Railfanning Florida - 2

Hi, Our fourth day began in Stuart so I could get another shot I had wanted after seeing it on line.

This view of #109 is from the new U.S. 1 highway bridge over the St. Lucie River.

As there would be no more FEC mainline trains until late afternoon we headed to West Palm to begin our photography of Tri Rail (above and two below). They have some new Brookville Locomotive Works locomotives and

new cab cars.

We then moved to Mangonia Park (above and two below), the end of the line.

In the late afternoon we returned to Stuart for #202 and

#101.

We spent the night in Stuart. As we were leaving the motel the next morning we heard a train blowing for a grade crossing so we went to look for it and found local #920.

We moved south to Ft. Lauderdale in hopes of getting out from under the cloud cover (above and below). We were successful.

Then we drove into downtown to scope out a location at which Jim wanted to shoot #109 (above and two below).

Another location high on our list was in Miami where we caught the Port Job bringing containers to the Port of Miami (above and two below).

The rest of the day was spent photographing Tri Rail, first at Ft. Lauderdale Airport - Dania Beach (above and five below) and

Boca Raton.

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning Florida - 1

Hi, I Friend Jim Kleeman and I spent nine days in Florida from March 19 through March 27 photographing the Florida East Coast, Brightline, Tri Rail, and the United States Sugar Operations. The photos below are from our first three days of shooting.

We arrived in Jacksonville just in time for lunch after which we headed to St. Augistine where we caught #101 (above and below).

After a four hour wait, as the sun dipped behind the trees, #107 came south.

Our first train on Monday was #226 in St. Augustine (above and below).

What do you do when there are no trains to photograph - 1.

We followed US 1 south from St. Augustine. As we passed Bayard we spotted some cars and went in search of the locomotive. Shortly we found local #905 switching (above and three below).

Our last train of the day was #101 at Melbourne.

One location I really wanted to shoot was Roseland. Here is #109 by dawns early light (above and below) on Tuesday.

Next up was #210 at Melbourne. I had shot two northbound trains here during my 2015 trip but they were both 3/4 views so I was glad to get this broadside.

From Melbourne we drove to West Palm Beach to try to get some information on Brightline operations. This is the new passenger line, currently owned by FEC, that is planned to begin running this summer between Miami and West Palm Beach.

After being asked to leave by a security guard when we parked in the Brightline lot outside the shop fence we moved across the tracks and waited. Shortly a group of Siemens people came out. I was unsuccessful in getting someone's attention to ask some questions, however, someone else came outside the fence and asked if we would like to come in and take some photos. He turned out to be Brightline's Chief Mechanical Officer. The photos above and the three below were taken as he escorted us around the shop and answered questions.

What do you do when there when there are no trains to photograph - 2, take a picture of Jim taking a picture of a Great Blue Heron in Stuart.

And then there was a train to photograph. #202 came north throuh Stuart with a large block of stone cars on the head end (above and below). Stuart was another location I really wanted to shoot. On my last trip I got only one angle in cloudy weather.

While waiting for the next train at the south end of the bridge I noticed that the new US 1 highway bridge was interesting. I thought it might look better in black and white.

Our day finished with southbound #101 (above and below).

Thanks for looking.