Folkston (GA) Railfanning Question

I just re-activated my account on here so pardon the late reply.
CSX and Folkston have been hit by the economic slowdown like everyplace else. There was always a midday lull at the Funnel but now the lull can last for 6 to 8 hours. This has interrupted the "there's always something happening at Folkston" axiom that was true for so many years. I hear from people all the time these days who say "I went to Folkston at 10AM and stayed until 3 and saw NOTHING". You can't do that anymore.
4:30AM to 8:00AM is the hot window in the morning. 4:00PM to 10PM is the evening window. There are some exceptions of course, but if you're planning a visit to Folkston these are the dayparts you should target. At least until this terrible economy starts to pick up again.
Here is a link to the last video I shot in Folkston.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bsa3DiCwVk

Thanks,
Danny Harmon
Tampa

DaveA wrote:I dunno ---maybe I'm not living right. I've been to Folkston twice now and have seen a total of 3 trains??? I'd go again because it's a nice spot and there's always been some nice and informative folks to chat with..

As I live in New England, my visits are aligned with "heading to/returning from" Florida for the winter. Better luck next year --- I hope. :~))

DaveA

Narr8rdanny wrote:I just re-activated my account on here so pardon the late reply.
CSX and Folkston have been hit by the economic slowdown like everyplace else. ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bsa3DiCwVk

Thanks,
Danny Harmon
Tampa

Hi Danny:

Nice to see you here! I subscribed your video in youtube a year ago.
Could you recommend other railfan sites in north Florida or Southern Georgia rather than Folkston? I heard that the train number on Baldwin-Waldo-Hawthorne-Ocala branch will be doubled this year, is it true?

Thanks!
For those outside the region, CSX's S-Line runs from Callahan to Baldwin, Waldo, Hawthorne, Ocala, Wildwood, Dade City and Tampa. It also branches off to Lakeland, Winter Haven, West Palm and Miami.
Yes, that big forecast for traffic to double on the S-Line was made before two things happened;
The economy going north (Yes, NORTH. I'm from Florida and consider anything that goes SOUTH is a GOOD thing)
And the collapse of the Sunrail deal.
CSX is still going to build the Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven and that will increase traffic on the S-Line but don't look for traffic to double in 2009. Life is still very slow out there.
Folkston is still the best railfanning bet in South Georgia and all of Florida.
Danny Harmon
Tampa

live streaming video from the Folkston Funnel is streaming at www.trainwatch.com if you would like to watch

This is pretty neat. Watched a NB at 3:11 PM followed by a SB at 3:30 PM. Of course the ATCS for this territory goes right
with the live video. At present there is a NB lined out of JAX and another SB about 20 miles north enroute from Waycross.
Thank you for providing this interesting link.
Noel Weaver

I just went to the webcam site. Looks like it's mounted up under the eve as I can see the Christmas lights in the upper corner of the shot. My view shows only a still-frame every 1/3 second or so. Is that supposed to look that way or do I have an outdated version of Java?
Danny Harmon
Tampa

This is my first post.

I go to Folkston quit a bit, I was there earlier this year in April after Railfest and then spent a little over 4 days in mid June. Of course, traffic is down compared to last year when it was not uncommon to have 8-10 trains per hour in the evening between 6-9 p.m. Now you might see 4-5-6 trains per hour, highlighted by the two Amtrak trains.

I also stay at the Railmaster's Lodge and traffic at night is way down. But between 5 a.m. - 9 a.m. traffic was steady, one about every 10-15 minutes. Then it would drop off to two an hour and sometimes none during the mid-day lull. Then get steady again after 2 p.m.

As far as day of the week, I usually go in the Thursday morning to Saturday morning time frame and you should see 30-35 trains a day if you're up at 6 a.m. and stay at the platform till 10 p.m.

I am planning to go back in two weeks (Aug. 6-8). So we'll see what happens.

Baldwin yard is also temporarily closed from what I heard. The last few times I've driven by it was basically storing cars and all freights were moving through.

Today, Sunday, August 16th, I spent two and one half hours at the viewing platform at Folkston from 5:30 PM when a northbound went through with two conventional cabs and a
short train until 8:00 PM when the last southbound went through. During this period 5 northbounds and 2 southbounds went by. Two Amtraks 98 with ten cars and two engines
and the northbound Autotrain with 130 and 148 with 15 passenger cars and 23 auto carriers. The Tropicana Juice Train also went by.
My guess is that it was pretty slow during the day and I was disappointed that I did not see more in the evening. When I left according to ATCS there were a couple more trains in
the works but the wait was going to be at leasrt 30 minutes and I had enough at that point.\
Even with business slow, Folkston is still probably the best train watching spot in the southeast. They have wireless internet there now among other good things.
Noel Weaver

In my opinion, Folkston has always been the best train watching spot in the south, certainly in Florida. (Yes, I know,but Folkston really OUGHT to be in Florida. ))
IN the 90's even before the platform and the wireless internet and the scanners, Folkston was fantastic. The saying among those of us who were regulars was "When it's time to leave, you have to look away from or hide your eyes from the signals in Folkston because they were always green"
In those days we always gathered on the depot side under the camphor tree. I still prefer that side. I can remember stretches that began at 4PM and went almost non-stop until 1:00AM. One freezing February Saturday night, so many coal and autorack trains ran, we couldn't get a break to go to the bathroom, so we made use of the fence that hid the a/c units.

Some people may try to take credit for the Folkston phenomenon, but only one person really had the foresight to get things done for us railfans in Folkston, and that is Cookie Williams. We all owe him a debt that can only be repaid by enjoying this little place to it's fullest.

Best Regards,
Danny Harmon
Tampa

I went to Folkston on August 6-8. I left Spring Hill around 4:30 a.m. to avoid any traffic delays and arrived at Folkston at 7:45 a.m. I saw a K Train south of Hawthorne, Fla. Beat Q453 to the crossing on Rt. 90 in Baldwin. Then I missed at least 2-3 more trains since I heard them calling south of Callahan towards Jax. But that Thursday was a slow day and I was at the platform till 10:30 p.m. and only saw 23 trains, another came at 11:30 p.m. but I was at the lodge by then.

Not much ran that night till 4 a.m. when the flood gates opened and it was constant activity till 5:30 a.m. then a little lull, till the Auto Train south, Q171 came flying by. I started taping shortly after 6:40 a.m. and stayed at the platform from 8 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. It was completely dead on ATCS after 9 p.m. on a Friday night. Fortunately three more showed up between 10:40-11:10 p.m. including the Juice Train. Recorded 34 trains that Friday. Then went to bed. Not much activity that night at all.

Saturday morning caught a petroleum train (K476) lead by Union Pacific units at 7:30 a.m. A friend of mine caught this train near Lakeland on Friday evening and told me he was coming north. The next train that morning was Amtrak P097 at 8:30 a.m. and then the Waycross to Fernadina Beach, Fla. A772 south at 9:20 a.m. and then ATCS was dead. So I took off for home. I figured if I'm going to sit, it might as well be driving. I didn't see one train on the trip down 301 to Ocala.

Total number of trains on this trip was 61. Way down from 2008. Sign of the times for sure.

Plus it was treat to see Cookie Williams out and about in Folkston on Thursday and Friday. As Danny said, he was the one we owe a great debt of gratitude for getting the platform built with the all the furnishings and such. It is good to watch trains, but also visit other railfans and meet people from all over the place. On this trip a mother and a son came down on the train from Connecticut and drove from Savannah to Folkston. Her son and mine became fast friends. There were other railfans there, some I've met before. So it is definitely worth any trip to watch trains and make new friends.

I was there yesterday August 23rd from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. I saw 7 trains passing by, more southbounds than northbounds:

5:35pm CSX Intermodel train Southbound, with several CSX containers and UPS truck trailers
5:50pm CSX covered hopper train Southbound, with lots of "Family Lines System" and "Seaboard Coast Line" painted hopper cars.
6:02pm Amtrak 98 Silver Meteor Northbound, a rare on-time performance.
6:50pm Amtrak 52 Auto Train Northbound, with two P42s.

From 6:55pm to 7:45pm, it was completely silent.

7:45pm CSX mixed freight train Southbound, mainly with oil tanks.
7:55pm CSX mixed freight train Southbound, with nearly 100 cars.
7:57pm CSX intermodel train Southbound, with lots of China Shipping containers.

The most interesting one is the last intermodel train. It followed the previous train too close, at less than 500 feet!