The Day Tripper From Fort Pierce

I don’t exactly remember the circumstances that led to this happening, but alas, another rare daylight run of the FEC rock-runners documented for the books. Such moves are hard to plan for on a whim, let alone predict, but are massively appealing to photograph when given the opportunity. Finding FEC SD40’s in service on the mainline in daylight is difficult to accomplish. Even with the complexities of shooting unplanned train moves, Little River is one of the ‘safe’ plays for me, a location I’d fall back on for this occasion—and it certainly won’t be the last time.

 

Led by sister ‘40’s #FEC720 [SD40-2] and #FEC711 [SD40-2], a late-running FEC 193-08 heads south through the cluttered mess that Little River on the morning of December 8th, 2023, rounding the curve past the neighborhood’s namesake body of water towards the Little River wye. The two Champion units have 121 cars on the drawbar, 119 of them being empty limestone gondolas/hoppers, and two articulated TOFC spine cars for the railroads’ then-new Waste Management service on the bottom [said WM traffic now has its own dedicated train at the time of posting].

 

Typically operating under the cover of night, Train 193 handles empty limestone traffic out of Fort Pierce to Medley Monday through Friday as the southbound counterpart to Train 292, which handles the northbound loads out of Medley. Motive power for the service cycles every week, and greatly varies depending on what’s available.

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Little River, FL

FEC Mainline

 

Date: 12/08/2023 | 09:51

 

ID: FEC 193-08

Type: Empty Rock/IM

Direction: Southbound

Car Count: 121

 

1. FEC SD40-2 #720

2. FEC SD40-2 #711

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© Vicente Alonso 2023

Done