Jacksonville Blitz Photo Essay - Part II

After Hardee's we moved south and battled the rains of the day. Q452 which I missed in Miami the night before finally got caught. The Great Chase...

Chasing mojo fell slightly apart as a prospective overpass  shot of a W057 got pooched by the rain, and Q025 would have to wait until we hit Red Dog. We narrowly missed Q026 departing at the spot and saw this treasure fronting 025:

The famed UPS hotshot Q034 (ex. Q174) would dog 026:

Q025 would finally get the go leaving Q155 behind it waiting for it to enter the yard. Q025 had an ex con leading and Q155 had a Boxcar GEVO leading.

We made our way towards Thomas Creek Rd to Crawford when NS 295 sped by.

Q602 was dogged over to Callahan which much to no delight had NO Union Pacific Power.

Another one too fast for the shutter was P098 for NY.

We returned to Hilliard for a little railfan gathering with Matt and another railfan who had been chasing with us all day. Here's S473.

Pardon the blur due to poor lighting but Q609 came by with a CSX-only dogs breakfast

And lastly, Q235 with a Spongebob Squarecab SD40-3 rolled by. I caught two more manifest but on video.

Big thanks to Paul Mathis for having us and the other members for making this an enjoyable trip.

Video

Jacksonville Blitz Photo Essay - Part I

The season finale for me due to a UM Open House seminar, I made the trek to Jacksonville with the gang on August 4. As I type, my friends are hanging out in Folkston getting a couple good ones as I watch the cam from the comfort of my house.

We started this awesome day with coal for FEC. This is another train scratched off the list: V189. Thanks to ETH for the heads up... This train headed east off of Jax Ramp to stop at West Jacksonville Yard and wait for further instructions to go to FEC.

Next up after topping off Paul's van we hit up Crawford for a morning reel of trains. All morning and day we were joined by a friendly area railfan. I didn't get his name but I *think* it was Charles. 

First was Q453, a photo exclusive. As I shot a similar looking train the night before (Q453-03) I didn't have any particular interest filming it.

Then NS pinged up 229's light and here it came. This is one of the hot trains for FEC. Also it is my first catch of an SD70M-2 on the Thoroughbred.

An eyesore on CSX but a little more unusual on NS, an ex Con C40-8W led 209, a much longer intermodal.

The Funnel did not let up. We would be finding our way to Callahan into the high noon and later Hilliard for the intermodals and manifests that had to be offered. Not to say coal didn't have a cameo this day.

A train I monitored on the Orlando Rail Log, N172 emerged empty from Stanton with the power turned. They ran the train around at West Jacksonville hence having 878 lead. 

After it was Q037, and with its speed this is all I could get... CR 115 sidewalk.

I got my first taste of Dyal Hill in time for Q613, a train which normally sports trademark Bone Valley power but had GE power this morning. I was focused on the video so this is all I got.

We finally made it to Hilliard for Q652, Q457, Q458, and T082. I focused on videoing the Jacksonville hauls so I only have three of them.

In following tradition we hit Hardee's at Callahan for lunch. This ends part I of the essay and I will follow up with Part II.

FEC 107 with Idiots Jumping the train

Nick, an engineer for FEC says that it happens more than you think. On Friday night/Sat Morning I saw FEC Train 107 through Downtown Fort Lauderdale. The train had to stop for some which reason preparing for its set-out and in that process, impatient drunks (probably) crossed the train jumping on a flat car.

This is not only illegal but it's extremely dangerous. The slack even pushed it north and I'm sure the last rider gave a scare for it.

This is trespassing on railroad property, and I recommend no one do it. Be patient. even I was and I had to make it to Rudy's house by 2:30 AM to begin a day trip.

Friday Night @ Hollywood

As a prologue to the August Jacksonville Blitz I hit up Hollywood in search of trains.

This Friday night outing followed the usual dinner item except it was scheduled later than before. I hope this becomes a new tradition as the numbers were and could be very decent.

First the usual showstopper, 101 passed by about half past 10 with a full intermodal train. It was making good speed which was a welcome thing since I've always seen them crawling through Hollywood since the signal got moved.

Q453 who paralleled closely got a visit from me for logistical reasons. Lots of gravel for Conrad Yelvington on it aside from usual manifest loads for area customers. 10:42 PM

I almost missed out on dinner at A La Turca which was closing a bit early. Fortunately we weren't turned away and had dinner. We walked around Hollywood as 226 got the go through town.

It clocked in just after the stroke of 12 with a nasty RS3L and IM hotshot to JAX.

the real treat was FEC 141 which was a rock extra out of Fort Pierce. This was sort of a trip down memory lane and the likes of 191. It passed by at 1:03 AM.

To be posted separately is a catch in Fort Lauderdale around 2 AM which was prolonged due to where I was in terms of where it had to set out and made interesting by the idiots tampering with it.