Framing40s
Rise n’ Shine, Tallahassee
It was early morning yesterday, I was up before the dawn~
The words of Rick Davies rang true for the occasion, waking up around 0600 in preparation for the first full day of train-chasing on a lengthy 11-day roadtrip between northern Florida and southern Georgia. I didn’t particularly enjoy forcing myself out of comfort of my bed in the city’s trackside Hyatt House, however, the allure of documenting the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railway negated any sort of fuss out of me. The rising sun would greet me upon my arrival to FGAR’s Tallahassee Yard on that frigid October morning, providing what little light there was available to observe what stood within the yard. Not much was visible, unfortunately, only catching a poorly lit glimpse of reds, whites, and blues.
While the sun pulled away from the horizon into the sky, I’d set up camp at Cascades Park outside of Tallahassee’s Central District, overlooking the mainline from the Capital Cascades Trail. Going on-duty at 07:00, the days’ subject train would be FGAR’s TA-EAST. Operating Monday through Friday, it shuttles eastbound traffic out of Tallahassee towards Lee, FL, where the train is handed off to LC-WEST to take towards Lake City, with TA-EAST taking westbound traffic back towards the capital city. The railroad employs their six-axle road power for these trains, either their SD40-2, SD70M’s, or SD70M-2’s.
The resounding wail of a K5LLA reverberates off the downtown buildings at 08:44. If one was dozing off, you’d think you were napping along the Florida East Coast mainline in the mid-2000’s; in this day and age, it’s the closest one can get to re-experiencing that era. In a scene kissed by golden morning sunlight, a pair of former FEC/RailAmerica SD70M-2’s take charge of Thursday’s 19-car TA-EAST, well, east out of Tallahassee, sharing the limelight with the Central District’s assorted buildings dotting the background. #FGAR107, perfectly paired with #FGAR106 back to back, look their best amongst the greenery around them, with the crew going easy on the horn as to not cause too much of a commotion for the trackside neighbors. Who knows, maybe they’re someone’s alarm clock.
Elliot, Liam and I wouldn’t stick around to see the bottom of TA-EAST, as they soon accelerated further upon swinging north through the curve behind the camera’s point of view. Departing east out of Tallahassee, trains can reach speeds of up to 40 MPH; with EAST’s short train, and only one stop to serve Mayo Fertilizer before reaching the swap point of Lee, the chase was shaping up to be one those requiring hasty driving skills, precise timing, and some split second decision-making. In no time, we’d be on the all-too-familiar US-27 highballing east for Chaires, FL for a video-only shoot of the train.
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Tallahassee, FL
FGAR Tallahassee Subdivision
Date: 10/24/2024 | 08:44
ID: TA-EAST [-24]
Type: Local
Direction: Eastbound
Car Count: 19
1. FGAR SD70M-2 #107
2. FGAR SD70M-2 #106
•
© Vicente Alonso 2024
Rise n’ Shine, Tallahassee
It was early morning yesterday, I was up before the dawn~
The words of Rick Davies rang true for the occasion, waking up around 0600 in preparation for the first full day of train-chasing on a lengthy 11-day roadtrip between northern Florida and southern Georgia. I didn’t particularly enjoy forcing myself out of comfort of my bed in the city’s trackside Hyatt House, however, the allure of documenting the Florida, Gulf & Atlantic Railway negated any sort of fuss out of me. The rising sun would greet me upon my arrival to FGAR’s Tallahassee Yard on that frigid October morning, providing what little light there was available to observe what stood within the yard. Not much was visible, unfortunately, only catching a poorly lit glimpse of reds, whites, and blues.
While the sun pulled away from the horizon into the sky, I’d set up camp at Cascades Park outside of Tallahassee’s Central District, overlooking the mainline from the Capital Cascades Trail. Going on-duty at 07:00, the days’ subject train would be FGAR’s TA-EAST. Operating Monday through Friday, it shuttles eastbound traffic out of Tallahassee towards Lee, FL, where the train is handed off to LC-WEST to take towards Lake City, with TA-EAST taking westbound traffic back towards the capital city. The railroad employs their six-axle road power for these trains, either their SD40-2, SD70M’s, or SD70M-2’s.
The resounding wail of a K5LLA reverberates off the downtown buildings at 08:44. If one was dozing off, you’d think you were napping along the Florida East Coast mainline in the mid-2000’s; in this day and age, it’s the closest one can get to re-experiencing that era. In a scene kissed by golden morning sunlight, a pair of former FEC/RailAmerica SD70M-2’s take charge of Thursday’s 19-car TA-EAST, well, east out of Tallahassee, sharing the limelight with the Central District’s assorted buildings dotting the background. #FGAR107, perfectly paired with #FGAR106 back to back, look their best amongst the greenery around them, with the crew going easy on the horn as to not cause too much of a commotion for the trackside neighbors. Who knows, maybe they’re someone’s alarm clock.
Elliot, Liam and I wouldn’t stick around to see the bottom of TA-EAST, as they soon accelerated further upon swinging north through the curve behind the camera’s point of view. Departing east out of Tallahassee, trains can reach speeds of up to 40 MPH; with EAST’s short train, and only one stop to serve Mayo Fertilizer before reaching the swap point of Lee, the chase was shaping up to be one those requiring hasty driving skills, precise timing, and some split second decision-making. In no time, we’d be on the all-too-familiar US-27 highballing east for Chaires, FL for a video-only shoot of the train.
•
Tallahassee, FL
FGAR Tallahassee Subdivision
Date: 10/24/2024 | 08:44
ID: TA-EAST [-24]
Type: Local
Direction: Eastbound
Car Count: 19
1. FGAR SD70M-2 #107
2. FGAR SD70M-2 #106
•
© Vicente Alonso 2024