Georgia Road Transportation

The “LaGrange”, named after the Georgia hometown of the Georgia Road Transportation President and CEO Stephen J. Greenwood, is a former ATSF Budd Observation End Business car purchased by Georgia Road in the early 2000s. The car was the original ATSF “Topeka” business car, later converted to an Engineering Inspection Car in the 1970s-1980s. BNSF marked the car as surplus after the BN-ATSF merger. The car still had its steam heat and power configuration and was determined to be too expensive to update, especially since the second car carrying the name “Topeka” was updated and part of the modern BNSF OCS fleet.

After passing through several owners, the car was acquired by Georgia Road. Georgia Road shopped the car and restored to its original business car glory with all the modern conveniences, including provision for self-contained as well as hotel HEP power. The unit is part of the Georgia Road “full bore” OCS business train and a staple of overnight trains, customer specials and yearly upper management system wide inspection trips. The cars is based in Birmingham, AL at the Fred M Dale Yard in the suburb of Irondale. When not active, the car is stored inside a purpose-built shop and storage area along with the rest of the OCS fleet.

Theatre Observation Business Car “Atlanta”

During his days growing as the son of a prominent ATSF manager and going on to work for the ATSF in the early 1980s, Georgia Road President and CEO Stephen J. Greenwood was always passenger fascinated. As a child, he rode with his father on the last days of the pre-AMTK Super Chief/El Capitan. As a management trainee in sales at ATSF, he regularly got to ride the customer-oriented OCS trains also. After forming and starting the Georgia Road, he never forgot his formative experiences. When the need came for a theatre observation car for inspection trains, he set out to emulate what he knew. A nameless Budd sleeper was acquired and shopped to become the first theatre car on the Georgia Road OCS roster. The newly rebuild car would follow the general specifications of the ATSF “William B. Strong” car, which was one of the first theatre observations operated in the US. Interior changes were subtle but necessary to suit Georgia Road needs. When it debuted in late 1999, more than one trackside observer did a double take when seeing the car for the first time. The “Atlanta” is a true doppelganger and tribute to ATSF engineering department design. Only upon boarding the car and seeing the inside does it become apparent that it is anything but an embellished copy of the ATSF car. The car primarily sees use during OCS system inspections, customer service specials and occasional special event appearances where the company colors are flown with full flourish.

3/4 Dome-Lounge ” Amber Leigh”

From its inception as a start-up company out of the ashes of its predecessor Central Alabama and Southern RR (CA&S), Georgia Road started business very image conscious. The former CA&S left much bad blood with customers and the public alike due to its sudden bankruptcy which exposed very dubious dealings of CA&S top management. Georgia Road spent large sums of money erasing the CA&S identity and elevating its own. Customer Specials, Employee Specials and participation in local community special events was and still is a priority. As a result, Georgia Road maintains an atypical large fleet of cars for use in events. The “Amber Leigh” is a former SP three-quarter dome, originally designed for the SP Daylight passenger trains requiring single level equipment. This car was literally pulled out from the scrappers torch, already partially stripped for eventual torch shredding. The car was transported by flatcar from Sacramento, CA to Alabama where it was completely rebuilt. The car is a rolling lounge, complete with a baby grand piano and lounge area that can be converted to a dance floor or event presentation space. The car is a favorite for special events and regularly shows up in local community events around the system, usually alongside the articulated ex SP Kitchen-Diner-Lounge and articulated chair cars also owned by Georgia Road.

HEP-Dormitory-Crew Lounge “Hotel Sierra”

The “Hotel “series HEP cars were designed by Georgia Road to power OCS and “full bore” business trains on overnight excursions. While many of the Georgia Road passenger locomotives have HEP gensets to power these trains, it was found that a standalone or hotel type power plant inside the train allowed the flexibility of using any locomotive consist to pull the train. It also reduced wear on the passenger locomotive fleet and allowed the train to transition to a stationary long term “hotel” for guests on the train, or when cars were staged for multi-day events. “Hotel Sierra” was the first custom designed HEP car in the fleet. The ex- NYC Baggage Dorm Combination was completely reconfigured to house a 1000kw HEP diesel genset in the baggage compartment. Dorm roomettes were built to house the head end crew running the train along with a small kitchen and lounge providing them with all the comforts of a home during multi-day trips.

—–Typical Day Use Inspection Train Configuration—-

The image below is a typical day use inspection, customer special or special event display train. Inspection and Special Event Display trains usually employ the Business Platform car “LaGrange”. System inspection trains and day use only OCS trains usually use the Theatre Observation “Atlanta.” In most cases these trains use the newest or newly painted freight locomotives as power. In the example here, a completely overhauled ex EMD SD60 #4 demonstrator (with prototype radial trucks used on all later EMD new models) is now owned by Georgia Road and painted for its part of the “Eagle Flyer” Land-Bridge” Intermodal pool.