Railfanning Florida - 3

Hi, This is the final post on the trip I took to Florida in March with Jim Kleeman. It was delayed as my wife and I spent 3 weeks in April with Jim and his wife in Europe. I hope to begin posting photos of that trip shortly.

We had been told that a Bright Line train set would test run on Friday, March 24 so we staked out a highway bridge south of the shop, which can be seen in the distance above the train. First up was a stone train which moved down to the new Bright Line station to dump ballast (above and below).

After a while #109 came south then

#950 arrived and yarded its train. At this point things were going to die on the railroad and we got tired of waiting for Bright Line. As we had reservations in Clewiston, FL for Friday and Saturday night (FEC is dead on the weekends) we decided to head that way at mid day.

The photos presented below were taken Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. During the cane harvest, which I believe begins in January and ends in early to mid April, the cane trains run 24/7. I will provide location information as I have it and any aspects of the photo I believe are noteworthy.

St. Catherine Avenue, south loop, Clewiston, FL.

Off Evercane Road, south loop, Clewiston, FL.

South of the wye in Clewiston, FL.

US 27, Clewiston, FL (above and below).

Sonora Ave., Clewiston, FL. This was our final shot on Friday.

The cane fields are set on fire just before the cane is cut, supposedly to remove the leafy material. There is controversy as to whether this affects the taste of the sugar. The fires last about 20 minutes and produce some spectacular smoke clouds.

Evercane Road, south loop, Clewiston, FL.

Moore Haven, FL.

Miami Canal Road, south loop, Lake Harbor, FL (above and below).

Rogers Road, south loop, Clewiston, FL (above and below).

On Sunday we headed north. While crossing the Caloosahatchee Canal we noticed a pair of light engines. Because engines running in multiple are extremely rare on the cane railroads we decided to try and find out where they were going.

Not only does this line serve a number of loaders north of Clewiston, it also provides a connection to CSX at Sebring, FL. After a great deal of driving out of sight of the railroad and some searching in Sebring I spotted a headlight to the south. There were some interchange tracks and when it became obvious the power was going to make a pickup we sent south to DeSoto Road.

The pickup was a unit potash train which we followed south.

While the power completed the pickup, pumped up the air and did a brake test we moved south to County Road 17 (above and below).

We caught the train again at Lake Placid, FL (above and below) and at

Palmdale, FL before giving up the chase.

Empties crossing the Caloosahatchee Canal at Moore Haven, FL.

Three units on a cane train. This is the first time in four visits to the area I have seen multiple units on a cane train.

Miami Canal Road, south loop, Lake Harbor, FL (above and 2 below).

Thus ended our photography for a really great trip. My thanks to Jim for his outstanding navigation and for his knowledge of the FEC. Thanks for looking.

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.