Railfan Trip, part 1

Last month I had the opportunity to drive from Tallahassee to Pensacola, so I decided to take US Highway 90, which parallels the Seaboard/L&N (now CSX) route that I'm modeling. I wanted to get photos of any depots, industries, and other trackside buildings that might be useful guides for modeling.

Unfortunately, very little remains of 1950s railroading along this route. There are only a couple of depots remaining, and not much of interest in the way of trackside industries. To top it off the weather was cold and overcast, so it didn't make for great photography. Nevertheless I got some decent photos and found a few gems.

I'll describe the trip from east to west, Tallahassee to Pensacola. I've posted photos of the Tallahassee stations before, so the first photo comes from Chattahoochee:

Here's the yard at River Jct. (Chattahoochee). It bends off to the right, and the wye--long since dismantled--would have been located just to the left of the bend (upper center). Historically this was where the L&N and Seaboard met end-to-end, so the yard served an interchange purpose. Not sure what they use it for now, but it still has about the same number of tracks as it would have in 1951.

Just west of Chattahoochee is the bridge over the Apalachicola River. This is the first time I've seen it in person. There's a small park on the river bank just north of the bridge so I hiked along the bank a ways to get some shots.

I was in luck today, for just as I started shooting this appeared:

I'm pretty sure those are Union Pacific units in front. I've seen UP units a couple of times on freights coming through Tallahassee, probably some sort of lease agreement. Anyway, it's hard to tell for sure but this looks like it might be a swing bridge similar to the one over the Blackwater River in Milton.

That's all for this first installment, I'll post more soon from this trip. And as promised I've got more progress to show on the layout so that'll be coming soon as well.