Georgia Road Transportation

Growth did come as a result of the FGC-AMRR combination. RockTrain branded aggregate service between Florida, Alabama and Georgia as well as regional intermodal under the FGC Hurricane Intermodal Service as it expanded on the AMRR side and developed terminal connections between the Florida Peninsula and interchange partner Georgia Road in Birmingham, AL. During this time, many of the standard SD40-2 and SD40T-2 units were pressed into RockTrain service. FGI found it had to address the growing motive power gap as these units increasingly moved into the RockTrain pool. With standard 40 series units now hard to find, FGI looked north toward Canada where CN and CP were both retiring SD40-2W and SD40-2F units. These units required substantial repair and modification to run in the US, and Stephens Railcar cycled units through its shops prior to FGC placing them in operation. These units were given the nickname “Snowbirds” by local railfans, alluding to the hundreds of Canadian citizens that came to Florida in the winter months to escape the cold and snow at home. These units filled manifest, Hurricane Intermodal and general traffic requirements. One interesting side note was the fact that FGI purchased what it could find at different times. The result was some CN SD40-2W units equipped with dynamics and some missing this typical FGC motive power specification. Dynamic equipped units typically worked trains moving over the FGC or AMRR into central and north Alabama, where the Appalachian foothills on the ex- GM&O lines and Georgia Road trackage rights into Birmingham, AL introduced heavy curvature and grades not found around Florida. FGC also found the extended dynamics worked well on the heavy RockTrain moves which regularly employed DPU operation.