Which South/Southeastern city has more freight train traffic? (best, map, largest)

[Fastphilly]

I am a railroad geek and every other year I choose a city to do some railfanning/train spotting..I am really into the mile long freight trains. I'd like to focus on cities in the eastern half of the Sun Belt region (basicly Houston on to the East). I would imagine that Atlanta, Dallas and Houston would be the best of the three choices. So hopefully folks in here can steer me in the right direction and let me know which city has the most commerce/freight train traffic in South/Southeast region?

[HtownLove]

ATL would probably be the most. It and Dallas has way more freight traffic than Houston.

ATL gets freight from a number of ports and ships it to a number of places.

DFW gets freight from Houston, Brownsville, Other Texas Ports and LA/Long Beach.

Houston doesn't even do a lot of storage and distribution. It gives up on a lot of money by sending the freight to Dallas right off the boat.

[lammius]

Actually Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis and New Orleans would be my picks (probably in that order, and the latter two because you can see the eastern and western railroads).

Atlanta and Dallas are probably the two largest intermodal hubs in the region:
Figure 3-3. Tonnage of Trailer-on-Flatcar and Container-on-Flatcar Rail Intermodal Moves: 2009 - Freight Facts and Figures 2011 - FHWA Freight Management and Operations

And Norfolk Southern's Inman Yard in Atlanta is the nation's first intermodal yard, and with CSX's Tilford Yard next door, there's a lot of working track out there.

[Mutiny77]

I'd imagine Atlanta. It was founded as a railroad hub.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Fastphilly

I am a railroad geek and every other year I choose a city to do some railfanning/train spotting..I am really into the mile long freight trains. I'd like to focus on cities in the eastern half of the Sun Belt region (basicly Houston on to the East). I would imagine that Atlanta, Dallas and Houston would be the best of the three choices. So hopefully folks in here can steer me in the right direction and let me know which city has the most commerce/freight train traffic in South/Southeast region?

I'd say Atlanta has more followed by Dallas & then Houston.

[Fastphilly]

Awesome railroad maps complete with frequencies!! Thanks a bunch fellas

[KodeBlue]

Baltimore was once a rail road hub.

[south-to-west]

Actually Dallas is the second largest inland port in the country - following Chicago. Atlanta is the third largest.

[creeksitter]

Wow, look at that map - Kansas City has it going on!

How about Chattanooga - you can stay in a railcar at the choo choo hotel.

As I type this one of my 15-25 daily trains rolls by and rattles the windows. I see it is headed to Cincinnatti.

[lammius]

New freight train map candy in today's New York Times:

Untangling Chicago?s Rail Mess - Graphic - NYTimes.com