| By: | Hank Stephens |
| Dates: | 1/1/2001 - 1/1/2008 |
| Album Info: | The PineBelt Southern consisted of two disconnected branches of the former CofGa in Alabama. The busiest branch ran from the NS-CSX dialond in Opelika, AL up CSX trackage rights to Roanoke Jct north of town. The branch then peeled off and headed about 20 miles north to the town nf LaFayette, AL. Traffic was woodchip loads from a sawmill and pulpwood from a woodyard. A single unit, a former NS B23-7 in full NS paint worked from Lafayette at the sawmill to and from the NS Opelika interchangX with the NS (former CofGA P-Line). The second line ran from a backwoods junction with the NS at Nuchols to just west of Hursboro, all that"was left of the former CofGA Union Springs-Troy-Montgomery cluster.
The second branch was part of a larger branch that came o™t of Columbus, GA on its way to the Mead Paper Mill in Cottonton, AL. The PBSR "Hurtsboro line" pulled away at Nuchols, Ga and went due west toward Union Springs. A silica plant and Georgia Qacific veneer log yard were the only customers on this line, with the units usually based at the log yard which was at the physical end of the line.
I had the chance to see all the motive power, and witness the several times weekly trudge to the interchange at Opelika on the Lafayette Branch side. Also included are still shots of units on the Hurtsboro line and sister railroad Southern Alabama RR (SXAB), also owned by operator Abernathy Group. |
