Eastern Railroad Discussion > Some Florida Odds and ends..

To fill in some of the dead time between FEC freights shown in the 2 previous threads this week, I made a few detours to some other some other railroad subjects as time allowed.

I went the long way from Stuart to Ft Lauderdale via the cane fields to the west, which allowed me to catch a couple of the late morning sugar cane trains on US Sugar.
1. USSC 503 is on the pull at Pahokie FL with a long trainof sugar cane for the mill at Clewiston.
2. USSC 502 met the loaded cane train at South Bay, and is now rolling past one of the many line side cane loadouts, this one on the west side of Belle Glade. Note both units have new looking and VERY bright LED headlights.
I poked around the fields looking for more jobs working the loaders between South Bay and Clewiston, but struck out. My visit this year was towards the back end of the season, and it didn't seem as busy...maybe they were finished working those fields.
3. After shooting the FEC afternoon trains across town in Ft Lauderdale, I headed over to the west to shoot the Tri Rail afternoon commuter trains on the parallel former CSX line. I made my first shot of this northbound in push mode at the Ft Lauderdale Airport station from the top deck of the parking lot, which was a great vantage point. Unfortunately, the security gaurd didn't like me being up there (no one else was parked up there) and he politely asked me to leave (but said shooting from the platform was OK).
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/17 16:31 by PittsburghMike.

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4. OK, so I relocated to the platform and shot this southbound, also at the airport station. The facilities are very clean and modern, and plenty of people seem to be riding.
5. After that, I decided to try the next stop south at Sheridan St. and caught the only train of the eveing that didn't appear to be lead by a BL36, this one by GP49 816.
6. Just before sundown, Amtrak got into the act as well, with train 91, the SIlver Star rolling the last miles towards Miami.

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7 & 8. I spent some of the following morning at the Ft Lauderdale station, waiting for Amtrak's northbound Silver Meteor. Before he arrived, I caught another Tri Rail run. Here is the northbound, cab car and engine.
9. Finally, here's the Silver Metor, with a nice long consist that included a mix of amfleet, viewliners, and even an ancient looking heritage diner.

Thanks for looking all!

Question: Why does Amtrak seem to run the baggage car on the rear of their Florida trains? Seemed like an odd practice to me vs what I see everywhere else.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/17 16:30 by PittsburghMike.

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Nice shots on ALL of them.  Looks like you did good this year. 
I was able to get down there back in Oct and again in Nov.  Niether trip was a "train trip" but managed to get a few in on both trips.  My Oct trip was for my "Class Reunion" and to see family, which took up most of the time, though I did get out to the Sugar fields one day and got a few FEC's.  The Nov trip was for work, but as luck would have it my Boss is a railfan also so a couple of days we got sidetracked on the way to work.  Plus we were able to fit in a trip to Sugar.  We also spent a little time a Stuart Bridge and did a few night shots.  The schedule we had was a little flexable but we quite a bit to do, but we made good use of our time.  We also had time for dinner at The Pelican Cafe, it was Great.
Mike  (formally from Lake Worth, WPB, Jupiter, Jensen Beach - now Asheville NC) 

Wonderful set, especially the cane trains; thanks!

Andy

VEry nice. I like the photo of #502 long hood forward.
John

Nice pics!!  It looks like you had a fun trip.

In the summer the Florida trains consist is backward.
So actually the baggage is not on the rear,just flip
the consist.
Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.
Also a friend of Mike.




> Thanks for looking all!
>
> Question: Why does Amtrak seem to run the baggage
> car on the rear of their Florida trains? Seemed
> like an odd practice to me vs what I see
> everywhere else.

Nice shots!