Staurt Florida FEC Bridge

This is the FEC bridge over the St Lucie River just north of downtown Stuart. It is taken from the north shore between the tressel and the old Roosevelt drawbridge. The new fixed Roosevelt bridge is in the background.
I have been wanting to get a video of a train crossing the bridge but always miss. I found one on YouTube taken by someone else. Upstream is to the right and divides into the North and South Forks of the St. Lucie just past the old bridge.

FEC with GE Evolution LNG Locomotive

Seen Southbound in Jupiter, Fl. operating as FEC Train #109 mixed freight January 4, 2017. Paced at 50 MPH so it went by quickly.
FEC 807 (ES44C4) , LNG Fuel Tender, GE Evolution NextFuel locomotive #3000.

From Wikipedia: In 2013, General Electric built one ES44AC, GECX 3000, as a test bed for their NextFuel natural gas power kit. The engine runs on liquefied natural gas from a fuel tender. The unit is currently part of BNSF's GE LNG test set, partnered with BNSF ES44AC no. 5815.

Some stills. Sorry for the quality, moving pretty fast and hard to find a decent spot to take pictures. 

FEC 807 was lead locomotive

Followed by the Liquified Natural Gas tender

Then the GE NextFuel locomotive.

FEC 428 Stuart, Fl.

FEC 428 in Stuart at A1A crossing 12-01-2016. (Approx. MM 262) EMD GP-40-2
FEC ordered 24, road numbers 411–434. 

Note the section crew just past the crossing. I was listening on the scanner and after the train passed I heard them call the dispatcher and tell him they were going back to work repairing the broken rail. It is single track here, just north of the Port Sewall passing track.

Bonus: If anyone is interested "A Railfan's Guide to the FEC, Version 32A, prepared 7/25/98" is available here.

Okeechobee Waterway Railroad Bridges

The Okeechobee Waterway crosses Florida from Stuart on the east coast to Ft.  Myers on the west coast crossing Lake Okeechobee. Shown east to west from Stuart to Lake Okeechobee.

Bonus Tugboat

Gives a feel for size

Britt Point Bascule Bridge at Stuart

FEC

Indiantown Swing Bridge

CSX

Port Mayaca Lift Bridge

South Central Florida Express

(Was FEC K-line)

Slightly off topic but we went by the Port Mayaca Cemetery, site of the mass burial after the 1928 hurricane that collapsed the earthen dike around Lake Okeechobee. 

Jupiter Florida Train Wreck - 1934

Wreck of Old 427  

Since we are posting about Jupiter, Florida here is a story about a train wreck at the FEC railroad bridge over the Loxahatchee River. This bridge is just west of the highway A1A bridge (which is just west of the US 1 bridge). See the link for more of the story.

"I think the train was called the FloridaSpecial, which came out of New York. It was the second section of the train...

The three sections were heading south. The first passed safely across the closed bridge and then the bridge raised. There is a single span on the north side of the bridge that points up in the air when the bridge isn't closed. We could see the sparks as from the wheels on the rails from as far away as where Tequesta Drive is today as the engineer locked his brakes. The whole thing happened like it was in slow motion. The train couldn't have been doing more than 3 or 4 miles an hour as it hit the upturned bridge span and nosed down into the water. It was fortunate that the crash happened on the side where the span was in place because it helped to stop the train."

At the inquiry, the fireman stated that "We had slowed down real good and if we had about another 150 or 200 feet we could have stopped but as it was we just kinda slud into the water."
"Was anyone hurt?" I asked.
"No, the train was going so slow at the time. The engineer replied that he been going through yellowlights all the way down the line from being close to the train sections ahead of him and had assumed that this caution light was because of the train ahead of him. By the time the red light came on to indicate the bridge was up, the brakes were already locked." One other interesting sidelight of the day's events was mentioned by Mr. White with a smile. "One of the reasons there are few pictures is that the train was loaded with wealthy men who were coming to Florida with their girlfriends. They didn't want their pictures taken. They also didn't want to wait around. They were offering to pay $100 for a ride to The Breakers in Palm Beach. I got my car and made four trips myself that day, so I made $400.
Florida East Coast Railway Historian Seth Bramson isn't so sure about the $100 per ride part of the story.

St. Lucie FEC Bridge Work

Headed to Jupiter today for lunch and to enjoy the view. When we crossed the St. Lucie River in Stuart I noticed activity on the FEC bridge. Had to stop and get a couple of pics. Not sure what they were doing exactly but they had a large crane on a barge and several workers on the bridge. Couldn't miss an opportunity for pics of railroads and boats. I still want to get a video of a train crossing there.

 

We went on to Jupiter Inlet about 25 miles south, grabbed an Italian sub for lunch and found a picnic table in the shade. Now for an off topic picture.

The sportfishing boat was headed out the inlet and that is the Jupiter Lighthouse behind it. The Indian River  is just to the right of the lighthouse and the Jupiter and Lake Worth narrow gauge railroad northern terminus was on the same side of the river we were just to our left. That is the  Loxahatchee River right in front.  

Defect Detectors Rev. 3/20/16

A defect detector is a device used on railroads to detect axle and signal problems in passing trains. The detectors are normally integrated into the tracks and often include sensors to detect several different kinds of problems that could occur. Defect detectors were one invention which enabled American railroads to eliminate the caboose at the rear of the train, as well as various station agents stationed along the route to detect unsafe conditions. The use of defect detectors has since spread to other overseas railroads.

Defect Detector with Audio

The photos are of the defect detector on the FEC mainline in S. Lucie County, Fl. at Walton Road, north of Jensen beach.

The audio was recorded online listening to the Broadcastify Folkston, Ga. area feed. The detector is on the dual CSX mainline mile A610.6 between Boulogne and Callahan, Fl. Listen to the end.

More information at the Trains Magazine website. Always a good source.
Several other videos on YouTube. 

EDIT March 20, 2016 to add  some still photos

Hotbox or Hot Bearing Detector

Dragging Equipment Detector

Laser Detector

Lasers shine down on each side of the passing train. Anything that cuts through the beam will be counted as a defect.

Control box and VHF Antenna

Overview of hotbox and dragging equipment detectors with one leg of bridge that holds laser detectors.

FEC 432 EMD GP40-2

Seen in Stuart, Fla. last spring. Remember spring?
Just missed him going over the bridge on the St. Lucie River. Was operating as a southbound without any other cars, just the locomotive.

 

EMD GP40-2, Serial No. 857078-1, Built date 12-85

Bahia Honda Railroad Tressel

A previous post about the Overseas Highway reminded me of the uniqueness of the Bahia Honda bridge.

From Wikipedia:
It was purchased by the state of Florida and converted for highway use in 1938.^[4] Rather than rebuilding the bridge, the top of the structure was redecked for use as the Overseas Highway (the existing deck inside the truss was too narrow for vehicular traffic).....

Before being reused as a highway bridge, the Bahia Honda Rail Bridge carried a single track of FEC across Big Spanish Channel from Bahia Honda Key to Spanish Harbor Key. Unlike other bridges on the Overseas Railway, the Bahia Honda has a steel truss construction^]This was a necessary difference from the predominate concrete arch form of the other bridges of the Overseas Railroad, as the channel is the deepest of those spanned, at 24 feet.


See the Wikipedia article for more information. The picture and video below make it easy to see where the original rails were and the highway deck.

Florida East Coast Steam

Starting the year off with some steam.

FEC Locomotive #113 at the Gold coast Railroad Museum:

Another view of 113:

Found a video of a different FEC steam locomotive, number 153. 

Sorry , no whistle. :(
Use the one you make for your New Years Party!

 FEC Locomotive #153 at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.

Photos from visit to GCRM July 31, 2015, video from YouTube. 

Railroad that goes to Sea

There is just so much information on the Over-Sea Railroad it was difficult to decide what to post. Dan in Middle Georgia got me started when he sent me this article at Trainweb.org about Pigeon Key.  Great writeup by Mr. John c. Dahl with some neat photos. I have fished near Pigeon Key many times both from the 7 mile bridge and from a boat. The bridge had fishing catwalks but you had to walk a long distance out to them on the bridge. Really fun when a semi truck went by - not much room to get out of the way and hold on to the railing. Which was made from the original railroad track. Also note the bridge runs east-west, not north south as some might think.

Video about Pigeon Key

Lots of great photos of the history and building of the railroad in the next video.

Note the photo of FEC crane 3377 in 1935. It is in Ft. Pierce, Fl. now.

 

Railcar No. 91

Henry Flagler's private railcar, No. 91, was built in 1886 and carried Henry Flagler south to Key West following the completion of his Over-Sea Railroad in 1912. Today thousands of visitors tour the historic railcar at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida.

Another longer video that includes Whitehall, Flagler's mansion.

 

H/T and many thanks to Dan for the link to the first video. 

FEC #432

Seen in Stuart late last spring. Anybody remember spring? Just missed getting a photo of it going over the bridge on the St. Lucie Rive.
All by itself headed south as train number 920.

Road number 432 EMD GP40-2 Builder #857078-1 to 2 date 12/85

Ballast Cleaning

Ballast cleaning between Stuart and Hobe Sound. Fla. Dec. 19, 2009
Sorry for the low quality of the photos. Had seen the machine in Jensen Beach a couple of days earlier and went looking for them.
Ran into the same crew in downtown Stuart in April 2015. They were waiting on permission to start work. The gentleman I talked to remembered talking to me in Jensen Beach before. 

Not sure who makes the equipment. Loram is one manufacturer but the machine on YouTube looks slightly different.

A British company with divisions all over the world.

Another view.

Edited to add a link to the Wikipedia article about ballast cleaners in case you wondered why it is done. 

Speaking of FEC #253

Here are a group of pictures of the move of #253 and several other pieces of equipment from Dade County to Ft. Pierce on June 13, 2009. Taken in Palm Beach and Martin Counties.

The next four photos were taken just south of Hobe Sound (the town) from the side of Dixie Highway. The road is quite a bit higher that the tracks in this area. (for Florida anyway) Approximately milepost 275.