That lead SD40-2 may be 'foreign', but it is a much more common sight in these parts than the home road unit behind it - one of CSX's much-loved BQ23-7s.

SCL, L&N and Western Railway of Alabama - The Family Lines - initiated two pairs of run-through trains in 1973. One pair - 215/216 - ran between Hamlet and NOLA. The first couple years of operat... (more)

Back in the day, the procedure for Southern and Western Railway of Alabama trains passing through Opelika included a full stop at the crossing of the two lines. After a crew member ascertained th... (more)

Southern had a big fleet of GP35s, mostly numbered in the 2600s and 2700s, with all but two in that series riding on AAR Type B trucks. There were also 5 or 6 GP35s that were bought and sublettere... (more)

Southern' ex-CofG Birmingham-Columbus, GA main was loaded up with GP38s and GP38-2s in the early 1970s when I first started hanging around the tracks. Other models showed up regularly, but the bo... (more)

A westbound Southern train heads through the Western Railway of Alabama crossing as SCL Hamlet-NOLA run-through train - with an unusual-for-this-train SD35 leading - waits. That GP9 in the lead o... (more)

GP30s lead a westbound around the big curve at First Avenue. Think the MofW guys missed those little trailers when the companies started putting them up in hotels/motels?

In 1973, you rarely had to wait long to see railroad action in Opelika. There were lots of local rail customers, Southern and Western Railway of Alabama interchanged daily, and a Southern branch ... (more)

CSX freight passes behind the largest textile mill in Opelika. A major source of jobs and city revenue for decades, it doesn't have much of a future, even in 1987. I do not think anything remain... (more)

Crew members grabbed Cokes from the machine in the depot before starting their work on the Western Railway of Alabama interchange. This scene is so reduced, simplified and sterilized in 2021 that... (more)

The Lafayette turn has just left the former CofG branch and is running on rights toward Opelika via CSX. Won't be long until NS spins this line off and it becomes the Pine Belt Southern.

The grade out of Opelika may be imperceptible to the naked eye but, believe me, it's tough. Four old geeps and a newer GP40 on train 208 are proving that to the doubters. The driver of that Econ... (more)

Today's 45 - the westbound long-range local - is a big one, so three units have been assigned, including 2656, a GP30 that following a wreck was rebuilt to GP30 mechanical standards, but with a sp... (more)

After a painfully slow trip down the decrepit former Southern/CofG from Lafayette, the Pine Belt Southern crew waits for the go-ahead from CSX to run a couple miles down their former WofA main int... (more)

Southern 2544 leads five more GP30s, plus a GP35 and a GP38 on an eastbound train.