I am doing some research on the Tallahassee,Fl area and am intersted in the Georgia, Florida and Alabama RR. So far, I have found precious little info on this line. The timetables of CSX, and those of SCL and SAL show the GF&A mileposts counting down from MP90 in Bainbridge, to MP52 in Tallahassee at the jct with the Seaboard. If there were still 52 miles left in the GF&A at Tally, where did it go from there? Thanks in advance. The postings on this board have been an incredible education for me. Thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge. Regards, Danny Harmon

-- Danny Harmon (HDTampa@aol.com), August 27, 1999

Answers

Thanks for the interesting information, Gary. I was in Tallahassee a couple of weeks ago and there have to be few other places where the yard, and even the mainline, are so hard to locate. (I finally found the yard by driving around until the yard crew's radio conversations got louder and louder.) I won't venture there again without a good detailed map!

-- Larry Goolsby (LGoolsby@aphsa.org), August 27, 1999.

The GF&A line in Tallahassee from about MP50 to MP52 is relatively new, being constructed in the early '50s to allow access to the new SAL yard (the present CSX yard)along Roberts Avenue on the southwest side of town. The original line followed Mission Road from Tharpe Street almost to Ocala Road. A portion of this line was in place up to the mid '80s. The original line crossed West Tennessee Street just west of its intersection with Ocala Road, and then quickkly crossed Ocala Road. The next major street crossing was Pensacola Street, using the underpass northwest of Campbell Stadium. The line then followed Seminole Drive around to the east, crossing through the intersection of Gaines Street and Bradford Road. The old SAL yard was located along Gaines Street east of Bradford. The mainline to Carabelle broke off at Bradford Road, turning south to cross the SAL main near the intersection of Gamble and Stearns Streets, running along the east side of Mills Street. The GF&A had a yard located along here. The line then loosely followed Springhill Road south out of town.

Much of this track is shown at www.excite.maps.com. Do a search for Tallahassee, Fl. Also, the Florida DOT Aerial Photography Lab has aerial photos of this area from the late '40s/early '50s that shows all of this available for puchase.

-- Gary Bechdol (gbechdol@rwhitehead.com), August 27, 1999.

The remainder of the track went south from Tallahassee to Carrabelle. It's been gone since after WW II.

-- R Kinney (rkinney@admin.fsu.edu), August 27, 1999.