What types of freight and passenger locomotives were used on the ACL line from Florence,SC to Augusta,GA? There was at one time thru coach and sleeper service to Atlanta over the Georgia RR. Was there any thru freight service?

-- Richard T. Lasater (richard.lasater@ncmail.net), May 16, 2003

Answers

I spent some time between Augusta and Florence between 1975 and 1980 - maybe too late to be of interest to you. During those years it seemed anything might show up, but power tended to be from the 'B' team - Second gen. GE & EMD four-axles, but not the newest stuff. Saw occasional SDs - 35, P35, 45. Never saw GECC. GA/WP & L&N began showing up 1979-80. Never saw CRR.

-- David Harris (david.harris@atu.edu), July 29, 2003.

I have seen second generation units (GP-30s, GP-35s and GP-40s) pulling out of Florence for Augusta and have encountered them rolling through Sumter, Orangeburg, and Denmark. Six axle units were rare on this portion of the line, but were used frequently on the C&WC on 392/397 and on coal trains coming from the Clinchfield at Spartanburg. They were generally SD-45s.

Steve Kamp

-- Steve Kamp (sakamp@hotmail.com), May 22, 2003.

Richard, as far as passenger trains are concerned EMD E units and FP7's were the order of the day. As Larry said I doubt if any freights were run throughs. The condition of the track was certainly kept up much, much better than it is today, I assure you. I spent many a happy afternoon seeing Train No. 50 roll through on very well maintained track, led by the gorgeous purple and silver units, then later the black and yellow.

-- Capers Bull (eurekaairline@yahoo.com), May 19, 2003.

Richard - I'm not completely sure. Judging by photos I've seen of the engine terminal at Augusta, freights were mostly in the hands of GP7s and F units. I believe that the ex-C&WC line through Augusta drew some of the big second-generation units because of its hills, but am not sure if second-generation power ran much, if any, between Florence and Augusta. Hope others can help here.

As for "through" freights via the GaRR to Atlanta, this was seldom done in the ACL years to my knowledge. Rather than the common unit trains seen today, where the same freight consist stays together over long distances (like the juice train and coal trains), most freights then were a mix of through and local cars. (A couple of pre-merger exceptions I can think of are the solid piggyback trains and, earlier, the solid refrigerator car or reefer/ventilated box trains that ran on the mainlines.) Therefore the typical freight from Florence would have had cars that would come off at Augusta plus others that would be transferred by switch engines over to the GaRR yard for forwarding to Atlanta on the next GaRR train.

-- Larry Goolsby (lgoolsby@aphsa.org), May 19, 2003.