Eastern Railroad Discussion > FEC St. Lucie River Drawbridge

The Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway St. Lucie River Drawbridge north of Stuart, FL, was where I found southbound FEC GP40-3 436 on loaded aggregate train 925 April 17, 2007. Bummer the line doesn't' see more morning traffic.

While waiting for another train I found dolphins swimming around the South Fork St. Lucie River just off the marina's dock. There were about six rascals swimming the river channel.

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If you're ever in the Tampa Bay area and want to see dolphins with the family etc. I recommend the Little Toot, Toot boat. It's almost a sure bet to have them follow the boat and ride the wake. Those are wonderful cratures.

FEC's next train was northbound with SD40-2 719, 712 and GP40 440 with plenty of intermodal traffic. Drawbridge is operated by FEC dispatcher who monitors cameras to view the river.

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I thought the FEC main was all double track?

From what I've seen (Daytona Beach northward) it's all impeccably maintained single track with long CTC controlled sidings.

The FEC was entirely double tracked from Jacksonville to Miami in the 1920s, just in time for the collapse of "the big bubble" (the first Florida land boom). The railroad went into receivership, in part because of the cost of the DT, and remained that way until the early 1960s, when a trustee of the DuPont estate named Edward G. Ball bought the railroad out of bankruptcy by acquiring essentially all of its debt for a few cents on the dollar.

Ball single-tracked from West Palm Beach north, replacing the existing track structure with concrete ties, 132 lb. welded rail, and replacing the 1920s ABS with modern CTC. In the mid-1970s, as local traffic declined, it was decided to single-track and CTC the rest of the ralroad from West Palm to Miami.

The current FEC runs about 30 trains per day (both ways). Most of the through trains are either intermodal or rock trains. The rock originates at huge quarries west of Miami. The intermodal traffic goes to and from a terminal at Hialeah (west of Amtrak's station, but visible from the last station on Miami Metro) and to and from Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale.

What was the vantage point from which these shots were taken?

The Roosevelt Bridge carries highway A1A and US 1 over it near the FEC's St. Lucie River bridges at Stuart. No fences along the pedestrian walkways allows easy photography. Only problem up there is the sun and wind - pour on the sun screen before venturing out into the Florida sun!

Note the walkways and fishing locations under the bridge. This place is real hiker and biker friendly.

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A good book to check out is called
Speedway to Sunshine
by, Seth H. Bramson

Published by the Boston Mills Press,

It came out sometime in the early to mid 1980's

Robert aka 8notch.