The Homestead Sub

My friend is contemplating modeling the Homestead Sub. This is a 31 mile line SW of Hialeah Yard on the Miami--- it is a historic and diverse stretch of track.

While my cash is on the Miami Sub north of Fort Lauderdale, I want to say at a close second came the Homestead for a decided layout.

The line has two spurs which go to separate limerock quarries. They hit the big time - no doubt - until 2008 when there was a slump real estate crash, but nonetheless they still produce rock. The video to the left is one of those jobs. Note the covered cylindrical hoppers with loaded cement. A positive sign for CYD.

I guess he is looking though into doing the manifest industries. There are about three dedicated customers, the rest sporadic.

The Orr Water Treatment plant does a two-in-one; they receive chlorine and soda ash. For the facilities within, the switching moves should be quite fascinating.

Seal-Tite Plastics receives pellets in covered hoppers and occasionally in boxcars.

AFEC, Atlantic Florida East Coast fertilizer, receives the commodity-sake in ACF covered hoppers.

The sporadic ones are Cemex, FPL, and ProBuild. ProBuild takes/took in lumber while Cemex takes an occasional open hopper and FPL occasionally dealt oversize flats for power equipment. I don't know if any of the three are fallen soldiers.

The Homestead side has a wye where the engines turn. Historically scrap and crush stone gons have been set out there recently, fostering more flexibility. There was a fallen soldier there, too so to say: Stock Builder Supply -- it took so much freight: practically everything, boxcars, bulkheads, and centerbeams, until its demise in July 2009. Tis a shame that they are no longer active but it would be a blessing to see a similar customer arise. I told him that he'd want to mix the olden era in just to add options. 2008 should be a fit year, as CSX didn't order much of anything then except for Gensets and more AC GEVOspam, both practically strangers to South Florida.

The Lehigh Spur has Cemex which takes in coal and makes Coal Ash as a byproduct of the burning process. This is much more frequent than the bird rd. customer ;) The above video confirms that they are current in the latter, having four hoppers leave with the smoky ash on March 15. You can also see the rock trains which go to Florida rock in that video, around once a week.

The lines hold a bit of hope. With CSX looking deep into direct Intermodal service to Miami who knows if the Lehigh can be the destination, with lots of acreage to be developed on its territory, in such a nice warehouse district. Also CSX laid some sort of track by Oleander which looks like a team track. Mixed use properties are for sale around the Oleander area (by Miami Airport) which can mean any industry, perhaps corn oil, ethanol, or even scrap can be prevalent there. I once had a dream at night, 10 minute apart intermodals and coals waiting to hold the NW 107 Avenue crossing on their way to the west end, on the Lehigh Spur. I also had a dream, that a secretly built intermodal ramp on the west end of the Lehigh took in its first train. Let's see if that can be a reality.