The Savannah Subdivision is one of two mainlines that the Georgia Central Railway owns and operates. The line runs from Vidalia, GA, to Savannah, GA, and has a total of 36 signalized railroad crossings along it, just three less than the Macon Subdivision. In my three trips to this line (one in 2020 and two in 2021), I was able to get about half of them recorded, though my 2021 trips didn't really focus on this line TBH.
The first part of this line (between Vidalia and Lyons) was originally built by the Savannah, Americus, & Montgomery Railway in 1890 as an extension of the 3 foot narrow-gauge Americus, Preston and Lumpkin Railroad that they'd taken over two years prior to Lyons. During the construction of this extension, however, the existing narrow-gauge track was replaced with standard gauge track, as well as extending the line westwords, eventually reaching Montgomery, AL. At Lyons, the railroad interchanged with the Savannah & Western Railroad, which had built a line to Meldrim, GA, where it appears to have connected to at least one other railroad to get to Savannah (most likely also having "Savannah" in its name), though I'm not certain which railroad this was.
However, in 1894, the S&W fell into hard times financially, selling off off some then-recent acquisitions and what remained being taken over by the Central of Georgia Railway, including their line between Lyons and Meldrim. Then, in 1895, the SA&M went bankrupt, and the line from Lyons to Montgomery was taken over by the Georgia & Alabama Railway, which then leased trackage rights from the CofG to Meldrim. This railroad would only last about five years before, in 1900, being acquired by the then-newly formed Seaboard Air Line, who, at some point (though not entirely sure when) would eventually acquire the entire line from Montgomery, AL, to Savannah, GA.
The SAL, SCL, and SBD would all continue to own and operate this line However, in 1986 (before CSX was formed), the SBD abandoned the section between Montgomery, AL and Marht, AL, with the rest falling under CSX's ownership. Then, in 1989, the line between Marht, AL, and Rhine, GA, was sold-off by CSX to the then-newly formed Georgia Southwestern Railroad. The following year, CSX chose to sell-off the section from Vidalia to Savannah to Rail Link, who created the GC to operate it and the Macon Sub. Since then, the GC has owned and operated this part of the former SAL Savannah to Montgomery mainline, even after being acquired by the G&W in 2012.
In terms of crossings, the Savannah Sub is the less interesting of the GC's two mainlines. Unlike the Macon Sub, the GC has gone through and more heavily modernized this line, replacing a lot of older installs in more recent years. In fact, out of the 36 crossings along this line, 25 of them are entirely LED while a 26th has a mix of LEDs and incandescents. The line does retain one of only two active gateless crossings on the GC though, with the one on this line being the lone crossing in Manassas.
There is also still some older equipment along the line though. For example, the gate masts (and WRRS gate mech) at State Street, the bell-less signal in Manassas, and the pair of gated signals at Old Dean Forest Road in Pooler all date back to the SAL. There are also some old SCL and SBD installs, even a couple of installs from CSX, but most of these that still remain have been modernized over the years. In fact, when I first visited this line in 2020, there were only two remaining crossings on it with 8 inch lights (both of which I recorded), though, by the time I returned in 2021, the 8 inch crossing in Pooler had had its lights upgraded to 12x20 inch LEDs.
The bell variety ain't too great along this line either. In fact, almost all of the mechanical bells that remain are from WCH, though the line does retain a WRRS bell and the GC's only remaining US&S mechanical bell, both located in Pooler. The gate mechs along the line ain't too varied either. Most of them are a mix of older and newer Safetran gate mechs and newer WCH gate mechs, though there are a few older WCH gate mechs mixed in as well. However, there are still two WRRS gate mechs (one in Lyons and one in Pooler), along with two WABCO Model 75 gate mechs (one in Pembroke, the other in Pooler, though I didn't record the latter), and the GC's one remaining US&S Model 75 gate mech can be found along this line, also in Pooler. The line also contains the GC's only Invensys Rail gate mechs, all located at five different crossings in Claxton.
Likewise, most of the lights along this line are older & newer Safetran & WCH 12 inch lights, but there are also some older & newer Modern Industries lights, later Harmon lights, and both styles of Progress Rail light-head along this line. It even features some older WABCO 12x20 inch lights in Pembroke, the only ones on the GC. In terms of LEDs, Harmon Dotted (older and newer), Harmon Fading, General Signals, GE Uniform Look, and WCH 2nd Gen are all represented here.
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