Hunting For Cane
One thing that's fun about railfanning here is the constant surprise of trains. While waiting to get this last shot of the Sebring Turn rolling into town as seen here: flic.kr/p/2qTWjFi I heard horns southeast of me and was surprised by two back to back jobs headed west (railroad north) on the SCFE main out into the cane fields about 20 minutes before the SBT came south. This was a nice opportunity to try this angle out which I did not prefer and went with something different for the turn as you saw, but I'm just dropping one shot of each into the trip journal.
I believe the first train was Cane 1 with a string of empty cane cars trailing USSC 4204, a GP40-2 built new in Dec. 1977 as Boston and Maine 302. Three minutes behind them whipped what I believe was Cane 3 running light engine with USSC 3804 a GP38-2 that was built new in Oct. 1974 for the San Manuel Arizona Railroad as SMA 17. They are approaching the busy US Hwy 27 grade crossing as they leave the city limits running on a fill between two canals here at about MP 946 as measured from Richmond, VA via the historic Atlantic Coast Line main.
Wholly owned by US Sugar Corp. as their common carrier railroad subsidiary, this particular trackage was built about 1922 by the Atlantic Coast Line and remained with ACL successors SCL and SBD until becoming part of CSX. The latter finally sold this branch line in June 1990 to the Brandywine Valley Railroad, a Lukens Steel Company subsidiary which operated it as the SCFE. Four years later they sold the railroad to its largest customer, U.S. Sugar which operates it as a separate company semi independent from the 119 miles of private non common carrier branch lines they already owned.
Clewiston, Florida
Friday March 14, 2025
Hunting For Cane
One thing that's fun about railfanning here is the constant surprise of trains. While waiting to get this last shot of the Sebring Turn rolling into town as seen here: flic.kr/p/2qTWjFi I heard horns southeast of me and was surprised by two back to back jobs headed west (railroad north) on the SCFE main out into the cane fields about 20 minutes before the SBT came south. This was a nice opportunity to try this angle out which I did not prefer and went with something different for the turn as you saw, but I'm just dropping one shot of each into the trip journal.
I believe the first train was Cane 1 with a string of empty cane cars trailing USSC 4204, a GP40-2 built new in Dec. 1977 as Boston and Maine 302. Three minutes behind them whipped what I believe was Cane 3 running light engine with USSC 3804 a GP38-2 that was built new in Oct. 1974 for the San Manuel Arizona Railroad as SMA 17. They are approaching the busy US Hwy 27 grade crossing as they leave the city limits running on a fill between two canals here at about MP 946 as measured from Richmond, VA via the historic Atlantic Coast Line main.
Wholly owned by US Sugar Corp. as their common carrier railroad subsidiary, this particular trackage was built about 1922 by the Atlantic Coast Line and remained with ACL successors SCL and SBD until becoming part of CSX. The latter finally sold this branch line in June 1990 to the Brandywine Valley Railroad, a Lukens Steel Company subsidiary which operated it as the SCFE. Four years later they sold the railroad to its largest customer, U.S. Sugar which operates it as a separate company semi independent from the 119 miles of private non common carrier branch lines they already owned.
Clewiston, Florida
Friday March 14, 2025