Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX juice/trash train humps over the Corridor

A few days ago I rooled out my bike and went to West Philadelphia caught the CSX juice/trash train coming into Philly northbound from the Lindbergh Blvd. bridge (which also hosts the Elmood Ave. SEPTA trolley). In the first shot you can see one of the Woodland Ave. trolleys crossing the bridge in the far distance. The big steel bridge framing the train is CSX'x crossing of the Northeast Corridor at about 58th St. The last shot shows the train approaching the Schuylkill river swing bridge and the entrance to CSX Eastside yard. I see CSX handles the Tropicana cars like any other freight - no more exclusive service for them.

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Thanks.  That's an interesting location and perspective.  Gerry

Cool shots of an area not often seen in Philly.

Excellent photos. The telephoto really accentuates what the train crew is dealing with.

Looks like once over the NEC it's all "down hill" - LOL

CSXperiment Wrote:
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> Cool shots of an area not often seen in Philly.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing.

It's a shame to see the juice train down to about 16 loads, by my count.  I can remember when the daily cut was 80 cars, on its own train.

If people aren't buying as much orange juice, Tropicana won't be making as much.

Looks like way more than 16 cars in that telephoto shot, plus some UPRR reefers in there, too, probably for shipment west.

Remember that the Florida citrus industry has taken an ENORMOUS hit, all because of the Asian citrus pysillid.  Nasty little bug that causes "citrus greening", which really shold be called "citrus yellowing", as the tree's leaves all turn yellow, and the tree dies.  Almost half of all citrus acreage in Florida has been lost to this damn bug (from Asia, of course....).  Huge job losses.  Packing houses shutting down.  Prices up for juice.  No cure for the disease, but scientists think the only way to stop the spread is use of GMO trees, which many don't want.  So, that has an impact on this train, as well.

I think they are just sending juce cars in blocks and not waiting around for a trainload to roll them out. 

jonjonjonjon Wrote:
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 I
> see CSX handles the Tropicana cars like any other
> freight - no more exclusive service for them.

I caught Q400 in South Carolina on Friday. If I remember correctly, It had 4 different blocks of Tropicana cars in the train; 2 blocks up near the front, and 2 near the rear. Maybe 30-35 cars in total.

Juice packers get a lot of product from Brazil, too.

I drive cross state to Fort Myers and Sarasota every few weeks. Lots of abandoned orange groves.

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coach Wrote:
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> Looks like way more than 16 cars in that telephoto
> shot, plus some UPRR reefers in there, too,
> probably for shipment west.
>
> Remember that the Florida citrus industry has
> taken an ENORMOUS hit, all because of the Asian
> citrus pysillid.  Nasty little bug that causes
> "citrus greening", which really shold be called
> "citrus yellowing", as the tree's leaves all turn
> yellow, and the tree dies.  Almost half of all
> citrus acreage in Florida has been lost to this
> damn bug (from Asia, of course....).  Huge job
> losses.  Packing houses shutting down.  Prices
> up for juice.  No cure for the disease, but
> scientists think the only way to stop the spread
> is use of GMO trees, which many don't want.  So,
> that has an impact on this train, as well.

What else is Asia going to give us?  Stink bugs, Corona Virus...

And remember, to be called Florida orange juice, it has to be squeezed in Florida, not necessarily grown in Florida.