The Times, They Are A Changing... Tampa Style

CSX Y295 works Rattlesnake Point industry Cargill Sweeteners near the rapidly gentrifying West Chase neighborhood in Tampa, FL. Freight rail service on this spur is on borrowed time as developers are moving to revamp it all. 

Unarguably the earlier times we think about, the simpler they were. Miami and Tampa were much smaller. Cell phones and social media did not dominate life as they do now. As per the hobbies, railroading has evolved so much that we crave the classic single-car switch and first/second generation diesel locomotives more than ever. Everything these days in a class-1 scheme of things is either bulk freight, freight to a shortline, or major customers meeting an arbitrary quota of cars per week or something -- a moderately reasonable metric to think of since time is money.

As with anything of a large scale, if trends evolve, places can take as little time or as much time to catch up to that trend. Railroads with single car industrial switches have disappeared from the centers of major cities nationwide. Atlanta lost Tilford yard (then regained it in some form as a transload). Boston lost the CSX rail yard in town. Tampa just lost Ardent Mills ConAgra in the heart of Channelside and is in the cusp of losing Rattlesnake Point.

CSX Y295 switches flour cars at the Ardent Mills flour plant in Channelside. It seems every time my camera captures the Tampa yard job, the industry it is caught at closes the next year.

Gentrification and development is happening everywhere. As a tourist or a local, it might be viewed a blessing and a curse to witness these areas develop. Areas like Wynwood in Miami have become generally more palatable as a result, but still many crazy things can happen with the influx of tourists and folks looking for a good time -- or better.

As a railfan, the perfect adjective is bittersweet. The "sweet" benefits of such progress are contrasted by the bitterness of losing the railroad there. The moral of the story, though, is that documenting what you can is key to preserving the memory of each location that falls victim to gentrification.

The Y295 catch made in Channelside required some negotiation with my friends to stay till close to 9pm (pending a 4hr drive back, lots of red eyes at the end of that one), but it was worth the while. The thrill of seeing this yard job switch an already sufficiently developed district old-school style is a memory that will be imprinted forever. 

As a modeler, some attention is also paid to the 5-bay Trinity 5660cuft hoppers that are spotted at Ardent. BLMA and Atlas has produced those in substantial quantity, and revisiting this Florida railfan classic in model form would prove to be a fun task. 

However, what really struck about this catch was how full circle it was with my early inspirations, the "why" of my railfanning hobby. The first video that Danny Harmon put out comes to mind, one of several last gasps of CSX's A&E era in the form of a "Tampa Today" video from 2007. Danny is an undeniable source of inspiration for many Florida railfans, and these series arguably got me more interested in actually going out and buffing these trains, camera in hand as opposed to casually watching them go by. The last shot of his YT video shows Y224 pulling on this exact track to the old Atlantic Coast Line Tampa yard, which served ConAgra just like in the photo above. My take is embedded below from 2021:

My exploration into Tampa is not without a deeper background story. I have had a longtime involvement in the Greater Florida LEGO Users Group, using the popular plastic brick as a medium for model railroading for many years until HO started taking over by leaps and bounds. The group over the years has also diversified, focusing on many popular culture themes and more general topics outside of "just trains". Train shows are more the exception than the norm now for GFLUG displays, like it or not. For me, LEGO has become more of an architectural creativity outlet, and less of a prototype model railroad. It just commands too massive a footprint to make an accurate operating railroad at home, but we can still model some epic scenes.

But before, every event I went to was practically a train show or swap meet situated in the Tampa Bay area. The long trips were worth the while, connecting then with fellow hobbyists (and very sadly, a couple of key members have passed away way too soon). Over the years, I managed to get some railfanning in, with the 2008 trip to Plant City my first shot of the Tropicana Juice Train, and the 2014 Tampa show probably the richest in terms of railfanning. That was the peak, because that would be the last time I got to hang with Robin Werner, who was responsible for this incredible masterpiece arrangement that defined GFLUG into the 2010s:

It was also my first major contribution to the skyline, which still stands at home (who knows if it will ever see another GFLUG display). Facing the northwest corner of my house (towards Tampa, the Mecca ;) ) is the Element, which is in the background of this shot. It lies on the Street Running segment that CSX Y295 traverses to reach Rattlesnake Point.

GFLUG does not do the Downtown Tampa display anymore due to its intricate setup process, however the club does have ownership of most of it. It seemed like something only Robin could primarily manage elegantly, though if we have the manpower, we might be able to rescue it into the 2020s. Just as the skyline setup has become a memory for the most part, it seems like the major reason there is street running anymore through Polk Street will as well, in a matter of weeks.

Rattlesnake Point is in the process of being gentrified. When I looked at the Google maps of this area in the late 2010s, I was thinking: what a shady area, I'd be acting a fool to hang out here when 295 switches. However, after the GFLUG display at RealRail's train show in Bradenton (40 miles south), instead of heading south on I-75, I immediately headed north instead to document this job in February of 2022. It was the easiest chance to chase it no matter what and I ended up staying until about 8pm to watch it switch Cargill Fertilizer, which is right next to a fairly upscale seafood restaurant. Safety? Not a concern. Just like the Ardent Mills experience, this area was already cleaned up quite a bit and this "last gasp" phase for rail in the area similarly proved a comfortable experience to enjoy the train chase.

The plans that would swallow up CSX's lead into the district were not really codified at the time. Now, this is unlike Ardent Mills which we knew were moving to Port Redwing (silver lining - BNSF run through grain).... and while not a total shock the news of this area redeveloping at expense of all industry came through as disappointing. One year later, Chemical Formulators Inc, which is to the right of the above photo, moved out and is receiving loads at a new location on the Palmetto Sub. Cargill will soon follow suit and transload at Eagle Lake. Zero sum for the railroad, but railfans lose the chance to catch trains on such interesting trackage. There are still two smaller customers on the old ACL main into Old Port Tampa, but it is still a major blow to lose this much traffic on that line. 

Hopefully, I get one more chance to document this operation given the longer days. Nonetheless, this operation will soon be but a memory, just like the few concrete examples mentioned above, and many things in life. But, that's progress.

Anyhow, for the TL;DR: It's all about documentation. Document, document, document. You never know when what you see will no longer be attainable.