Eastern Railroad Discussion > A little FEC to pass the time....

Ok, so today I decided to take a couple of hours and do some FEC action. Before I go any further, it should be noted that I had permission to be on FEC property...so no trespassing was involved. This was all in the St. Augustine, FL area where I live. So now that all the legal crap is out of the way....here's how it went.


Quick check of the ATCS showed a train sitting in the siding at Magnolia, along the north side of town. I had just heard the local, 905, go by...and I knew that had to be him. He was clearing up for north bound 210 to come by.

1. Made my way south and found him sitting and waiting on 210. GP40-2 426 in charge today. Right next to the St. Augustine airport...and I think the dragonfly was the only thing flying.

2. Today's 210 arrives with SD70M-2's 141 and 103 in charge. He would continue northward to Bayard to meet southbound train 101 before making it up to Bowden yard in Jacksonville, FL.

3. Old meets new.....but their both Dash 2's! Well, by title only I guess.

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4. A wall of doublestacks makes up the bulk of today's 210. Always an impressive sight.

5. Still waiting on 210, local 905 waits.

6. With 210 out of the way, local 905 wastes no time getting southbound and down as she takes to the mainline at the southend of Magnolia. On the way out...she passes another relic of her time....and both are in great condition.

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7. About a mile or south of the last location, sits the old FEC passenger station. Currently, its used by MofW crews. Here's the front of the old station...which over all I think is in pretty good shape. A lot of Art-deco styling I believe.

8. Along the back. The rock ballast on the left is all that's left of the original doubletracked RofW before it was relocated about 200ft west of the depot. The tracks went straight north thru that blue building right thru a commercial shopping plaza.

9. Looking southward, the outside waiting area.

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10. I did a lot of thinking about the glory days of this station...and I hope at some point it will relive those days again if the FEC/Amtrak deal ever happens. But that wasn't the only reflecting that was going on at the moment. Train 101 rolls by without even giving the depot another thought as it makes its way into the greater St. Augustine area.

11. Time stands still for the old depot....but the trains do not. I wonder how many baggage agents stood at this door and watched trains of those glory days go by. (ok, ya alot of those days were not!)

12. Two of the FEC employees I chatted with offered me this lithograph of the depot back in the good ole days....shot from the cab of a northbound E unit. You can see of course that back in the day there was no shopping plaza and the tracks then turned left to parallel US-1. ( That curve is still visible today). Much thanks to these two gents for the chat and litho, as well as securing the permission to shoot today. (both of which had 25-30 years on the FEC)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 13:40 by KV1guy.

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Nice shots and cool HDR touches. #10 is my favorite without a doubt.

Love the paint scheme on the 426. Has a classic look to it. I especially like the hurricane logo on the front.

Thanks for the post. Very interesting.

Great photos of the station and other trains. Why did they move the track 200 feet away from the station? If the new line is built, they probably will not use this unless they put in a siding. They will probably just have an Amshack style shed instead. That's progress.

Very interesting post. I have to agree that photo #10 is a great shot.
John

cforssi Wrote:
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> Great photos of the station and other trains. Why
> did they move the track 200 feet away from the
> station? If the new line is built, they probably
> will not use this unless they put in a siding.
> They will probably just have an Amshack style shed
> instead. That's progress.


I'm not sure. A guess would be that maybe it had to do with the FEC's old Miller shops being located there. I already saw the plans they initially drew up from the station. It would just have a long covered walkway out to the current alignment. Obviously the station would get a lot of attention before reopening. Thanks for the compliments guys!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 20:23 by KV1guy.

Great pictures.. Really nice stuff. So, you DO get a day off every once in a while!!!

Yup...feast or famine!

Are pictures 1,5,6 real pictures taken by a Camera,Or are they Drawings,they seam FUZZY to me....Scoob

scoobydoobydoo Wrote:
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> Are pictures 1,5,6 real pictures taken by a
> Camera,Or are they Drawings,they seam FUZZY to
> me....Scoob

HDR shots. High Dynamic range.

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