New Georgia excursion train will visit Jimmy Carter home

AMERICUS, Ga. -- A state-operated excursion train to former President Jimmy Carter's childhood home will start its run through southwest Georgia this fall.

SAM Shortline -- which stands for Savannah-Americus-Montgomery, the line's historic route -- will travel from Cordele to Plains, gliding through cotton fields, pecan groves and peanut farms and over Lake Blackshear. Officials hope the project will stimulate tourism in southwest Georgia.

"It's like a rolling state park," says Tommy Bagby, project sales manager for the state Department of Natural Resources. Critics say the project is more like rolling pork.

"How many people are going to drive to Americus to ride a train to Plains?" asks state House Minority Leader Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg. But, "If it works, I think it will be a stroke of genius."

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman George Hooks of Americus says critics are missing the big picture. The service links two of Georgia's national historic sites -- the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains and the Andersonville National Historic Site in northern Sumter County.

"The Legislature can't do everything for metro Atlanta; we've got to do something for heartland Georgia," Hooks says. "Standing alone, the sites don't have the same draw they will when they're linked together by the train."

Fares will be $20 for adults and $10 for children in the passenger cars, and $30 and $15 in the club car, Bagby says.