A question about the Man'O'War posed elseware brings up another question. Is the turnout at Newnan (whereby a southbound train on the A&WP {CSX} turns east onto the CG {NS} ) still in place ? I know that very little traffic exists now east of Newnan due to the line cut at Senoia. Was there also a turnout for northbound trains on the A&WP to head east on the CG or was there a "Y" or other turning device in the area? Thanks.

-- Greg Hodges (ghodges@smpsfa.com), July 04, 2000

Answers

The last remnant of the connecting track and interchange (transfer) track at Newnan was removed in the past three months. It was the switch in the CG main east (south) of the crossing. The switch into the A&WP main east (north) of the crossing was removed shortly after the MOW was discontinued (5/16/70).

I hope the directions arent too confusing. The CG was timetable east toward Griffin and the A&WP was timetable east toward Atlanta. The MOW was A&WP 19 and became CG 20 on its run to Columbus and was CG 19 and became A&WP 20 on its run to Atlanta (same was true for 17 and 18 in the years before they were discontinued).

The switch into the A&WP main was just north of the home signal at the crossing. Of course, the interlocking was added much later. It was a four way stop for years.

The transfer track connected to the south end of the A&WP siding after passing under the Salbide Avenue bridge. On the Central end, the interchange switch was in the connecting track just south of the Thompson Street crossing. The transfer would hold about eighteen cars.

Three to five years ago, the interchange was removed on the A&WP end, leaving a short spur track on the CG end. As noted above, that was recently removed.

The most interesting interchange from A&WP to CG in recent years was A&WP 290 and a short freight consist on July 7, 1991. Filming of scenes for "Fried Green Tomatoes" was done in Senoia. Parts of this movement are included in Trackside Video's "Tales of a West Point Pacific." Unfortunately, the opportunity to tape 290 coming through the interchange and by the coal chute at Raymond were missed.

-- David Payne (DavidCofGa@aol.com), July 04, 2000.