CSX & Amtrak Trains at Plant City, FL 1/6/2012||Tripod+720p

THIS VIDEO IS THE SOLE PROPERTY OF JAMES B. TRACHIER, COPYRIGHT © 2012.

January 6, 2012
CSX Railway Lakeland Subdivision (A-Line), Milepost A861.1
& CSX Railway Yeoman Subdivision (S-Line), Milepost S823.1
Plant City, FL

This is my first train video from Florida, and what better place to kick off my Florida railfanning than Plant City, site of the crossover between the CSX Yeoman Subdivision (former Seaboard Line, S-Line), and the CSX Lakeland Subdivision (former Atlantic Line, A-Line). Situated about 25 miles east of Tampa, Plant City is one of the hotspots of Florida railfanning, with over 25 trains in a day on a good day. While certainly not busy compared to better-known railroading hotspots up north (like Macon, GA), Plant City can still hold its own when it comes to busy railroad junction action, as this video demonstrates, and is probably about as good as it gets south of Jacksonville. In only about a four hour period, I (along with some other train buffs who were there) managed to catch plenty of good train activity at the diamond between Amtrak, locals, and a few long-haul trains as well. In this video, you'll see two CSX locals with cabooses running on the A-Line, Amtrak's "Silver Star" service in and out of Tampa, the famous Tropicana Juice Train, as well as long grain and coal trains. I'd like to give special thanks to YouTuber CSXBOY187 for information about these CSX lines and train info, as well as to the fellow railfans who were with me for keeping me informed of when trains would be arriving.

Train 1: Eastbound CSX O711, Local
Time: 10:37 AM EST
Location: CSX Yeoman to Lakeland Sub Wye
Motive Power: CSXT 4303 (GP39-2) & CSXT 900412 (Caboose)
Comments: Eastbound transfer from the S-Line to the A-Line. Yes, No. 4303 is a GP39-2, not a GP38-2.

Train 2: Inbound Amtrak 91, "The Silver Star"
Time: 12:08 PM EST
Location: CSX Lakeland Sub, MP A861.1
Motive Power: AMTK 13 (P42DC) & AMTK 188 (P42DC)
Comments: Southbound Train 91, inbound to Tampa.

Train 3: Westbound CSX O709, Local
Time: 12:16 PM EST
Location: CSX Lakeland Sub, MP A861.1
Motive Power: CSXT 2523 (GP38-2) & CSXT 900033 (Caboose)
Comments: Caboose No. 900033 is used as a head-end lookout unit when the train is going the other direction to avoid the need to use double-ended power or wye the train (see Train 9).

Train 4: Northbound CSX Q740, Tropicana Juice Train
Time: 12:45 PM EST
Location: CSX Yeoman Sub, MP S823.1
Motive Power: CSXT 5253 (ES44DC) & CSXT 4570 (SD70MAC)
Comments: A quick Wikipedia check indicates that each 60ft refrigerated boxcar on the train carries about 1 million US gallons (3,800 cubic meters) of orange juice. For a 60-car train, that's 60 million gallons (228,000 cubic meters) of orange juice. That's enough orange juice to fill about 91 Olympic-size swimming pools!* (Juice Train article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juice_Train. *Calculation assumes a 2500 cubic meter swimming pool).

Train 5: Outbound Amtrak 91, "The Silver Star"
Time: 1:30 PM EST
Location: CSX Lakeland Sub, MP A861.1
Motive Power: AMTK 13 (P42DC) & AMTK 188 (P42DC)
Comments: Southbound Train 91, outbound from Tampa.

Train 6: Northbound Grain
Time: 1:47 PM EST
Location: CSX Yeoman Sub, MP S823.1
Motive Power: CSXT 748 (ES44AC) & HLCX 7169 (SD40-2)

Train 7: Northbound CSX Q251, Autorack Local
Time: 2:06 PM EST
Location: CSX Lakeland to Yeoman Sub Wye
Motive Power: CSXT 7854 (C40-8W) & CSXT 7788 (C40-8W)
Comments: Loud Canadian-style K3 on No. 7854. Stops just after the wye to allow the southbound unit-coal train on the S-Line to pass (see Train 8 below).

Train 8: Westbound CSX T081, Unit Coal
Time: 2:10 PM EST
Location: CSX Yeoman Sub, MP S823.1
Motive Power: CSXT 734 (ES44AC), CSXT 8539 (SD50) & CSXT 702 (ES44AC)
Comments: Very nice K5LA horn action from No. 734.

Train 9: Eastbound CSX Local
Time: 2:18 PM EST
Location: CSX Lakeland Sub, MP A861.1
Motive Power: CSXT 900033 (Caboose) & CSXT 2523 (GP38-2)
Comments: Same local seen for Train 3, going the opposite direction. As you can see, the caboose is serving as the "lookout" for the crew of 2523, with a crew member stationed in the caboose.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• CSX
• CSXT
• Railway
• Yeoman
• Lakeland
• Subdivision
• A-Line
• S-Line
• Plant
• City
• FL
• Florida
• 33563
• diamond
• Amtrak
• 91
• Silver
• Star
• P42DC
• Genesis
• 13
• 188
• EMD
• GP39-2
• 4303
• GP38-2
• 2523
• SD70MAC
• 4570
• HLCX
• SD40-2
• 7169
• SD50
• 8539
• Caboose
• 900033
• GE
• ES44DC
• 5253
• ES44AC
• 748
• 734
• 702
• C40-8W
• 7854
• 7788
• CSX Transportation
• Train
• Trains
• Railroad
• Station
• Line
• Freight
• Tropicana
• Juice

[CSXBOY187]

Awesome video! i really enjoyed watching your video seems like you had a great day railfanning day in Plant City, FL. Favorite and 2 thumbs up

In case you are wondering

Train 1 was O711

Train 3 was O709

Train 7 was Q251 northbound

Train 8 was T081 southbound

[theup3985]

@CSXBOY187 Thanks, glad you enjoyed watching, and thanks again for all the helpful info on the trains! I'll update the vid description with the train symbols.

[mjbr1010]

nice videos we are adults we know what direction the trains move in Plant city, I liked the video.

[theup3985]

@mjbr1010 Glad you liked the video, and I include the directions the trains are going in my videos and descriptions for people who may not be familiar with the layout of the tracks in the area and because it's part of good documentation.

[CSXBOY187]

@theup3985 Your welcome glad to help you out.

[theup3985]

@AMTK510 No, they wye the train in Tampa. However, I messed up in the original description when I said that Train 91 was northbound, it is in fact the southbound train (I've now fixed this in the description). But in any case, there is no north-south mainline running through Tampa, there are only the two CSX east-west mains, so Amtrak has to get in and out of Tampa on the same track (the A-Line), and they turn the train around in Tampa. Hope this clears it up.

[AMTK510]

So you're saying you caught it deadheading one direction?

[theup3985]

@BurkeDevlin66 It's on my channel page in the info column, but it's a Nikon CoolPix L110. Not a high-end fancy camcorder by any means, but at least it's HD and it suits me for now until I can get a nicer camcorder.

[theup3985]

@AMTK510 No, because it is the same train, but it has to travel the same track to get in and out of Tampa. Train 92 comes through Plant City later in the afternoon (but I didn't stick around for it).