Yeah, however it was getting a good workout that particular day. We were shuffling the museum collection at the storage yard to pull some cars out to work on and forward on to other places. One of these days we will get track put in so we can move everything to our new museum location in Tomball, Texas. https://www.kingswayrc.com/gcst/
They're going to do some long term get serious work based on seeing what I assume are a dorm car and a kitchen car.
Give a railfan an inch and they'll take a yard. CSX Needmore Rd, Dayton, OH north throat South throat NS Moraine north South
All those S curves in those yards are totally unacceptable. They would have gotten a "NO!" in the old MR's. Doug
Taken by a friend a few weeks ago, a Meridian & Bigbee freight arrives in Montgomery, AL with power in abundance.
Trying to recall history of the M&B. It was once the M&B River. But a short line? Did they add some track?
Yes. Helpful. The page seems a bit incomplete, as to present day operations. But that site often has shortcomings, errors, etc.
Also from the way-back machine, an eastbound coal bucket nears Tunnel 1's west portal sometime during 2004-2005:
The M&B has a long history reaching back into the 1860s. The line was built in increments east and west in AL and MS under numerous owners. Papermaker James River Corp. bought the road in about 1960 to support its new paper mill, then sold it in 2005 to regional operator Genesee & Wyoming. (Happily, the paper mill continues to operate today under ownership of Georgia Pacific.) When I lived in Montgomery in the mid-80s, fans and I thought the M&B should acquire two underused lines via Selma, AL (ex-L&N and WRofA) to access Montgomery and expand its horizons. This was eventually done and my friend's photo vividly illustrates the road's success. I have some M&B images on 35mm slides …. but no scanner to copy them.
I had a feeling, from the photo, it illustrated something of this nature. I wonder what a before and after system map might show us?
The traditional as-we-knew-it (pre-G&W) M&B operated 51 Miles of road between Meridian, MS in the west and Myrtlewood, AL in the east. Their acquisition to the east of a former L&N line between Myrtlewood and Selma, and a former WRofA line between Selma and Burkville, AL added another 100 miles of line, with everything pretty much remaining on an east <=> west axis. Today's M&B takes to CSX rails at Burkville to gain the last ~25 miles east to Montgomery. Nice to see another regional rail success story.
Ken, I often see M&B power when I go through Meridian on the Crescent. M&B uses a combined NS, KCS, M&B yard south of the NS main across from the Meridian station, then crosses the NS main to head north. One southbound Crescent I rode was held for over 20 minutes by a northbound M&B train that was given the diamond just before we requested it. Though I wouldn't have put the dirty deed past NS dispatching because we already were 3-4 hours down just from Atlanta continuously giving way to freight traffic.
