Will be visiting Panama City Beach, Florida in a few weeks. Are there any train shops or other related train activities in the area,that are worth the time to visit?
Thanks
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Anything??????
Are you driving? Because if you are you will probably pass by lots of interesting train stuff but you won't find much of interest in PC Florida.
People go there for the white sandy beaches and alcohol. If you are not interested in either one of those you will be bored.
What brings you to Panama City?
Let's see. Well, that about sums it all!
Actually, you can do some train watching. The local shortline, the Atlanta and St Andrews Bay RR (Bay Line) parallels US231 from the Interstate. Their main yard in which they receive and dispatch 100-car trains is across the highway from the Mall so you can let the other half go shopping while you watch. They have a complete engine facility. The two main industries are the paper mill to the east and the port to the west. They export wood fuel pellets to Scandinavia and ship locally made large diameter pipe the rest of the US. The pellet dumping facility is by the east fence and long trains pull through it dumping their loads a couple times a week. One will often see engines from foreign roads -- UP and CSX for example.
Hobby shops are virtually none existent.
September 21 & 22 is the Dothan train show and the National Peanut Festival fairgrounds just over the FL/AL line on US231.
The Consolidated Model Railroaders http://cmrx.info/ meets every Tuesday and Thursday evenings. It is HO. There is little O scale. Only 4 TCA members. The regional TCA division hasn't met for 3 years.
On the way here, there a a couple of railroad displays in the towns along I-10. One is the West Florida Railroad Museum (Address: PO Box 7156, Milton, FLORIDA, 32570 USA. Tel.: 904-623-3645) Preserve the Northwest Florida, South Alabama, railroad legacy centering on the L&N Railroad. RR depot, caboose, cars, model railroad telegraph, Depot days 2nd week in November.
Here's a link to more. http://www.denverrails.com/db/stlist.cfm?state=FL
Steam locos on display (The last few from Blountstown to the end). http://www.steamlocomotive.com/florida/
And a few final links can be found here.
http://www.jaxhistory.com/Jack...0Story/Railroads.htm
Live steam. http://www.veteransmemorialrailroad.org/index.html
Jan
Originally Posted by Flash:
Are you driving? Because if you are you will probably pass by lots of interesting train stuff but you won't find much of interest in PC Florida.
People go there for the white sandy beaches and alcohol. If you are not interested in either one of those you will be bored.
What brings you to Panama City?
We are flying. On vacation to enjoy the white sandy beaches
Thanks , Jan
