FEC Industries to be sold to Rail America

It has been announced that the FEC will be merged into Rail America.

Link? Quote? Source?

Dave Becker

pablo wrote:Link? Quote? Source?

Dave Becker

link http://www.progressiverailroading.com/n ... p?id=15752



Source: Progressive Railroading. I have seen it other places also.

Mods note: edited for content. feel free to post a link, but don't cut and paste articles, please. Thanks!!!

RIP FEC.


TxBritt

When I go to Florida again I will have to make it my A1 priority to get some FEC photograhs.

Curious about something. Even though Fortress owns both companies, Florida East Coast Railway is a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries. How can they merge the two companies? FEC Industries would have to sell FEC Railways to Rail America. FEC Industries can have Rail America operate FEC Railway. Just curious thats all.

krupa1020 wrote:Curious about something. Even though Fortress owns both companies, Florida East Coast Railway is a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries. How can they merge the two companies? FEC Industries would have to sell FEC Railways to Rail America. FEC Industries can have Rail America operate FEC Railway. Just curious thats all.

FEC Industries was sold to Rail America.
Florida East Coast is still the Florida East Coast, only the ownership has
changed, not the name of the railroad.
Noel Weaver

fire5506 wrote:

pablo wrote:Link? Quote? Source?

Dave Becker

link http://www.progressiverailroading.com/n ... p?id=15752



Source: Progressive Railroading. I have seen it other places also.

Mods note: edited for content. feel free to post a link, but don't cut asnd paste articles, please. Thanks!!!

Wait, it said that FECI would control rail america, not the other way around. Who knows, we may see RA's railroads adopt an FEC inspired livery!

I think they have witnessed the fine operation that the Florida East Coast
is and might try to mold the other properties after the FEC.
Incidentally business is down on the FEC like it is on most other railroads,
we have lost three rock trains among others and the main line through
Fort Lauderdale is down from 12 weekday trains to about 8 weekday
trains. The line is still being maintained in a superb condition and the
trains still run on a schedule and really move over the road.
Go to an area where they allow 60 MPH and you will see a train over a
superb piece of railroad with clean and well maintained power moving like
a bat. Especially the GP-40-2's can really move on a relatively flat piece
of railroad with the kinds of trains that they operate. There is a really
nice spot in the parking lot of a convience store in Boca Raton where the
trains really rip right through the center of the city. Something to see!!!
Noel Weaver

Sounds Nice NW:
Despite my often sour remarks I hope you can still enjoy such a fine property in the years ahead. It must be a sight to see.
JM

You can really appreciate what we have here when you see the same
trains at the same times virtually every day with clean and decent power
and until recently a decent size train too. Unfortunately, the FEC is
experiencing the same downturn in business that most of the other
railroads are. Especially affected is the rock business. We went from
five rock trains a year ago to two today although sometimes they run an
extra with rock. Still four trains out of Hialeah and two trains out of
Fort Lauderdale. I can do down to a decent area in Oakland Park every
day at a little after 6:00 PM or 11:00 PM and watch either 218 or 224
which originate at Fort Lauderdale and head north to Jacksonville. 218
has both containers and freight and 224 has all containers. Those 40's
sound good too. 226 is another good train to watch, usually goes north
through here around midnight. 101 and 105 are two good southbounds
and one is usually around an hour or so behind the other with 101 ahead.
105 runs Monday through Thursday and 101 seven days a week.
Predictions of a soon to pass train include a scanner, wayside signals, the
drawbridge in Fort Lauderdale and the printed schedule which is pretty
accurate. The trains move at a good clip and you will not catch them in
the car. Yesterday 101 took 6 hours and 40 minutes to run from a point
just south of St. Augustine to Fort Lauderdale and that is pretty darn good
for a freight train with an SD-70 and SD-40-2 for power and about 9000
feet of train.
This more than make up for the "screwball" operations of CSX in this
area.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:FEC Industries was sold to Rail America.
Florida East Coast is still the Florida East Coast, only the ownership has
changed, not the name of the railroad.
Noel Weaver

Even so, I cannot get past the irony that Rail America succeeded where the Atlantic Coast Line failed.

D.Carleton wrote:

Noel Weaver wrote:FEC Industries was sold to Rail America.
Florida East Coast is still the Florida East Coast, only the ownership has
changed, not the name of the railroad.
Noel Weaver

Even so, I cannot get past the irony that Rail America succeeded where the Atlantic Coast Line failed.

I think we can all be very thankful today that the Atlantic Coast Failed way back when. I can't imagine the FEC as part of
CSX. I think Rail American is doing their best to make this railroad work better and maybe when things pick up, we will all
see a big improvement.
There will certainally be a change in the motive power when all of the SD-70's are on the line. The four newest ones were
formally dedicated at a ceremony at Bowden Yard, Jacksonville Friday (Jan 30th) and it was a very pleasant event. They have one of the Susquehanna SD-70's (4052) and the other two are on the way to the FEC as well. They will go through the
shop and be filtted out with cab signals etc so that they can run on the railroad as lead units. The shop facility is very
capable and when they get finished they will run just as well as EMD intended when they were new. I don't think they will be
repainted.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:I think we can all be very thankful today that the Atlantic Coast Failed way back when. I can't imagine the FEC as part of
CSX.

In the aggregate I'm sure you're right. I'm also sure that speculating in 'what if' scenarios is the leading cause of early mortality for participants of this hobby. So, despite the health risk, had ACL succeeded in getting the FEC what would have happened to the Seaboard Air Line? It is doubtful the ICC would have allowed 95% of the state's trackage to go under one roof.

In fact, when the SCL merger was approved, the ICC gave FEC the option to buy the former Seaboard from Winter Haven south to Miami. The option expired in 1981, at which point CSX finally started replacing ties and the WW II vintage 112# bolted rail.

I'm not aware of any serious effort by ACL to buy FEC, which operated in bankruptcy from the 1920s until Edward G. Ball bought all the debt (for pennies on the dollar) and reorganized the railroad in the early 60s. He then made the unilateral work rule changes that led to the long FEC strike, and culminated in the modern, efficient railroad we see today. The non-standard work rules also meant that no Class I would touch FEC.

Now, I hear that Fortress Investment Group is in financial difficulty and has lost interest in railroading due to the traffic downturn. They had hoped to disperse FEC's excellent management among their RailAmerica properties to shore up management, but FEC managers who had been living in St. Augustine were reluctant (to say the least) to move to North Dakota and other unappealing locales. They didn't even want to move to Jacksonville. So much of the FEC management has bailed, traffic is down, the railroad isn't producing good financials, and Fortress is having to redeem investors' shares. Expect another sale soon.