Highlights from Friday's Railfanning and Economic News on FEC & CSX
I don't usually railfan on weekdays, citing the fact that traffic is just plain a beyotch in South Florida, and usually I'm on campus until 5-6 PM except Mondays, where I'm there until 9 PM. This Friday would have been just like any Friday, but when I heard that FEC 109 was to have two heritage units and was a late runner, my mind changed and I was heading home much earlier. Thanks to my folks for making this possible (I'll be getting me a car soon though).
109 ran into Hialeah at 4:50 PM in less than desirable weather. My photoshopping managed to make it a more colorful shot, but I was still unimpressed with the lighting and lack thereof. I'll make a point about the long string of racks later in this entry.
I also heard something on the radio which will pertain to the last half of this entry. More related to this, Hialeah Yard on CSX was coming in with Y220 and O721 both building their trains. I decided on a whim to check out Hialeah Yard and get O721 around the station area. We hit the secret spot but O721 was already moving, making that plan foiled and pushing us to 71st Street. I'd get P633 there, with a GP49H-3 and a full Rotem Consist around 5:30 PM.
Dusk set in and O721 was struggling to get lights to 46th St. We went for still ops and by then they finally got their light, so I ran to the platform at Iris for the shot. That will come later in the video. They had two dash-8s and 23 cars, 1 of which is a gypsum load for ProBuild. They get cars fairly frequently now.
We were heading home and 222 was leaving. We beat it to Red but I missed the video of the head end... shame. But at least I got a wave from Tim Walker, engineer on 222. He had RA 107 & FEC 101, leaving at 6:10 PM.
At home I would check to see the second and main train I wanted to get, V157. CSX V157 is coal for Miami and is rare, and sporadic all the same. We headed out and up the Turnpike due to traffic on the Palmetto, and it was a smart move. I only beat V157 to Hallandale Beach by three minutes.
At 7:45 PM V157 came by with 399/72 and 100 cars, the second CSX train of the evening. Engineer Wolfman, who has a reputation for some very avid signal calling, was onboard and the question of who was in the controls was answered when I heard Hollywood called.
I was out to get video of the train but I felt that a shot of the train would be good to share in the meantime.
I would then head to Hollywood Blvd to eat dinner at the Peruvian restaurant next to our usual Turkish restaurant, which was closed due to some sort of unsafe building clause. 101 would pass by after 10 PM with two SD40-2s and a GP40-2 to finish my night out.
So what is all this mention about the last half of this post? The economy. I got a text from Cesar who heard horns in the morning, who thought it was an early O721. I told him it couldn't be and found out by the EC-1 being released at 4 PM that it was a work train for the SXH 66.5, that dead stretch of the Homestead. Someone caught another work train a few weeks back, which raises a suspicion that this line could finally be coming back to life.
Also for consecutive Saturdays CSX has wasted no time in getting rock empties to Krome. This is also a good sign about the rock market. In future years, there will be no doubt that DOT grade limestone will be in high demand as I-4 gets overhauled.
Meanwhile, it is noted that FEC 109 had 65 autoracks. Lately I've seen more than a mile long of racks going back and forth on trains like 202, 101, 109 and 107. That is a really promising sign about the automobile market and hopefully the economy.
A theory that was raised by the trains being five figures in length is that FEC is power short. They only have enough to run about eight through trains. I think that if they had more power, trains like 105 & 208 would be reinstated. 101 this evening was about 10,000ft but in recent days has exceeded 12,000'. Today is one of those days.
Rumor has it that FEC is looking to get used power and also new GE locomotives in the future. That will become necessary especially when the port lead runs in full.
We'll see what happens in the future... but things are looking pretty promising now. I would expect additional intermodal trains to run also when the Holiday season sets in.
FEC 109
I also heard something on the radio which will pertain to the last half of this entry. More related to this, Hialeah Yard on CSX was coming in with Y220 and O721 both building their trains. I decided on a whim to check out Hialeah Yard and get O721 around the station area. We hit the secret spot but O721 was already moving, making that plan foiled and pushing us to 71st Street. I'd get P633 there, with a GP49H-3 and a full Rotem Consist around 5:30 PM.
Tri-Rail P633
Dusk set in and O721 was struggling to get lights to 46th St. We went for still ops and by then they finally got their light, so I ran to the platform at Iris for the shot. That will come later in the video. They had two dash-8s and 23 cars, 1 of which is a gypsum load for ProBuild. They get cars fairly frequently now.
We were heading home and 222 was leaving. We beat it to Red but I missed the video of the head end... shame. But at least I got a wave from Tim Walker, engineer on 222. He had RA 107 & FEC 101, leaving at 6:10 PM.
At home I would check to see the second and main train I wanted to get, V157. CSX V157 is coal for Miami and is rare, and sporadic all the same. We headed out and up the Turnpike due to traffic on the Palmetto, and it was a smart move. I only beat V157 to Hallandale Beach by three minutes.
At 7:45 PM V157 came by with 399/72 and 100 cars, the second CSX train of the evening. Engineer Wolfman, who has a reputation for some very avid signal calling, was onboard and the question of who was in the controls was answered when I heard Hollywood called.
CSX V157-18
I would then head to Hollywood Blvd to eat dinner at the Peruvian restaurant next to our usual Turkish restaurant, which was closed due to some sort of unsafe building clause. 101 would pass by after 10 PM with two SD40-2s and a GP40-2 to finish my night out.
So what is all this mention about the last half of this post? The economy. I got a text from Cesar who heard horns in the morning, who thought it was an early O721. I told him it couldn't be and found out by the EC-1 being released at 4 PM that it was a work train for the SXH 66.5, that dead stretch of the Homestead. Someone caught another work train a few weeks back, which raises a suspicion that this line could finally be coming back to life.
Also for consecutive Saturdays CSX has wasted no time in getting rock empties to Krome. This is also a good sign about the rock market. In future years, there will be no doubt that DOT grade limestone will be in high demand as I-4 gets overhauled.
Meanwhile, it is noted that FEC 109 had 65 autoracks. Lately I've seen more than a mile long of racks going back and forth on trains like 202, 101, 109 and 107. That is a really promising sign about the automobile market and hopefully the economy.
A theory that was raised by the trains being five figures in length is that FEC is power short. They only have enough to run about eight through trains. I think that if they had more power, trains like 105 & 208 would be reinstated. 101 this evening was about 10,000ft but in recent days has exceeded 12,000'. Today is one of those days.
Rumor has it that FEC is looking to get used power and also new GE locomotives in the future. That will become necessary especially when the port lead runs in full.
We'll see what happens in the future... but things are looking pretty promising now. I would expect additional intermodal trains to run also when the Holiday season sets in.
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