Railfanning Roadtrip Florida: Folkston Railwatch, CSX, NS, BNSF, UP, FEC, KCS & CRGX 4/4 to 4/7/19

Featured in 1080p HD: 60FPS It's another mini vacation trip to be remembered, as me and three other friends take a railfan trip of enjoyment to the compounds of northeastern, southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida. You wouldn't want to miss this 3 hour extravaganza, featuring some of the best areas a railfan could ask for, for this region of the US. CSX, Norfolk Southern and the Florida East Coast gave us an exciting show of Class 1 & Regional railroading, at it's best. Monster freights, highballin' Geeps and diamond pounding music can all be seen. We spent two nights in Jacksonville, FL then followed up with the annual "Folkston Railwatch" event featuring hundreds of railfans from nationwide, congregating to this hotspot heaven, for CSX. We begin the journey along the NS Piedmont Division's Greenville District, in the Gainesville area, to catch NS 211 with a very rare sight of a SD40E leading two BNSF GEs. Catching a SD40E leading a mainline train is hard enough, but leading a HOT piggyback train (away from helper service on the Pittsburgh Line) is almost unheard of. A special bonus is the catch of the newly rebuilt Cargill (CRGX) SD20 sitting out along the sidings in Gainesville. We also paced 211 at 60MPH along Buford Hwy. in Doraville. Next, we make our way south along NS's Atlanta South District, hitting spots around Jenkinsburg and eventually making our next pit stop in Macon, GA. After picking up the 4th rider in Statesboro, we finally arrive at 12AM on the 5th into Jacksonville. The next morning, Friday April 5th, we head out along the Florida East Coast mainline, hitting up the areas of St. Augustine, Palm Coast, Bunnell and Ormond/Daytona Beach. We caught FEC trains 226, 210, 905, 101 & 107. The 905 was the biggest highlight, as we chased it through almost all of these locations, and we even paced it running about 60MPH north toward Jacksonville. GP40-2 438 was in charge of the 905, and the crew gave us a lovely show of what railroading is all about. 107 was our return chaser south, as we paced it going 60MPH, as well. The mainline trains were all powered by ES44C4/LNG Tender sets. On Saturday, April 6th, it's time to head for "Railwatch." We begin in FEC's Bowden Yard in Jacksonville, FL, as several GP40-2s are seen, in all various paint schemes, including 510, the last of the candy cane striped units. CSX brought in an interchange powered by a lone SD40-3. Making our way north, we run into NS 209 powered by all BNSF GEs. Once reaching CSX territory, we stumbled upon a parade of trains, A794 with a SD40-2/SD40-3 pair, a monster Q441, a Q037 with Tropicana reefers, and a monster 12,500 foot Q032 with a 1x1 mid train dpu setup. Moving up to Hilliard, we are once again pleased to catch Q026 with another 2x1 mid train DPU setup, also a 10k foot monster. Once reaching Folkston, action intensified again. Q025 was a 1x1 rear dpu setup, rolling meet with Amtrak Silver Meteor 98. The Amtrak Auto Train 52 also made a end of day appearance. The night ends with a monster size Q603, but that won't be the only night time highlight. The last day, Sunday, April 7th, we conclude the Railwatch event with more CSX extravaganza. A monster M705 and M706 counterparts both make appearances, and a monster 213 car long Q604 runs with twin CSX AC4400CWs 401 & 402. The highlight from CSX would later come to K423-04, sporting a BNSF H2 SD70MAC 8961 leading a BNSF ES44C4 and CSX yn3b SD40-3 all online. The set would be chased through Racepond, Folkston, Callahan and Crawford Diamonds. The action increases dramatically at Crawford, featuring another all BNSF powered NS 209, Q238 with a clean Yn3b AC4400CW 499 leading and NS 229, one of the hottest NS trains on the system, powered by duo NS ES44ACs. We conclude at Folkston turnout with a roaring A794 with the duo SD40-2/SD40-3 pair in Run 6+, a screaming Q037 with probably the loudest pair of FDL-16 equipped AC4400CWs I've ever heard in person, then one of the colorful pairs of the trip, CSX L233-06 concludes us with a UP AC45CCTE/KCS Belle SD70ACe pair.