ABOVE: Combine No. 161 brings up the rear as the mixed train departs Washington, Ga., on August 5, 1968. LEFT: Georgia Railroad GP9 No. 1041 and heavyweight coach No. 170 pass the night in Athens, Ga., in January 1970. The Athens Branch was abandoned by successor Seaboard System in 1984.
Georgia Trains 3 and 4 boasted connections from Atlanta to Wilmington, N.C., sporting through air-conditioned Pullman and coach service. The Macon, Washington, and Athens Branches (grandly styled as “divisions”) offered mixed train service daily except Sunday. But, like many other lines, mail contracts concealed the dirty secret that the mainline service was no longer attractive to passengers. When the U.S. Post Office
withdrew its subsidy of running mail on the Georgia Railroad, Trains 3 and 4 were promptly discontinued in March of 1968. Shortly thereafter, on April 7, 1968,
the Georgia Railroad abandoned the Augusta Union Station and moved west to the Harrisonville Yards outside the city proper. In sort of a mixed response, the Georgia also soon sped up the schedules of Trains 1 and 2. The schedule was now accelerated to about three hours and 45
minutes. By comparison, in 1962, the trip was four hours and ten minutes. The next major change in Georgia Railroad operations was shifting the Atlanta terminus from the Atlanta Union Station eastward to Hunter Street effective January 27, 1969. The Georgia had office facilities here almost under the golden dome of the state capitol. It is doubtful that many legislators were making use of 1 and 2 at this time; however it did reduce the overhead a great deal. Finally, a decision was made to shrink the Georgia Railroad mainline passenger service to the absolute minimum. Trains 1 and 2 became mixed trains on July 1, 1969. But these were not just any mixed trains. In fact, they became known as
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