Twilight Hustle

Venturing out to downtown Fort Lauderdale before dawn for the first time on the morning of December 1st, 2023, the Florida East Coast Railway mainline was relatively quiet for the first hour. The only sort of bustle happening was construction work done on a new apartment building by the right of way, another skyscraper to add to the rapidly growing city skyline. Sunlight slowly began creeping into the picture right as the scanner crackled to life; a “BLF 706” calling the foreman stationed by the Brightline Fort Lauderdale Station to receive authorization past his conditional stop. “Eh, a train is a train.”, I told myself, getting set up for their roll-by.

 

Upon completing their stop, contacting the foreman and receiving authority to proceed south through the limits, BLF 706-01 S gets back underway with its morning revenue run to MiamiCentral from West Palm Beach following its overnight layover at the RRF, crossing over the New River on the West Main at 06:42. #BLF118, a second-order Siemens SCB-40, leads one of two BrightOrange train sets while a first-order SCB-40 trails. It seems like the crew aboard must’ve recognized me as both engineer and conductor [hi, Vinnie] throw some poses through the front window; nothing beats the joy of having your railroader friends recognize you from the cab.

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Fort Lauderdale, FL

FEC Mainline

 

Date: 12/01/2023 | 06:42

 

ID: BLF 706-01

Type: Passenger [Intercity]

Direction: Southbound

Car Count: 4

 

1. BLF SCB-40 #118

2. BLF SCB-40 #110

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© Vicente Alonso 2023

Done