,CSX,IC,&NS & ONE OR TWO TIMES A DAY SEE THE ALA STATE DOCK TERMINAL RWY WORK THE CSX YD NEXT TO THE DOCKS A VERY GOOD PLACE TO SEE A LOT OF TRAINS IC RUNS 1 TIME W BND AT NIGHT TO JACKSON MS. AT HATTIESBURG MS AN IC TRAIN FROM JACKSON MS TO MOBILE ALA LEAVES AT SAME TIME BOTH TRAINS MEET AT HATTIESBURG SWITCH CREWS AND DEPART ARRIVING AT DES POINT AROUND 4-5 AM

[Anonymous]

Columbus, Georgia has become a railwatchers paradise for me. It's an active railyard and apparently a changeover point for eastbound freight headed east from Birmingham (Alabama) to Macon (Georgia). I have seen and snapped photos of NS locomotives ranging from some pretty old (but pretty) GP's to a brand new unpainted SD (in primer green). NS has also run BNSF locomotives through here and last weekend I watched a couple of KCS locomotives pulling a west bound freight out of the yard. The AOE has also run through here... and with Fort Benning close by, I have seen several military trains depart through the yard.

The NS folks I have spoken to are very friendly once they figure out I'm not going to trespass (the property is clearly marked) or do something really stupid. They have caused a lot of cops down here (I am a reserve deputy sheriff) to become fans through their Operation Lifesaver program... in fact, there's a couple of us who would really love to take the locomotive ride we were promised but had to decline for other training going on of a more, ahem, official nature.

[Anonymous]

[8D]FLOMATON ALA is a good place to watch trains its on the ALA/FLA
stateline this is where CSX switches off to Pennsicola fla from mobile ALA
north bound to montgomery also run thru here
you can see Western Alabama RWY trains do their switching here for CSX
[8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BREEZE04

[8D]FLOMATON ALA is a good place to watch trains its on the ALA/FLA
stateline this is where CSX switches off to Pennsicola fla from mobile ALA
north bound to montgomery also run thru here
you can see Western Alabama RWY trains do their switching here for CSX
[8D]