In fact there are two, this being the larger and more southern. And this is the more northern. Though both are withing the Dalton, GA city limits.
It is really a bit deceptive, the yard is CSX and only 5 tracks. Mostly handles covered hoppers and tank cars for the carpet and laminate flooring industry in the area. NS has a similar sized yard and a bids terminal yard a few miles south of this location. What makes this an important and good railfan location is this is where the NS and CSX cross each other. Bother are the Chattanooga to Atlanta main lines. If you look close in the picture, the track that is curving toward the NS train is the CSX main and the diamond is just about under the 4th autorack.
Hank, those are indeed the NS yards there. The CSX yard and NS/CSX diamond where the picture was taken is just a bit north of there (by the Dalton Freight Depot in the google map).
You did good Hank. Within a couple of miles and showed off the other part of the fun to see part of town.
Nice to see these. I have a buddy who lives up that way and he told me that PanAm (or whoever runs the railroad up there these days) recently put up a chain link fence along their ROW in North Adams and it's spoiled a lot of good photo spots.
That is a former Southern passenger car. Just a restored depot that the city has repurposed to a visitors center. This is what their web site says "The Dalton Freight Depot was orginally built as the Southern Railway Freight Depot in 1911. The depot was restored by the city in 2009 and today houses the Dalton Visitor's Center and Gift Shop. Inside, explore display cases on railroad and Civil War history. The Freight Depot is a train fan's delight with a covered viewing platform, an ATCS monitor that allows you to see approaching trains, live audio feed from train radios and live streaming web cam. Watch the dual tracks of the CSX and Norfolk Southern Railroads pass the "Dalton Diamond," a 45-degree rail crossing directly in front of the viewing platform. Adjacent to the depot is the 1949 Southern "Crescent City" Pullman car. This is the place to start your visit to Dalton. Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Sundays." Here is the actual website if you are interested. http://www.exploregeorgia.org/listing/1264-dalton-freight-depot-visitor-center
Found this odd couple today on a SB at Auburn Yard. GP60M/SD75M combo, in BNSF's new standard Orange/Black scheme...... Details....
Git rid of the yellow striping, and you'd have an idea of what a modern Milwaukee Unit would look like, if the Milw was still around.....