Map
Sights
Other Stuff To See
Signals

Floobydust
 

RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME


I choose this map first, because it is the part of Atlanta I am most familiar with.

The area contains the main CSX route in and out of Atlanta, the Georgia Northeastern RR, and many other things to see and do.  Plan on a day to cover the area fully, especially if you are going to visit Kennesaw.

A page with pictures of many of the surviving Georgia Depots is at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/georgiaonmymind/discuss/72157603756483685/

As always, if anyone has additional info, my contact info is here


MAP 1   - the Atlanta Homepage
MAP 2   - Downtown Atlanta
MAP 3   - NS's Inman yard and CSX's Tilford & Howell Yards - NW of downtown Atlanta
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 - home of the Georgia Northeastern RR
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

Note: the aerial photos come from www.bing.com/maps... a great resource if you haven't used it for railfanning!!!


Map


Please note, most small side streets not shown for clarity.
For a PDF of this map, click here


  Sights


  The Marietta Depot

GPS Coordinates: 33.952961, -84.550911

Located just off the square, is this an 1898 depot, rebuilt on the original site after Sherman and his men came through on their way into Atlanta, and burned Marietta to the ground.  The track was originally the Western and Atlantic Railroad.  The W&A was acquired by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad in 1890. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad absorbed the NC&StL in 1957.  In 1983, the L&N became part of the Seaboard system, and in 1987, part of CSX.  More info at:  http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMM89_Marietta_GA_Train_Depot_Welcome_Center

Notice in the more recent aerial shot from Bing and Google Streetview, that they have removed the old passenger car sitting next to the depot.







 



  The Georgia Northeastern RR

GPS Coordinates: 33.975956, -84.557144

This is northern Georgia's gem!  If you're in the Atlanta area, you HAVE TO make a trek to Elizabeth and visit.  Besides offering the railfan with older generation diesels, they are friendly to boot, and are willing to talk to railfans (as long as you are respectful and ASK first!).  I was lucky that my daughter lived only minutes away.  Places for good pictures exist all over the place, but go out and check the line to find your favorites.

The GNRR line started out life in 1874 as the Marietta & North Georgia RR.  Tracks to Murphy NC were completed in 1887.  The line eventually wound up as part of the L&N, the Seaboard in 1983, and then CSX in 1987.  CSX sold off the tracks, of which part of it is now operated by the GNRR.

  #9708 heads a NB freight out of the yards in 2004 at the Marr St crossing.

       

  A "big" grade crossing at Sandy Plains Road and Canton.

  Canton Road, On the east side of 75 is a siding, which might make for an interesting shot with a SB passing it.

  Off Canton Road, at Owenby, east side of 75, is a nice grade crossing full of industrial type backdrops.

  Here you can catch a SB freight as it crosses I-75.

  Getting a little closer to the yard, the GNRR crosses Canton Road, and then goes over Cobb Parkway.

  We are at the Church St crossing, and the eatery with the red roof, has it's own grade crossing gates to keep you out of trouble leaving the parking lot so you can't go running across the tracks when a train is coming, worth the stop just to check it out, and get a great sandwich!


  The Cobb County Transit  Transportation Center and Bus Yard

GPS Coordinates: 33.941883, -84.532112

One of the most easily accessible bus yards I've been to, on Marietta Parkway to/from downtown Marietta and I75.

       
 


  The Big Chicken

GPS Coordinates: 33.951447, -84.520370

You can't honestly tell me you have never heard of the "Big Chicken"?  That's OK, I never did either until my daughter moved to Marietta!  :-)  :-)  The original diner on this spot was built in 1956.  When he sold it to his brother, and his brother made it part of the KFC family in 1963, he had this terrific landmark made by a local metal manufacturer.  It is 56 feet tall.  We nearly lost it in 1993, when a small tornado came along, and they were going to tear it down, but because of public outcry, they rebuilt it using most of the original parts, including the beak and eyes (which are animated).  Most locals will use it as a landmark to tell you how to get somewhere, or to meet at.  For more info, check out (a Google search will turn up much, much more):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chicken
http://roadsidegeorgia.com/site/bigchicken.html

 

 

 




  The Marietta Square

The Antebellum Marietta Square is a nice, peaceful place to rest and grab something to eat.  If you are travelling with your wife or girlfriend, you can leave her in good hands with the many antique stores on the square, then join her with something tasty for lunch!   You may want to join her tho while going thru the antique store on the the south side of Whitlock, on the SE corner of the square, for I have been thru there many a time with my daughter, and found interesting railroad what-nots to buy... the same goes for one on the corner of Whitlock and W Park Square NE, besides clocks and watches, they might have something of interest for "us".

The visitors center in the depot offers a Marietta Heritage Passport, which gives you 3 admissions for the price of 2.

More info at (altho there is precious little anywhere on the site about the depot): http://www.mariettasquare.com/





 Signals


  Just north of the old Hwy 41 overpass. 

This signal is the south approach to the Elizabeth Yard, controlled from the N. Elizabeth (WA 22.4) control point.  There are matching north approach signals on the other size of the Elizabeth switch (one for the CSX main, the other for the Elizabeth Yard itself).

 





  In the middle of the Elizabeth Yard

This signal is the south approach to the Elizabeth control point (WA 22.2), where the CSX mainline splits into two (Trk1 and Trk2).  Signal 1c (below) is the companion northbound signals for the two mainline tracks - no easy access - part of 2 to 1 interlocking.





  Also in the middle of the Elizabeth Yard

No easy access - part of the above 2 to 1 interlocking.



 



  Along Kennesaw Ave NW - north of downtown Marietta

Signal 2 is an approach signal into the Marietta block area; this actually is an approach signal to the interlocking at Lockheed on the other side of town.  Note in the aerial picture, you can see the closed Roselane Rd crossing (excellent spot for photos), and the very very end of the L&N Hook 'n' Eye mainline, which is the switch just north of Roselane Rd.  That marks the very southernmost point of the GNRR trackage. South of the Elizabeth Yard is the Tower Road underpass, and good pictures can be had here of passing CSX freights.

 



  Just north of S Cobb Street SE - south side of downtown Marietta





BONUS - Jonathan D. from the Yahoo GNRR group has kindly supplied the above description of the signals, and the information and scan below.  The layout covers Chattanooga (top left) to Tilford Yard in Atlanta (bottom right).  It also gives the lengths of the sidings.  Stuff in blue comes from Jonathan, Thanks!.....  Look at the very bottom of the picture below for the signals layout of the W&A through Marietta.... note however, that the small 2-stack approach signals do not appear here - only the main control signals do (the approaches are handled within the local signals plant).



Floobydust


The Marietta Diner

GPS Coordinates: 33.944604, -84.517816
Being Italian, I love eating.  I recommend the Marietta Diner, and so does the Food Channel, as it has been featured on there!  Any time the parking lot is full, you know the food is good.

 







Northern Tools

GPS Coordinates:  33.954422, -84.523592
If your into tools and the like, there is a Northern Tools just north of the Big Chicken (and Gresham Rd NE) on Cobb Parkway.





The is also a huge antique mall next door to the Northern Tools store.

If you're into Pawn Shops, the area is littered with them all over the place, but there are 4 or 5 of them on Cobb Parkway around the food places on the right side of the map... years ago, when the digital camera mania was setting in, I picked up the last film type Canon Rebel for 50 bucks! 

Also, not too far away from downtown Marietta, is the 2888 acre Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.  Located at 900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, this is where Confederate forces held up the Sherman's Union advancement into Atlanta in June of 1864.

The Marietta Fire Museum is at 112 Haynes St.  770-794-5491  http://www.mariettaga.gov/departments/emergency/fire/museum.aspx

Into model railroad layouts, check out this website (keep your sound level down!): http://www.northgeorgiarailroad.com/ 

And also of model trains, there is usually a model train show at the Cobb County Civic Center in the March timeframe.

A nice Marietta reference is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietta,_Georgia

There is also a Confederate Cemetery, off Powder Mills Rd, south of where it ends at South Marietta Pkwy.
 

A Micro-Center store is on Powers Ferry Rd, just north of Terrell Mill Rd.  Take the Delk Rd exit off of 75, head east, then a right onto Powers Ferry Rd.  The Home Depot worldwide HQ is also located on Powers Ferry Rd, near where it crosses the Perimeter.


Look for this sign heading west out of Marietta on Whitlock... pretty unusual.




Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  I do these pages because I love spending my time doing them - although I do a reasonable amount of research to make sure the information presented is accurate! :-)  :-)

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in, oooooooops, oh well! :-)  

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

BTW, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given! BE NICE!!! Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME


web statistics

NEW 5-30-2010
Last Modified 05-Aug-2018