traffic on the fec these days?

i was in florida over the winter months, and it seemed like fec had combined alot of trains. have they reinstated some rock trains or other trains, or are the trains still long and heavy?

I can't give details without knowing just where and when you intend to go. Traffic is still down in some respects. Our average is around 7 trains each way during the week and somewhat less on weekends. Sundays is pretty slow with nothing much during the day. The railroad is in superb condition and the trains move pretty fast most of the way. Again, please advise the area of interest.
Noel Weaver

Years back I got a tour of Hialeah yard. This was around 2004, I was amazed how they combined all the stone and intermodal together. Just don't see that up here in the Northeast. I remember the manager saying how they didn't have enough rested crews to run all the trains that day. Ashame the FEC's fall from grace in terms of traffic. It sticks out in my head a veteran road crew saying to me " If you want to see a real yard come to Bowden."(Jacksonville) Do they still use that balloon track in Hialeah to turn power?

It is true that there is less traffic today than there was lets say five years ago but it is not the fault of the Florida East Coast. The rotton economy has resulted in less demand for rock so instead of five rock trains north on weekdays, we now have one two days a week and some rock on the regular northbounds. The IM traffic has not been that bad and the trains are still on or very close to their schedule. The present top management intends to agressively seek more IM business and are taking concrete steps to accomplish this, I think they will succeed.
Hialeah is a very efficient yard and although it is not on the scale of Bowden, it accomplishes its job. Yes the baloon track is still used daily to turn power and sometimes cars too.
The property is still in tip top shape and the locomotives are clean and well maintained as well.
Noel Weaver

I also remember them saying that all the rock business is completely within Florida and cars never leave there. I wonder if they expanded into other states to ship the aggregate cars off line if that would help.

The raiload does not sell the rock, it only hauls it for its customers/shippers. If the customer can sell the rock someplace else, I am sure the railroad would be more than able to haul it through its interchange with either CSX or the NS at Jacksonville.
Noel Weaver

Note is this article that the FEC spokesman states that traffic through Palm Beach has permantly fallen to 10 trains per day. I wonder how they knosw that traffic won't rebound with the improving economy.



http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/ ... ion/nS42g/

Regular trains on the Florida East Coast:
101 and 202 Bowden and Hialeah
107 and 222 Bowden and Hialeah
121 and 226 Bowden and Hialeah
109 and 210 Bowden and Hialeah, sometimes 109 does not run
224 and 123 Fort Lauderdale and Bowden
193 and 292 Fort Pierce and Hialeah

This comes to six round trips through West Palm Beach and you can add 335 south on Monday and Wednesday and 336 north on Tuesday and Thursday City Point to Hialeah with rock north and empties south.
They also run extras from time to time. Trains 123 and 224 run except on Saturdays and some of the others also do not run on weekends.
As always things can change without notice but this is what's what as of today.
Noel Weaver

I am going to be in the Fort Lauderdale/ Miami area the end of next week, I was wondering if there have been any major changes to the FEC schedules? I found a listing on line that seems to be up to date, but just wanted to check. Anything special going on that I might want to check out? I will also check out the dodge island area and report back after my trip.

Thanks in advance

'
Capt Bill

boatsmate wrote:I am going to be in the Fort Lauderdale/ Miami area the end of next week, I was wondering if there have been any major changes to the FEC schedules? I found a listing on line that seems to be up to date, but just wanted to check. Anything special going on that I might want to check out? I will also check out the dodge island area and report back after my trip.

Thanks in advance

'
Capt Bill

The schedule that I posted in November, 2012 has not changed very much except for 292 and 193 which no longer run. There is a 111 and 212 between Bowden (Jacksonville Yard) and I believe City Point which runs five nights a week on a turnaround basis out of Bowden. There are occasional extras as well but not on a regular basis. Train 109 has been running most days except Sundays and often but not always 202 is annulled Sundays. There are two road locals out of Fort Lauderdale plus a yard job (970), one local goes north and the outer south often to Hialeah in the morning with cars to go north because they do not have enough room for all of them in Fort Lauderdale. Traffic is pretty good right now but instead of running more trains for the most part they are simply running longer trains. The trains are fast and generally difficult if not impossible to follow in a motor vehicle and the line is in superb condition, probably as good as any railroad in the US anywhere. Trains to Dodge Island (Port of Miami) are still more or less a hit or miss affair, they run them as required because they still do not have the yard built there and there is limited space available. My guess is one train and maybe not every single day at that with an engine on both ends to assist with the switching. My suggestions: if you want to watch or photograph them at 55 MPH go to Downtown Hollywood where they move right along and if you want to watch them at a moderate pace go to the Fort Lauderdale Bridge which is only two blocks south of Broward Boulevard and at the Riverwalk. It is a good spot for trains with the bridge lowered about 15 minutes ahead of each train and the line at this location has two tracks as well. It is about a mile or so from the main Tri-Rail Station to the FEC on Broward Boulevard served by a city bus no. 22 with pretty frequent service. I don't know where you are staying but if it is in Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood I do not recommend driving to Miami, Tri-Rail runs all day every hour and much more often in both the AM and PM rush with a connection to downtown Miami. You can observe the line to the Port by using the Metromover downtown and getting off at Bayside station and walking a couple of blocks north to the American Airlines Arena where the railroad passes right by.
You should not have any problems at any of the places I mentioned as long as you do not trespass or enter railroad property. We all have a good relationship with the FEC down here because we all respect that. Enjoy yourself and have a safe day.
Noel Weaver

Noel,

Thank you for the information, as always I will respect the right of ways and train property. I spent the winter of 01,02 in Hollywood so I know some of the areas around there, the bridge you talked about is that the one that is near SW Third ave? I will be down there next Thursday and Friday, arriving on the Amtrak 97 into Jax and then driving to MIA to the hotel. I will be doing most of my exploring during the drive south and some on Friday. I will be on Dodge island on Sat to board a ship.

Thanks for the info, and would you or anyone else know of any Ham radio frequencies that the locals use for train chasing? I will be bringing my Ham radio and if there is a chance to meet up with fellow chasers.

Capt Bill

I am not aware of any use of ham radio at least by us who live here. We do use the yahoo group but even more important we all have ATCS which covers the FEC end to end. Most of us are well aware of freight schedules on the FEC and we just use the ATCS to see where the trains actually are.
The Fort Lauderdale Bridge is just south of SW 2nd Avenue and there is a pedestrian crossing which is protected by gates just north of the bridge.
Noel Weaver

I was recently in Miami, saw a single SD40 pulling 102 cars south toward Hialea [sp?] yard around 3pm Wednesday. Also saw the north end of the yard at Ft. Pierce. Nice infrastructure, excellent track, very impressive.

fort pierce is a neat spot. you can get some nice views of the intercoastal waterway from that bridge just north of the yard there.

Stuart is better than Fort Pierce, a public park at the south end of the drawbridge with food, facilities and parking. Nice surroundings, nice scenery and nice trains, a winner all around.
Noel Weaver