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Just got home after a great day aboard the Amtrak FEC special. Excellent trip with a good mix of media and political types as Amtrak and interested communities take a serious look at bringing passenger service back to the east coast of Florida. A few quick observations: 1. This warranted a sendoff by FL Governor Charlie Crist. 2. It was neat departing from downtown Miami (the first passenger train departure from downtown Miami since January 1963). 3. Lots of shocked looks from people along the route through south Florida. 4. Beyond West Palm Beach there were great turnouts at many stops as people really want a passenger train. The largest crowds were at Stuart, Ft. Pierce, and Bunnell (the latter not even a stop). Fewer surprised looks. 5. The FEC tracks are smooth as glass once we reached North Miami The branch to downtown Miami requires 10 mph operation. 6. Entering Jacksonville from the south on FEC is very impressive as the train crosses the St. Johns River. 7. It doesn't get much better than riding a full dome all day. 8. Consist: AMT 1, 67, 62020 (ex-Moonlight View), 25031, 25081, 25091, 10031 full dome, 10001 Beech Grove.
We'll have a full report on the main TrainWeb page in the near future.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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I was wondering what types of looks you would get from people. From the pictures I've seen on another website, it sure does look unusual to see Amtrak equipment cruising through certain parts of Florida!
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Last summer I rode a dome all day on a MSP-CHI excursion.
I'm hoping this summer to get out to Alamosa, CO and ride a dome over LaVeta Pass.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Mr. Silver Star, when you passed through Delray Beach, did you note a Marriott resort property with ocean view as well as an entertainment district (bars restaurant specialty shops) all within sight?
Not that I am about to advocate such (do I ever really advocate anything other than getting rid of the LD's?), but if there were somebody's rail service through there, one could alsmot envision a week long vacation there - without an auto.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I read that a major problem with rail service in the US was that many people would go to the depot to look at the trains but too few people ever actually got on the trains.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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My one FEC ride was as a youngster in 1956 on the East Coast Champion. I remember looking out the window in Jacksonville and seeing a steam switcher in the terminal. Somewhere down the coast, we stopped and vendors were offering fresh Florida orange juice.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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That this was chosen to be on an A-Day - and a Saturday at that- leads one to wonder was this more media event than an evaluation by operating personnel, FEC and Amtrak, of feasability to restore service over this route.
Mr. Diogenes (aka GBN) weighing in; OK we put on a show for the media (on what was to have been a slow news day; some disgruntled soul apparently had other ideas of a 5/1); now let's all go home and forget about this as Amtrak does not wish to be burdened with additional train miles (and for which no assurance of Local funding; or giving up the ability to "whack a train' - Meteor - fast if need arises) and FEC does not want passenger train interference on their rails.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Hello Palmland: I have sources who are able to help arrange opportunities such as riding this special. Hey GBN: Did not see the Marriott at Delray but I think it would be oceanside. Contrary to common belief the FEC does not run along the beach and one does not see the ocean at all from its rails. However, many wonderful vistas are there for viewing as the FEC crosses several wide waterways and follows the Indian River for aways through Brevard County.
As for comments about the motive for this trip: the communities along the east coast have clamored loud and hard for a passenger train and every 2 or 3 years the project seems to come to the forefront. Whether this results in Amtrak service only time will tell. FEC had brass on board and its obvious they want Amtrak as it means $$$ in the form of track improvements and revenue from whatever Amtrak pays to use their rails. Amtrak was represnted by the Chairman of their Board of Directors and representatives from many of their key departments so it is obvious they are interested though obviously noncommital. There would be little interference as FEC mainly runs freights at night, in fact, I've read reports stating that FEC would like to sell the WPB-Miami segment to Tri-Rail (State of FL),which is interested in adding a second route, much like CSX did with the paralell line used by Tri-Rail and Amtrak.
I'll have aan article with photos on TrainWeb in the near future.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Thought of GBN as I did spot a few Marriotts along the way including the one at Palm Beach Gardens and either Bocaq or Delray...all were inland (west) from the rail line so surely not the one you refer to. I, too, am a Marriott loyalist though some Hiltons also suit my tastes.
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Note the abundance of restaurants that are identified on the map. My favorite there is Old Calypso on the East (Island) side of the Waterway to the South of Atlantic.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Yes, GBN, in fact I've considered a stay at the Delray Marriott on past trips to see family in Miami but concluded it too far from that nasty I-95 to make it functional for me. Have stayed at the Marriotts in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens which are right by the highway. Not as scenic but better for quick travel. Oddly no other full service Marriott exists in FEC cities until Jax and only a few Courtyards offer an alternate from some less desirable chains. Few present day major hotel chains were spotted along our trip as FEC mostly serves "old Florida", i.e., downtowns, rather than the interstate highway chaos.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Here's another interesting account of the trip from the Examiner.
I like the idea mentioned that another option is the extension of the Palmetto over the FEC. But I don't think that is likely since it would be overnight on a schedule similar to the ACL 'Havana Special' (and after Castro, called the Gulf Coast Special).
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Related of sorts; here is a video I located at You Tube showing #97 Meteor - yes the one I point out is the vulnerable LD on the System - arriving at Delray Beach.
Note the ex-SRY Diner in consist - and the Sleeper consist as well.
Obviously the train is well patronized, but my reasoning regarding its vulnerability is simply that it could be gone without any Notice under ARAA '97.
With or without my thoughts regarding the Meteor's possible demise ("the word' would have to come down "whack a train NOW' - and this could happen even while the pro-Amtrak Obama administration is still @ 1600), enjoy the video - it is well produced:
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I take a personal interest in all this talk about a return of FEC passenger trains, since I essentially grew up in Delray Beach. Both sets of grandparents retired there after WW II, and from the time I was born in 1952 until 1966, I spent at least three months every winter in Delray. My mother much preferred the train although we did occasionally fly (I still recall a "cab ride" on a DC6B), and until 1963 it was usually the ACL "East Coast Champion". My mother preferred the service of SAL, though, so once the ACL trains were detoured, we were usually on the "Meteor" or "Star". Trips to Florida (although not for three months after 1966) remained an annual event until I went to college in 1971. In fact, I wouldn't be a railroad buff without those memories. Amtrak certainly isn't as inspirational.
I remember the FEC Delray Beach station (now the parking lot for Sun Bank). The Marriott mentioned by Mr. Norman replaced the Seacrest Hotel, a 1920s fixture which when I was a boy still had rest rooms labeled "White Men" and "Colored Men" -- also water fountains labeled the same. It was a different world in Delray in the 1950s, and I remember it.
I remember the FEC route well, too. A nice ride. However, the original ACL detour was interesting (and seemed to take forever). The Champion in 1963 ran north on SAL to Sebring, where we diverged onto the ACL Everglades City branch (I recall a sign, "End SAL CTC"). We then ambled through Lake Wales to a place called Haines City, where we regained the ACL West Coast main line. I remember palm fronds brushing the side of the train -- and taking more than 7 hours to get to Jax.
Later we simply went to Auburndale and "turned the corner" as Amtrak does today.
In 2006 I had a chance to hi-rail FEC from downtown Miami to Tequesta. I had not previously been south of Boca Raton.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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Before last week's special, my memories of FEC were riding the City of Miami from Miami to WPB, sitting outside the station to try and get a breeze (no a/c in many stations then, and then back on the East Coast Champion in a Pullman room in the early 60s. Then in 1967 I rode Melbourne to Miami on the 2 car strike train. One coach and a round end observation car. You could go back there to buy a soft drink but couldn't sit in the rear without paying parlor fare. It was empty.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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RResor: How long did the run on that ACL branch via Lake Wales host the passenger detours? I grew up in Miami and just recall the switch from SAL to ACL at Auburndale. I wish I'd gotten to do that. I do recall a trip in which we had to detour through the little yard at West Lake Wales due to a big freight pileup on the mainline curve. It wiped out several rows of freight cars in the yard so we had to go to the westernmost track.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Somewhere, Mr. Silver Star, I have an interior photo of the Parlor-Obs with its 'welcome aboard" signage.
Well that is if one considers "This railroad is operating under strike conditions and passengers could be subject to personal injury..." a welcome aboard sign.
Of course, here was the most famous 'welcome aboard' sign of all times:
I never rode the strike train, but I did "invade" (took nothing but pictures) the consist on its Sunday "day off' when parked at N. Miami during Jan 1967.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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In 1965 I took, you guessed it, the Palmland from Washington to Ft. Lauderdale during spring break. During its extended Jacksonville stop, I saw the rather forlorn, but still nice looking, FEC train waiting for the next day's run.
While it was a shame that FEC east coast service was curtailed in those year, what a feast it was while loitering trackside under a palm tree on a balmy spring afternoon at the SAL Ft. Lauderdale station. During a couple hours there you could see the: Silver Meteor, Sunland, East Coast Champion, Florida Special, Everglades, and City of Miami (or South Wind).
Even at that late date, the Florida Special proudly advertised it was the only train with television as well a recreation car, hostess service, fashion shows, champagne, dinner reservations, and 'deluxe equipment' which on some days included the displaced observation cars from the Broadway Ltd.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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I remember seeing the warning sign before boarding the little strike train at Melbourne. Disgruntled employees had dynamited a bridge and derailed at least 1 train a couple years earlier. No wonder there was sparse ridership! The train did connect at Jax with the SAL and ACL trains. I have a couple black and white photos of the train in my upcoming article...watch TrainWeb in the next week or so. Unfortunately I didn't take any on my ride back then. Hey Palmland: I used to love the parade of trains in south FL on the SAL. At the Miami station there were 5 tracks and in morning you could find: Track 1: Southbound Palmland which came in at 4:55am but parked so the sleeper could be occupied til 7:30. Track 2: Northbound East Coast Champion which left sometime between 8:10 and 8:30am. Track 3: Northbound Silver Meteor which left at 9:00 with its round end obs car near the bumping post. Track 4: Northbound IC City of Miami with its obs car on the rear or on alternate days, the South Wind which had a sleeper on the tail end. They left at 10:10am. Track 5: The Sunland, a mail train pulled by a freight engine. An un-airconditioned passenger and baggage (P&B) car followed some mail cars. It left around 9:40, made all the stops, and was passed by the City/Wind at Dania between Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale. Those were great times!
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