A Tale of the Georgia Mixed

Monday, August 11, 2008

While this might be a bit more nostalgia than rail advocacy, it won’t hurt for our younger fighters to learn what America once had and might indeed need again.

Back in the ‘80s, the Amtrak Timetable still had a section of connecting or other services. This once was where the Southern Railway’s Crescent, Piedmont, Asheville and Lynchburg services, the Rock Island’s Peoria and Quad Cities Rockets and D & RGW Western services resided.

Knowing that it would likely soon disappear, I wanted to ride the Georgia Mixed from Augusta through Social Circle to Atlanta.

I wish I had time and money to have ridden the other services—Macon-Camack, Barnett-Washington, Athens-Union Point—but life moves on.

It seems the Georgia Railroad received a tax break if they maintained passenger service, so they hauled a boarded up passenger car behind their freights and allowed the public to buy tickets. In practice, I learned, you were offered the opportunity to ride in the caboose instead of the stifling or freezing coach.

The week before this odyssey, I called the Georgia Railroad to see how it worked I was politely told in a classic southern dialect that I was welcome to come down, but to be aware that the trains ran on a “leisurely” schedule. For instance, while the schedule called for an 8 or 8:30 departure, it was 11 AM And “We ain’t left yet!”

I booked a seat on the Silver Star to Columbia, wandered about town and departed on a Greyhound to Augusta in the wee hours of the morning.

Arriving early, I found a cab and went to Harrisonville Yard of the GA RR.

The departure being delayed as predicted, I was advised to take some nourishment along.

I called another cab, went to a 7-Eleven and bought a cooler, ice, Cokes and snacks.

Back at the yard, I was invited to the caboose and never even looked into the decrepit passenger car with unpainted plywood panels instead of window glass.

We finally got under way with 4 locomotives that I never saw because we had 133 cars.

I soon learned the powerful blows of slack runout and other things the professional railroader copes with daily.

We set out and picked up cars along the way.

I think it was at Social Circle, but it might have been one of the above mentioned points, that my conductor and guide led me to an old wooden- floored country store where we bought apples, bananas and a sandwich to go.

At 10 PM or so, we arrived at Decatur, GA and I was informed that the crew had “died” on the hours of service rule.

I was left with the whole train under my “command” while we awaited a taxi to bring the new crew and my conductor and the voices I had become used to by radio went their ways.

The new conductor boarded and we were soon underway to Atlanta.

As we approached Hulsey Yard, the new conductor asked me where I was going, the hour now being 11 PM or so.

I replied that I had a hotel room and wanted to get near MARTA.

He said he did not have a radio, but that we were coming near a parallel MARTA line and station.

He asked if I had ever jumped off a moving train as he had no way to signal the engineer.

I replied that I had (I will reveal that tale in a subsequent article and the danger, caveats and apologies to rail advocacy to go with it).

I donated my cooler to the railroad crews, handed my bag to my new conductor and, in my safest and most professional form, followed his detraining with the correct foot first that would throw one away from the train in case of tripping.

It was very dark. I was told I had done the jump like a professional and that I was always welcome to come back and buy a ticket on the Georgia Mixed!

He directed me to an iron walkway over the Georgia yard to the MARTA station.

Alas, the service soon went away and the only remnant left are the lyrics to a great Hank Williams tune: “They took me off the Georgia Main and locked to a ball and chain...”

--Jim Churchill
NARP Vice President

Posted by NARP

Tags: amtrak, churchill, georgia mixed, georgia railroad, greyhound, marta, mixed trains, silver star,

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