Tourist
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Azalea Sprinter"South Georgia’s premier excursion train" |
Willacoochee, Ga / Apr 2022 / RWH
he Azalea Sprinter is South Georgia’s premier excursion train – traveling along the historic Georgia & Florida Railroad. Join us for a memorable rail journey through beautiful rural Georgia, through a series of short roundtrip excursions, with three different rail car seating options available.
naugurated in the spring of 2021, the Azalea Sprinter is a scheduled passenger excursion operation based in south Georgia, owned and operated by the CaterParrott Railnet shortline company. CaterParrott offers regular freight service on four former Norfolk Southern segments around the state, and the Azalea Sprinter makes use of the Valdosta to Willacoochee branchline to operate passenger service. Formerly a portion of the historic Georgia & Florida regional railroad (later Southern Railway), the segment is now owned by the state of Georgia and operated by CaterParrott. Azalea Sprinter passenger operations are based in Nashville, Georgia, and offer a variety of trips between Willacoochee and Valdosta. Plans for expanded service include greater reach into downtown Valdosta and service northeast to Douglas, Georgia. Trains are ordinarily operated with motive power at each end utilizing CaterParrott locomotives. A roster of refurbished former Amtrak passenger equipment includes a coach, a table car, an operating diner, and a baggage car converted to provided head end power for the train. A restored Southern Railway bay-window caboose is a available for groups and parties. Schedules and tickets are available at Azalea Sprinter.
See also our complete CaterParrott Railnet scrapbook in Shortlines
2021 brochure / collection
web
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
1910 Official Guide ad / collection
Georgia railroad map / collection
Azalea Sprinter route map / web
1928 timetable / collection
Willacoochee, Ga / Apr 2022 / RWH
Article
All aboard: New excursion train aims to help economic development in South Ga.
March 10, 2021
South Georgia’s newest excursion train will travel along the historic Georgia and Florida Railroad.
The Azalea Sprinter is taking its first official run this weekend and seats are already sold out.
“We put this online and we filled up three trains in less than two days, so people love this type of thing,” said Jamie Cater, Co-CEO of CaterParrott Railnet. Cater and Chris Parrott, also Co-CEO, said in addition to pulling freight, they wanted to do something that can help communities.
They also want to offer people a tourist attraction and method of transportation. “We feel like the smaller towns will get a lot of benefits. We’ll have people that we’re carrying that will get off and shop,” said Parrott. Currently, the train departs from Nashville and travels either to Willacoochee, Moody Air Force Base or Valdosta.
“The whole dream for me is revitalization, and I was looking at an area like Savannah Avenue and trying to think, ‘how do I walk a block from our beautiful downtown into an area that is not so beautiful, how do I walk that block and what would spur mass growth, mass renovation and mass revitalization’ and I thought ‘well, as I stood on the ground I was contemplating, I noticed that it was where the train used to come into downtown,” Scott James Matheson, Valdosta mayor, said.
Right now, you have to drive from Downtown Valdosta to the stop. They plan to bring a stop to Downtown. Matheson said a train depot will be built in the area of East Hill Avenue. The city also worked with an economist to map out how much of an economic impact the train stop can bring, showing millions.
“It’s another draw to bring people in, not to mention in blinded areas or areas that need private investment. If you got an influx of 300 people a weekend into a location, you bet people are going to be opening up a restaurant, or buying a downtown property that is blinded right now and saying ‘what can we do with it.’ So this is going to increase property values, it’s going to bring in people, increase jobs,” said Parrot.
Cater and Parrott said they’re working to get more stops.
Azalea Sprinter has a max capacity of 130, and because of the pandemic, it’s at half capacity.
Jennifer Morejon — WALB 10 News
photo Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / Gragg Robinson
collection
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Collections
Sprinter Trips
Azalea People
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Mar 2021 / RWH
Mar 2021 / RWH
Mar 2021 / RWH
Mar 2021 / RWH
RWH
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Oct 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Oct 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Apr 2021 / RWH
Willacoochee, Ga / Oct 2021 / ETH
Willacoochee, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Lagniappe
Mile Fifty Six
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Two Became One
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Southbound to Valdosta
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Sabbath
Mar 2021 / RWH
Reporting for Duty
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
On the Azalea Trail
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Alapaha Afternoon
Bannockburn, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Weber Wilderness
Weber, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Homestead
Bannockburn, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Watch Your Step
Mar 2021 / RWH
Generations
Mar 2021 / RWH
The Enchanted Forest
Weber, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Down Time
Willacoochee, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Front Row Seat
Mar 2021 / RWH
Sprinter Territory
Bannockburn, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Fifteen Hundred Horses
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Along the Georgia & Florida
Weber, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Georgia friends: Head down south to little Nashville, Georgia, where the land is as flat as the new pines are tall. Enjoy the fine hospitality of my friend Christopher Parrott and the good folks of CaterParrott Railnet, all of whom actually look like they are enjoying themselves. You'll enjoy their brand new tourist operation, the terrific Azalea Sprinter. Amble with them through the lovely South Georgia farmlands, in the grand shortline tradition: fine style at a leisurely pace. You'll be in the care of some great railroaders, who have obviously taken the time to get their new Sprinter off on the right foot. Custom napkins. Clean windows. Stainless steel Budds shining in the sun. And a conductor dressed to the nines, taking time to great every row. No chatterbox announcements here. No gimmicks. No ramshackle rolling stock. Just a fine, quiet ride across the cotton fields and waterways with folks who know what a railroad is all about. Fifteen miles per hour never felt so good.
Riding into the Sunset
Nashville, Ga / Aug 2021 / Gragg Robinson
Snapshots
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / DKT
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Mar 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Mar 2021 / RWH
Mar 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Oct 2021 / ETH
Nashville, Ga / Oct 2021 / ETH
Nashville, Ga / Oct 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Oct 2021 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Nov 2022 / RWH
Nov 2022 / RWH
Nov 2022 / Gabe Fletcher
Nov 2022 / Gabe Fletcher
Nashville, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Jun 2024 / RWH
Willacoochee, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Jun 2024 / RWH
Nashville, Ga / Jun 2024 / ETH
Links / Sources
- Azalea Sprinter website
- CaterParrott Railnet website
- Railfan Wiki Azalea Sprinter page
- All aboard: New excursion train aims to help economic development in South Ga.