Sunrise Sugar Express
Shortly after sunrise on a warm April morning, United States Sugar's high-stepping Pacific #148 leads a short "Sugar Express" train around the north leg of the wye at Keela, Florida, just outside Clewiston, heading for the cane block. On this particular morning, the train was performing for a photo shoot organized by the railroad and attended by more than 40 photographers from all over the world.
Although normally lettered for United States Sugar Corporation, this particular event featured the locomotive lettered in the livery of her first owner, the Florida East Coast Railway. The locomotive worked the FEC from the time she was first delivered in 1920, until 1952, when she was sold to US Sugar, where she worked the cane fields for another decade. Today, the cane traffic is largely handled by diesel-electric locomotives and the 148 is the primary power on a new steam tourist operation called the "Sugar Express", which operates on a portion of the US Sugar Railroad, between Clewiston and Lake Placid, Florida.
Sunrise Sugar Express
Shortly after sunrise on a warm April morning, United States Sugar's high-stepping Pacific #148 leads a short "Sugar Express" train around the north leg of the wye at Keela, Florida, just outside Clewiston, heading for the cane block. On this particular morning, the train was performing for a photo shoot organized by the railroad and attended by more than 40 photographers from all over the world.
Although normally lettered for United States Sugar Corporation, this particular event featured the locomotive lettered in the livery of her first owner, the Florida East Coast Railway. The locomotive worked the FEC from the time she was first delivered in 1920, until 1952, when she was sold to US Sugar, where she worked the cane fields for another decade. Today, the cane traffic is largely handled by diesel-electric locomotives and the 148 is the primary power on a new steam tourist operation called the "Sugar Express", which operates on a portion of the US Sugar Railroad, between Clewiston and Lake Placid, Florida.