Folkston tracks a hot spot for train spotters

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Posted 12:51PM on Monday, July 15, 2002

FOLKSTON - Fans stir the muggy July air on the covered platform where Barry Cone watches the tracks 75 feet away, listening to engineers chatter over built-in speakers for clues to when the next train will pass. It never takes long in this southeast Georgia city near the Florida line. CSX Railroad estimates 70 of its trains pass through town every day, making Folkston a hot spot for train spotters like Cone. ``I can't wait to get here,'' said Cone, 50, who travels twice a year to Folkston from his home in Torrington, Conn. ``I've watched trains from here to California, and this is one of the hottest spots in the country.'' Locals have nicknamed the heavy-train traffic the Folkston Funnel. Two CSX rail lines from Savannah and Jesup merge just north of town and continue to run parallel into Florida. The potential for five trains crossing the same road within 15 minutes of one another can cause unusual traffic backups for a city of 2,000 people. ``You get frustrated getting from one side of town to another,'' says Mayor Dixie McGurn said. ``If you're going to live here, you're going to have to live with them. I tell people when the trains stop running, the economy of this country is going to be gone.'' Now Folkston is trying to take advantage of its constantly rumbling rails to attract tourism from train buffs. The wooden viewing platform 32 feet long and 15 feet wide was finished a year ago using a $30,000 state grant and inmate labor from nearby D. Ray James Prison. Complete with overhead fans, spotlights for night viewing and speakers that allow visitors to monitor scanner talk among rail traffic controllers, it's one of only two viewing platforms in the South, said Cookie Williams of Folkston, who helped the city get the platform. The other platform is in Manchester in western Georgia. Gary Sease, a CSX spokesman, said train-viewing platforms are rare in the United States. Williams, 73, has been a train buff all his life and often visits the platform looking to chat with others who share his passion. ``A lot of people like to look at the different loads, different cars, graffiti,'' Williams said. ``Things are different on each train.'' Some people watch for older cars from railroad companies no longer in existence or write down the engine numbers in an attempt to see every engine currently in use, Williams said. A guest book at the viewing platform is signed by people from across the nation and as far away as Germany and England. Pat Patel, manager of the Western Motel in Folkston, said he books at least two rooms each weekend to people who come specifically to watch trains. The motel even has a special discount for train enthusiasts. And Williams says he's met people who have come to Folkston for an entire week of train spotting. ``We never did realize how many people would come to watch trains,'' he said.