A Cloudy Chase on the Caldwell County Railroad: The Last Stronghold of Family Lines System Heritage

2/22/2022 - The Caldwell County Railroad

On "Two's Day" of 2022 [February 22, 2022, 2/22/22], My friend Ethan & I would strike luck catching the Caldwell County Railroad [CWCY] running. We were originally under the impression they wouldn’t run, but they just got a late start is all. The crew was extremely friendly & gave us permission to conversate with them and watch them prep and start up the old Ex. Family Lines System EMD GP16 #1811 up close! Trespassing is strictly prohibited within the fence and on the railroad tracks, as there is surveillance. We heavily thank them for this rare opportunity.

The Caldwell County Railroad owns the last 2 Surviving Family Lines System Diesel Locomotives, #1811 & #1747. Both 1811 & 1747 were originally built as EMD "High Hood" GP7's, 1811 being built as Atlantic Coast Line [ACL] #111 in May 1950 & 1747 being built as Seaboard Air Line [SAL] #1804 in September 1952. They would both share ownership of the Seaboard Coast Line, when the SAL & ACL merged. They would undergo a rebuild in the Late 70's from an EMD GP7, to an EMD GP16 receiving a short hood/"standard cab". They were both given the Iconic "Family Lines System" Marketing/Partnership Paint Scheme. They would then go to ownership of the Seaboard System, when the Railroads involved in the Family Lines Partnership merged. A few years later the Seaboard System would merge with the Chessie System, to make CSX Transportation. Both 1811 & 1747 would retain their Family Lines System Paint before being retired/sold to the Caldwell County Railroad. The only change made during their CSX Days were their numbers, to what they are today.

We would witness switching being done in their yard, before going up to the NS Interchange in Hickory NC. NS Local Train, P71 would drop their cars for their day's train up to Lenoir, NC. This was an awesome experience to witness, as I wasn’t expecting to see a 2-Train Meet with NS & CWCY. We would then chase the 1811 around all day, and boy was it quite the experience. We got to see the train in high notches and spew carbon/smoke out attacking Granite Hill. The ambience of the EMD 567C in the GP16, and the classic Leslie RS5T on #1811 just made us feel like we were in the Late 20th Century. The crew also gave us Jolly Ranchers at one of the spots as well. The dynamic duo of a crew!

Thanks to the crew [Engineer D.B. & Conductor B.B] for such a great experience, and also thanks to Ethan for helping me produce this! Hope You All Enjoyed This!

Видео A Cloudy Chase on the Caldwell County Railroad: The Last Stronghold of Family Lines System Heritage канала GT Rail Fan Productions