GP30 and GP38 2771 power the westbound local - with lots of pulpwood flats, as usual - out of Opelika.

Once upon a time, Opelika generated enough traffic that most freights would at least make a quick pick-up/set-out. That has just happened in the photo, and 135 is again underway for Birmingham, w... (more)

A GP7 and GP35 team up to roll the local west. Think wood products are an important part of the traffic mix? Just ahead is the long, high fill at North Auburn.

The long-range local has completed its work in Opelika and is about to head west behind a pair of GP30s. Just a few months earlier power likely would have been GP7/9/18. A few months before that... (more)

Southern had 76 GP35s. Most had AAR Type B trucks, but five purchased for Central of Georgia had Blombergs, as did two units numbered in low 2700s. Here, one of the CofG units is powering the Ro... (more)

The every-day-but-Sunday Roanoke turn is back in Opelika with a substantial train. The train used a couple miles of the Western Railway of Alabama's main to get to Roanoke Junction, where their o... (more)

The eastbound long-range local rolls into Opelika. At the time this photo was made, their would have been plenty for 46's crew to do in Opelika. I doubt the current NS counterpart to 46 has much... (more)

722 and 750 team-up on an excursion down the former Central of Georgia mainline.

As usual, there is L&N power up front on 214, a Cincy to NOLA train that was a combined effort between L&N and Western Railway of Alabama. That diamond-shaped concrete sign, however, is all West ... (more)

Just after a summer shower, the L&N NOLA-Cincy run-through climbs the hill out of Opelika behind a cool collection of diesels- GP38-2/U25B/GP40/U23B.

When L&N and Western Railway of Alabama established Cincinnati-NOLA trains 213/214 in 1973 (early Family Lines days...), I do not think the trains worked anywhere between the endpoints. Within a ... (more)

Members of the two long-range locals (46 is working just around the curve west of the depot) mingle at the depot, and a few hit the Coke machine in the old waiting room. If I recall, the sodas (d... (more)

The first train through this wreck site is an eastbound behind C39-8 8551 and SD50 6510.

One of just a handful (maybe 3?) GP59s built with 'rounded' cabs teams with an SD40-2 on the eastbound long-distance local.

In the early 1970s, the GP38 was the dominant loco type on the old Central of Georgia main through Opelika. Boxy, black, turbo-less 2,000hp - not very exciting. Anything else was a relief, but S... (more)