South Florida Railfan Series: Dania - Saturday Night, April 17, 2010

I spent a few hours Saturday night railfanning the CSX Miami Subdivision at the Fort Lauderdale Airport Tri-Rail station in Dania. As I was driving there, ATCS revealed a northbound freight exiting Hialeah Yard, and lined to the industrial lead at Golden Glades as well as a southbounder approaching Fort Lauderdale, lined to Track-3. This was all in addition to a northbound train running on Tri-Rail P674's schedule at Hollywood. The northbound freight had to be a local, and with work to do at Golden Glades, it could be an hour or more before they got to me, and as it turned out, that's exactly how it happened. The southbounder was, without a doubt, Q453 and would certainly find me first. With some time to kill before Q453's imminent arrival, I decided to catch P674's station stop at Dania:

SX 1016.29
Gulfstream Way/Griffin Rd.

9:06 PM
Northbound Track-2
Tri-Rail P674
1 Bombardier Bi-Level Cab Car
2 Bombardier Bi-Level Coaches
TRCX #813 GP49

After catching P674, I went back to my car to check the dispatcher's board. I immediately noticed that Q453 was further along than first thought, now well on Track-3 approaching South Dania for their Medium Approach Medium turnout move to Track-1. I literally had to run back to the crossing from the station parking lot in order to get my shot ready. In the process, I accidentally set up my camera beneath the path of the crossing gate which struck my tripod's control arm on the way down. That part ended up on the cutting room floor, btw:

9:20 PM
Southbound Track-1
CSX Q453-17 mixed freight
Waycross, GA-Miami, FL
CSXT #7904 CW40-8
CSXT #7376 CW40-8 (ex-Conrail)
57 cars including 3 FEC hoppers

About an hour had passed since Q453 went by me and still no sight of that northbounder that had ducked off the main at Golden Glades earlier. Another look at ATCS showed them getting lined out the north end of the Golden Glades siding at Plantation with signals all the way to Track-3 and beyond to Fort Lauderdale. Based on my knowledge of CSX's South Florida service plan, I knew it wasn't O720 as they're a Monday-Friday job. It could only be an extra local:

10:23 PM
Northbound Track-1
CSX O920-17 "Extra" Miami-Delray switcher
CSXT #6057 GP40-2
18 cars from last night's Q453

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnQoqsTscnM

The next 20 minutes or so would be spent watching the ATCS dispatcher's board and listening to my scanner. During this time, another northbounder had emerged from Hialeah Yard on Track-2 and within minutes they were coming up on Hardy. With K950 having left for Orlando the night before (see video link above) and O920 at Fort Lauderdale, it could only be Q452. They'll have to hold out at Sheridan until O920 is locked up and in the clear either at Dania or the Fort Lauderdale freight lead near Whalen.
With Q453 already in Hialeah and 0920 out of the way at Fort Lauderdale, Q452 had nothing else to wait for except a signal to proceed. JG quickly set the route and gave Q452 the necessary signals for their routine 2 to 1 crossover at Sheridan, 1 to 3 crossover at South Dania , 3 to 2 crossover at Whalen as well as a high ball the rest of the way out of town. I immediately made my way back to the crossing to set up - the distance from CP Sheridan to the crossing is only 0.8 mile:

11:09 PM
Northbound Track-1
CSX Q452-17 mixed freight
Miami, FL-Waycross, GA
CSXT #7386 CW40-8 (ex-Conrail)
CSXT #7759 CW40-8
CSXT #4317 GP39-2
14 cars

Of course, it came as no surprise to see the same power that brought in last night's Q453. It was also no surprise that Q452 was short in length, which explains how they made it to Sheridan so fast. Short trains have become standard practice on weekends. As for the third unit... well, it was that second LHF unit O720 that ran back to Hialeah from Fort Lauderdale the night before (again, see video link above). My guess is that it went to Waycross for routine maintenance and will back in South Florida very soon.

That would be it for me tonight. Nothing else to expect on the Miami Subdivision until K950 returns as K951 the following morning. A heads up from a friend in the Orlando area around 11:30 PM advised that they were already on the move southbound with their empty rock train with a recrew scheduled at Davenport. Intimate knowledge of this operation suggests that they'll set out their empties at Davenport, and hook up some sand loads to bring back with them for Conrad Yelvington in Miami. I estimated that they'd be in Fort Lauderdale by 11:00 AM Sunday morning. Be sure to check out that video also to find out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StorUvSgo90


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All rights reserved

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Tri-Rail
• CSX
• Train
• P674
• O920
• Q453
• Q452
• Dania Florida
• SFLRailFan

[Chapas45]

Nice to see a video of a freight at Dania. Last time I was in FL, it was Tri-Rail during the day and CSX at night; is that still happening?

[SFLRailFan]

Yep... Pretty much. Only the occasional daytime freight on the Miami Sub. Thanks for the comment. :-)

[maniacmarklewin52]

great vid as always

[SFLRailFan]

Thanks, Gary. ;-)

[kenjr29mfl]

Great video, Ted.

[SFLRailFan]

Thanks, Ken. ;-)

[thevealchop68]

are you one of the guys who hangs out at the railroad museum at the deerfield station? I didnt want to donate any money. 0 It looked nothing like a museum. just dudes playing with electric trains. and I wasnt going to donate money so some dudes can buy some electric trains to play with. a museum to me is actual artifacts that get placed in permanent cases, and administrated by an official curator who reports to a board of trustees of responsible people within the business community.

[theoutdoorrailfan]

nice video this andrew from waycross

[ScatmanJoeButt]

I wonder when they will finally do this in tampa. The reports say that tampa is now growing and i want to be able to take a train to a rays game instead of drive for 40 min and waste alot of gas.

[Blimpaccident]

Great video! There is a really good feel to this one - I feel like I was there.

[maniacmarklewin52]

@videoman223 the hardest part is getting on- with up is passing the test- knowing some one will help- there has been a mass hiring of women and blacks- nothing against that- but you start out as a conductor then engineer- other rrs may differ-thats in texas -some say test is rigged with no right answer-or just reading comp

[videoman223]

What do you need to be an engeneer? I've wanted to be one since a kid. Is it hard to be one also?