Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX Wildwood to Tampa

There has been a significant drop in traffic on the Wildwood to Tampa branch.  Can anyone shed some light please.  Thank you.

steam3854039 Wrote:
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> There has been a significant drop in traffic on
> the Wildwood to Tampa branch.  Can anyone shed
> some light please.  Thank you.

Wildwood to Tampa is not a branch, it is the former SAL mainline, commonly known as the S Line.  Technically the CSX Wildwood & Yoeman Subdivisions.  The reduction in traffic that you see is probably due to CSX eliminating the unit rock trains and the Tropicana Juice train.  The rock cars have been added to Q441/442 and Q452/453.  Juice cars have been added to Q045/046.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/18 18:01 by RFandPFan.

Thank you.   I was aware it is the former SAL,  just a poor wording of the inquiry on my part.    Your response makes alot of sense.  I knew about the tropicana being added to  Q045 & Q046,  but not aware of the rock trains.   Thank you again
 

There are fewer trains today than there were about 5 or so years ago.  That’s due to trains combining.  So most that run now are 10 - 15,000 ft and 200 cars.  Currently, there are 12 scheduled daily road trains over the Wildwood Sub plus about 3 unit trains a day.  Here are the scheduled trains:

•intermodal
Q045 Jacksonville, FL - Tampa, FL (carries empty Tropicana reefers)
Q046 Tampa, FL - Jacksonville, FL (carries loaded Tropicana reefers)
Q177 Jacksonville, FL - Winter Haven, FL
Q178 Winter Haven, FL - Jacksonville, FL

•autorack
Q213 Baldwin, FL - Winston, FL (loads)
Q214 Winston, FL - Baldwin, FL (empties)

•manifest
Q441 Waycross, GA - Tampa, FL
Q442 Tampa, FL - Waycross, GA
Q452 Miami, FL - Waycross, GA
Q453 Waycross, GA - Miami, FL
Q603 Waycross, GA - Winston, FL
Q604 Winston, FL - Waycross, GA

•locals 
A765 Baldwin, FL  Works Brooker and Deerhaven Subs
A781 Baldwin, FL  Works Wildwood Sub south to Hawthorne and the Edgar Spur
A782 Wildwood, FL. Works Wildwood Sub north to Ocala and south to Zephyrhills

Most common unit trains are Bone Valley (Mulberry area) phosphate and molten sulphur trains, coal trains to Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa, Red Level, and Brooksville.  There are also ethanol trains for Tampa.

Andrew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/18 18:38 by florida581.

Q214 runs the A-Line (Sanford Sub) it comes through Palatka, FL around 12-1am.

Posted from Android

Dewman45 Wrote:
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> Q214 runs the A-Line (Sanford Sub) it comes
> through Palatka, FL around 12-1am.
>
Q214 is an S Line train.  

Andrew

For the last 4 months is been running on the Sanford sub through Palatka then turning left in Jacksonville then left again in Baldwin to get to the yard.

Posted from Android

Dewman45 Wrote:
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> For the last 4 months is been running on the
> Sanford sub through Palatka then turning left in
> Jacksonville then left again in Baldwin to get to
> the yard.

I assure you, Q214 runs the Wildwood Sub.  The A line sees 2 pairs of Baldwin - Taft trains.  M738 (Baldwin - Taft) and O741 (Taft - Baldwin) haul manifest traffic.  And there’s the newcomers, O758 (Baldwin - Taft) and O759 (Taft - Baldwin).  Both started running on 10/20 and both haul autoracks.

Andrew

Yes Q 213 and Q214 run the wildwood sub.
 

We sometimes forget that the Wildwood Sub ends at Vitis Junction, south of Dade City and at Vitis splits into the Yeoman sub to Plant City and Tamps but also into the Vitis sub whic goes to Lakeland Jct. and, from there, can either go east to Orlando on ex-ACL or east to Auburndale on ex-ACL and then to south Florida via ex-SAL, OR can go west to Winston Yard or to Tampa on the former ACL.

So we have this list of trains on the Wildwood sub and, in theory, some of them could go via either route. Can anyone explain which ones go via the Yeoman sub and which via the Vitis sub? CSX actually has the flexibility to run trains "either way"....but what would be of interest is which way the trains run most of the time. So, for example, an intermodal destined for the Winter Haven Logistics Center would, presumably, run via the Vitis sub. But a train going into Winston Yard west of Lakeland might conceivably use either route.

superchief1944 Wrote:
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> We sometimes forget that the Wildwood Sub ends at
> Vitis Junction, south of Dade City and at Vitis
> splits into the Yeoman sub to Plant City and Tamps
> but also into the Vitis sub whic goes to Lakeland
> Jct. and, from there, can either go east to
> Orlando on ex-ACL or east to Auburndale on ex-ACL
> and then to south Florida via ex-SAL, OR can go
> west to Winston Yard or to Tampa on the former
> ACL.

The Wildwood Sub actually ends in Zephyrhills, 4 miles south of Vitis Jct.  The Yeoman Sub then runs south from that point towards Tampa.  Although considered part of the “S Line”, Vitis Jct is an all ex-ACL location.  In fact, everything from Owensboro to Zephyrhills, as well as the entire Vitis Sub to Lakeland, is former ACL trackage.  After the merger, SCL chose the ACL right of way because it traversed the eastern outskirts of Dade City and Zephyrhills while the SAL main went through the cities’ downtowns.

> So we have this list of trains on the Wildwood sub
> and, in theory, some of them could go via either
> route. Can anyone explain which ones go via the
> Yeoman sub and which via the Vitis sub? CSX
> actually has the flexibility to run trains "either
> way"....but what would be of interest is which way
> the trains run most of the time. So, for example,
> an intermodal destined for the Winter Haven
> Logistics Center would, presumably, run via the
> Vitis sub. But a train going into Winston Yard
> west of Lakeland might conceivably use either
> route.

As for routing, Q441 and Q442 are the only scheduled trains to regularly run the Yeoman side towards Tampa.  Also, Tampa and Brooksville coal and Tampa ethanol trains regularly go this way.  Everything else is regularly routed on the Vitis Sub towards Lakeland.  But as you mentioned, virtually any of trains can go either way depending on trackwork, curfews, or other track / train conditions.

Andrew

Andrew

florida581 Wrote:
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> I assure you, Q214 runs the Wildwood Sub.  The A
> line sees 2 pairs of Baldwin - Taft trains.  M738
> (Baldwin - Taft) and O741 (Taft - Baldwin) haul
> manifest traffic.  And there’s the newcomers,
> O758 (Baldwin - Taft) and O759 (Taft - Baldwin).
>  Both started running on 10/20 and both haul
> autoracks.
>
> Andrew

So 213 and 214 in and out of Winston are just Tampa auto racks, correct.?  Did not know 0758 and 0759 were running, they run thru Jacksonville?  I missed that change.
Also, after looking at the 2 auto ramps at Taft and in Tampa which is a long way around to get to, I see a good idea for CSX to build a new auto ramp at Lakeland and close the Tampa and Orlando auto ramps. Both old ramps are good prime real estate that would sell. Everybody distributes for the whole area out of Lakeland. My intermodal trucker working both Tampa and Orlando-Winter Haven ramps was based in Lakeland,

gmojim
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/18 08:44 by gmojim.