Florida Sun, Georgia Rain

Norfolk Southern; Valdosta, Ga.; March 16, 2014

As we work to get caught up on a heap of recent travels, this post takes us back to March and a trip from Florida back to New Jersey. Along with brother Bruce, I flew down to Orlando to pick up a car to drive home. Our goal was short lines along the way, but with the first two days of the trip occurring on a weekend, short line activity was minimal. We wound up with a lot of Amtrak action, but did catch some freight stuff here and there. The weather in Florida was sunny, but as we moved north we were overcome by heavy rain (such as above on Norfolk Southern in Valdosta, Ga.). Here is some of the freight action we caught in between Amtrak encounters.

Saturday, March 14, found not much moving on short lines. The Florida Central has several lines in the Orlando/Ocala area, and we found this lonely CF7 not far off of Amtrak's route through Lake Wales.

Florida Central; Lake Wales, Fla.; March 14, 2014

We found another lonely Florida Central unit waiting out the weekend at Eagle Lake, not far from Winter Haven.

Florida Central; Eagle Lake, Fla.; March 14, 2014

The next day the sun was still shining and once again we were busy shooting Amtrak for the most part. However, right around the time Auto Train was to head north from Sanford, a CSX freight made an appearance. Off to the right is the new shop complex for SunRail, which had still not started commuter service to Orlando at the time of this visit.

CSX Transportation; Sanford, Fla.; March 15, 2014

A quick look at ATCS Monitor showed that Florida East Coast train No. 101 was still working its way southward from Jacksonville, so we zipped over to Titusville to intercept it.

Florida East Coast; Titusville, Fla.; March 15, 2014

From there it was back over to the Sanford area to get a night shot I've always wanted. The goal was a southbound train crossing the St. John's River at Lake Morgan. At 10:26 that night, the goal was accomplished.

CSX Transportation; St. John's River, Sanford, Fla.; March 15, 2014

We didn't get as far north as we would have liked that night, but that put us in St. Augustine around daybreak, right around the time the Florida East Coast northbound rush gets in. Being it was a Monday morning it wasn't much of a rush (intermodal trains don't load in Miami on Sunday night) but we got to the one place on the north end where FEC northbound trains are properly lit and were rewarded with one of the cool FEC heritage units on the point.

Florida East Coast; St. Augustine, Fla.; March 16, 2014

From here we headed to Baldwin, Fla.; where CSX has a diamond complex that includes interchange tracks in all four quadrants. We were rewarded with a southbound train here.

CSX Transportation; Baldwin, Fla.; March 16, 2014

Continuing along CSX westward, our next stop was at Lake City, Fla. By now our sunny skies were showing signs of going away. We caught an eastbound CSX train here.

CSX Transportation; Lake City, Fla.; March 16, 2014

From here we turned north into Georgia and stopped at the Valdosta Railway outside of its namesake town in Clyattville. As can be seen from the logo, the Valdosta Railway is under the Genesee & Wyoming Industries umbrella.

Valdosta Railway; Clyattville, Ga.; March 16, 2014

In Valdosta, the skies really opened up as we shot a Norfolk Southern freight (top of the post). We heard horns for a CSX freight in town and took shelter under an overpass as we shot it.

CSX Transportation; Valdosta, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Hoping for sun and moving trains, we packed up and headed to Albany, hoping to see something interesting on the Georgia & Florida. Alas, we got neither sun nor moving trains. In fact, the rain continued to pour down in buckets.

Georgia & Florida; Albany, Ga.; March 16, 2014

The rain finally let up as night began to settle in. We stopped at Fort Valley ("Georgia's Peach City," according to the water tower) and got a few dusk shots of the Georgia Southern in town. The railroad is a subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp.

Georgia Southern; Fort Valley, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Our final stop would be at the Georgia Central in Macon, which operates an impressive fleet of U23B's. But that's another story for the not too distant future.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Florida East Coast - Day And Night

This is part three of a mini-series on Florida from a trip in February 2013. In the first part we visited the Orange Blossom Cannonball steam operation and in the second we visited the last sugar cane railroad in the U.S. and the South Central Florida Express.

Florida East Coast; New Smyrna Beach, Va.; February 8, 2013

There is no railroad quite like the Florida East Coast. As its name implies, it follows the Atlantic coastline from Jacksonville to Miami. The railroad is a challenging one to photograph, as it is largely a nighttime railroad. Trains leave both ends of the line just after dark and arrive at the other end right around dawn. There are a couple of predictable daytime trains, including Train 101 from Jacksonville in the early afternoon and Train 202 from Miami. Our first train we caught on the FEC on this trip was 101 as it headed through New Smyrna Beach (above).

One good thing about the FEC is the whole railroad can be monitored using ATCS Monitor, which allows you to see a dispatcher-style display of where trains are at any given time. You can tell when you have an hour or more to do something else between trains, and you know when you need to be near the tracks. A location like Stuart is perfect, as there are ample restaurants and other distractions to occupy your time between trains. But come train time there are also ample photo angles around the big bridge over the St. Lucie River. The FEC is painting some locomotives into an early "heritage" scheme to add variety.

Florida East Coast; Stuart, Fla.; February 12, 2013

With the FEC being a nighttime railroad, the best way to keep the fun going is to keep shooting after dark. This was the first time I had brought my Alien Bees flash units to the sunshine state, and they came in handy. We set up on the dock in Stuart to shoot a local train heading north.

Florida East Coast; Stuart, Fla.; February 12, 2013

Using ATCS Monitor, we knew there was plenty of time between trains to enjoy dinner and a beverage at the restaurant adjacent to the bridge, and finished in plenty of time to get reset for a southbound road freight later in the evening.

Florida East Coast; Stuart, Fla.; February 12, 2013

All good things must end, and our time in Florida came to a close a day later. We headed north, and using ATCS Monitor we were able to intercept Train 101 as it headed out through Cocoa Beach. The engineer is a well-known train enthusiast, and he stepped out to wave to us as the train sped south. With the red, white and blue locomotive and American flags flying and painted on the tank, it was a patriotic scene!

Florida East Coast; Cocoa Beach, Fla.; February 13, 2013

We'll conclude the Florida mini-series next time with a look at Amtrak and some odds and ends.