Cartersville has been a town with a railroad for all of its existence. The W&A was the first line to arrive, followed by a branch built west to Rockmart connecting there to the Seaboard Air Line from Atlanta to Birmingham. Although that SAL route was abandoned in the late 1980s, the branch still exists as the Cartersville Subdivision and serves Georgia Power's Plant Bowen at Stilesboro. The last line to reach Cartersville was the L&N line to Knoxville, Tenn. Completed in the 1900s, it's still sometimes referred to as the "New Line". More commonly it is called the K&A (for Knoxville and Atlanta). Officially it is the Etowah Subdivision.
Cartersville has three wyes. Not far north of downtown is Junta wye (the "J" is pronounced) with it's now abandoned tower. Another mile up the W&A is the Bowen wye which connects to the Cartersville Subdivision. The third wye connects the W&A to the Cartersville Subdivision just west of Junta. (This wye not on map.)
The K&A adds mostly coal and autoracks to the manifest and intermodal traffic of the W&A. Train frequency between Cartersville and Atlanta can exceed 40 a day. The K&A coal trains rate CSX's newest locomotives: General Electric models AC6000CW. These are easily spotted by the lightning bolt beneath the cab windows and by their engine numbers of 600 to 652. You may also see some AC4400CWs, numbered 1-198.
Plant Bowen at Stilesboro on the Cartersville Subdivision receives three or four coal unit-trains a day to keep the huge electrical generation facility running. The line is manual-blocked, requiring radio communication with the dispatcher.
Cartersville has several places to catch the action. Perhaps the best is right downtown in the park next to the pre-civil war brick depot. The only trains you'll miss here are the Stilesboro coal trains headed to plant Bowen.
Three overpasses provide good vantage points. The Church Street bridge is downtown one block north of the depot. It has a sidewalk on the north side. Porter Street, about a mile north of the Depot, has two bridges. One spans the W&A and a leg of the Junta wye&emdash;the one used by Plant Bowen coal trains, the other jumps over the Etowah sub and has a poor view.
Photographers may want to travel south on Ga. 293 (Tennessee Street) towards Emerson. There are wonderful vistas and high fills, and a high bridge over the Etowah river with great potential for evening photos. Upstream of the railroad bridge are the supports for the bridge destroyed in the Civil War. The road carrying Ga. 293 intersects I-75 south of Cartersville. CSX closely parallels this road for the 4.9 miles between downtown Cartersville and the interstate.
Two blocks south of downtown is a talking defect detector. It reports speed, axle count, and length via radio. It gives it's location as "Milepost 47.4". Don't trust the mileposts around town, the W&A has been straightened and there are some short miles. Northbounds can be heard announcing signals at Emerson and at the Etowah River. Southbounds announce signals at Bowen and Junta Wyes. Early warning of southbound trains on the Etowah Subdivision is provided by a defect detector at milepost 417, about 5 miles north of Junta.
Photo coming soon!
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