SE Florida Trainspotting

 

November 2024

Passenger and freight train photos from our ten days at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, Florida.

If you camp at Jonathan Dickinson State Park's Pine Grove campground, it is only a short walk to the Florida East Coast Railway double track mainline.

Signals at the one grade crossing in the park.    There is parking for bicycle trails near this crossing. It is an easy place to access for train photography.

Two Brightline trains per hour zip through the park. One at about 20 minutes after and another 20 minutes before the hour.

Northbound train approaches the road crossing.

Note: Double-click on any photo for a high resolution version.

Southbound train at the same road crossing.

Southbound train from the old service road south of the road crossing.

These train sets are built by Siemens Mobility in their Sacramento, CA plant.  A new passenger car manufacturing plant is being built in Lexington, NC.

Engine 108 is the other end of the train set that had the unfortunate collision with a Fire engine ladder truck. For more about the accident, see this CNN story. Fire Truck Collission with Brightline train

With the number of grade crossings, the job of train engineer must be stressful.

Northbound Brightline 

Always be more cautious around railroad crossings with double tracks.

Northbound Brightline passing a local freight train.

Just because one train has cleared a crossing, doesn't mean that another one is coming behind it, or from another direction. 

#501 is an EMD GP38 locomotive built in 1977.

One of the crew is resting outside on a step as the train slowly moves north with a load of gondolas.

Southbound Brightline in the distance.

Southbound Brightline 120,

closer and,

close enough to see the engineer.

Northbound Brightline

Southbound Brightline

This is the former road, now a bike and walking trail, that parallels the tracks.

Look closely and you might find an otter headed southbound on the western track.

He otter be careful.

The yellow circle shows where the otter, and several trains, were photographed.  Pine Grove Campground sites are visible on the right side of the photo. 

note: I used a long lens and stayed outside of the RR right-of way to be safe.

A pair of GE ES44C4 in the Florida East Coast Railway's Champion color scheme.

This color scheme is getting rare on the line as the locomotives are being repainted with the Black & White stripes of the railway's new owner: Grupo México

Bonus Videos

Sunset Northbound Brightline through Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Brightline Crossing the Loxahatchee River at Sawmill Park

Brightline in Jupiter at Sawmill Park

Sounthbound Brightline (Kissimee wrap) through Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Today's Route

JD State Park to Sawmill Park