Eastern Railroad Discussion > Any Bridges on FEC at Fort Lauderdale, FL?

I'll be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in April. Any Florida East Coast bridges in that area? How's the rail traffic in the afternoons?

You're supposed to check out sun, surf, sand, seashells and bikinis, not "The Speedway"! Have fun! -- -- -- -- -- -- JLH

Should be a northbound or two in the late afternoon/early evening, and maybe 101 coming south, too, according to this:

http://www.trainweb.org/brettrw/fec/fec.html

(Click on the schedule link)

Cozephyr, there is a nice bridge just south of West Broward Blvd. SW Flagler Ave., what or who else, parallels the track there on the east side. In '89 it had a digital display to inform boaters when it was about to close. I can't explain Highgreengraphics disorientation. Gerry

Just below downtown is a lift bridge. It stays up until there is a train coming. You have at least a 3 minute warning.

I found a riverside restaurant on the southwest side of the bridge. I had a long lunch (2.5 hours) with good food and beer. Got nice pics of FEC trains - three of them. Good sun angle.

It was my idea of a nice day railfanning.

Koch, I had lunch at the same restaurant last Thursday, trying to recruit a writer for my magazine. Trains kept appearing across the drawbridge and my recruiting efforts flagged. Name of the restaurant is Shirttail Charlies, and it is highly recommended for both the cuisine and ambience and trainwatching. 400 WE 3d Avenue.

Fred

Would this be New River? I tried the address on Mapquest but it didn't find a match. Thanks gents for the great suggestion.

Dining and railfanning combined into the same outing - great concept!

Shirttail Charlie's Restaurant
400 S.W. 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
Reservations: 954-463-FISH (3474)
Email: reservations@shirttailcharlies.com

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale.
On the FEC, a unit train of rock or whatever goes north
often between 5:00PM and 6:00PM. This train is very
heavy with around 140 loads, often has three SD-40-2's for
power.
There are a couple of areas just north of Oakland Park
Blvd. about three miles north of Broward Blvd. where you
should be able to park fairly close to the track and he
will be working harder through this area and moving faster
than at the New River Bridge.
From the time that the horn starts buzzing and the
signals start going off for boat traffic, it takes five
minutes before the bridge is lowered and another couple of
minutes before the bridge is locked down and a signal is
actually displayed for a train.
We are getting into longer daylight hours in the evening
and you have a good chance of seeing more than one north-
bound train in the late afternoon and early evening hours
before darkness sets in. Sometimes the unit train also
has a second section following the first one.
There is lots of freight traffic on this well maintained
line using SD-40-2's and GP-40-2's all of which are
generally clean and look good.
NW