Data:
GPS Coordinates: as needed
Phone A/C: 404
ZIP: 30318
Access by train/transit:
Amtrak in downtown Atlanta
The Scoop:
Most of the major rail traffic in and out of the Atlanta area used
to hit CSX's Tilford yard, and Norfolk Southern's Inman yard. Starting
in 2018 however, CSX made the decision of take out the hump at Tilford.
From Trains magazine: The Jim Foote-era at CSX Transportation began with a rumble that
emphatically signaled his commitment to following through on what the late CEO E. Hunter Harrison
began. In a symbolic move, Foote’s first decision after being named chief executive in December
was ordering the hump bulldozed at Tilford Yard in Atlanta. The yard was one of eight humps
converted to flat-switching last year under Harrison, who died in December. “Atlanta hump
yard today is flat,” Foote says. “There is no turning back.”
CSX announced as early as March 2017 that they were planning on bulldozing the
hump at Tilford. The city has been trying to get Tilford (and probably
Inman) yard closed and gone for years. Sometime in 2018, CSX started
removing about half of the yard.
If you railfan here, you will still not be disappointed, as there is something moving
almost every minute of the waking day!
PS, I've gotten lazy in my old age (plus it's much quicker), so you'll see a lot
of screen captures in my updates. Besides, if info changes, it's a whole
lot easier to insert a new screen shot! :-)
Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd
Kevin Reznicek
Justin Grostefan
Tommy Parker
Trains Magazine
Google Maps
Google AI
Bing Maps
Reddit
Tumblr
Trainorders.com
MAP 1 - the Atlanta Homepage
MAP 2 - Downtown Atlanta
MAP3 - NS Inman yard and CSX's Tilford and Howell Yards
MAP 4 - south of Atlanta
MAP 5 - east of Atlanta
MAP 6 - west of Atlanta
MAP 7 - the Duluth and Norcross area, with the Southeast Railroad Museum MAP 8 - the Marietta and Elizabeth area - NW outside the Perimeter MAP 9 - Guide to the Georgia Northeastern RR MAP 10 - the Kennesaw area & the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History the MARTA Metro System
All three yards - Howell is the "smaller" one to the right
NS's Inman Yard
GPS Coordinates: 33.798155, 84.419994 (center of yard)
Formerly a hump yard built by the Southern Railway in 1957, it was changed over
to a flat switching yard when they did away with the hump around 2000.
BTW, Today, the Moorman Rail Yard in Bellevue OH is the largest rail yard on the Norfolk Southern system.
from Tumblr
from Reddit
from Google AI
CSX's Tilford Yard
GPS Coordinates: 33.801272, 84.448239 (center of yard, the whole thing) GPS Coordinates: 33.808855, 84.454911 (center of yard, what's left in the north section)
What was once a fairly large hump yard is now reduced to a two track thru
main line, and a six track Intermodal loading/unloading yard.
Accounts of what has happened over the years by way of railfans is
incomplete/confusing as to what happened and when, however, from TRAINS MAGAZINE
in early 2026, comes a note that they are reopening the yard as an Intermodal
transfer facility.
Otherwise, the pictures below are exciting as they are depressing..... ending the legacy of a
yard that has been around for 60+ years. Progress is often painful from a historic standpoint. I hope for CSX's sake, that this doesn't follow in the steps of Conrails/PRR's
low grade route which we can not ever get back now that traffic has increased!
from Tumblr
from Reddit
from Google AI
