A Day On The St. Mary's Railroad

Metro Jacksonville · April 23, 2012, 03:16:35 AM

A Day On The St. Mary's Railroad

While the greater Jacksonville region is the well known home of major railroad companies such as CSX and Florida East Coast, there are also several smaller class III railroad operations that call the First Coast home. Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a look at the behind the scenes operation of the St. Mary's Railroad.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-apr-a-day-on-the-st-marys-railroad

Noone · April 23, 2012, 06:41:02 AM

What a neat experience. Enjoyed the tour.

ben says · April 23, 2012, 07:09:42 AM

How often do they run? How much does it cost? Where does it go?

BridgeTroll · April 23, 2012, 07:52:40 AM

I hope Ock did not miss that...

aclchampion · April 23, 2012, 07:55:19 AM

Terrific article. Thanks for sharing guys!

thelakelander · April 23, 2012, 08:03:43 AM

Ock set it up. He was like a kid in a candy store out there.

aclchampion · April 23, 2012, 08:11:41 AM

I know Richard Long, the engineer. Used to work for Seaboard, then Amtrak, then he retired from there. Has a ride around model railroad in his yard. He was engineer on the Sunset Limited when it ran from Jacksonville to New Orleans in the good old days. Super nice man.

Wacca Pilatka · April 23, 2012, 08:51:36 AM

Great photos, even by MJ's high standards.

BridgeTroll · April 23, 2012, 10:06:15 AM

Quote from: thelakelander on April 23, 2012, 08:03:43 AM
Ock set it up. He was like a kid in a candy store out there.

Good to hear...

Ocklawaha · April 23, 2012, 11:49:02 AM

Yes, I was there, standing in the engine cab observing the operation and opportunities to increase business. It's always a bit entertaining to watch people with no railroad background or experience get their first taste of what it feels like to manage 248,000 pounds, 1,200 horsepower, 600 gallons of fuel and 35,000 pounds of tractive effort. You get a real appreciation for these crews when it dawns on you that you might not be handling the locomotive and that the locomotive might be handling you!

To answer one of the questions, "how much did it cost?" It only cost years of rubbing elbows with these guys, a railroad with some needs, and a proactive media group that usually has a lot of answers. We may be talking about MJ excursions in the future, when that happens, we'll post the fare.

A bunch of these railroaders go way back with me, Richard Long is one of them. We hadn't seen each other for about 30 years... or as Richard put it, a whole lot of pounds ago.

Creative business ideas is the key to the St. Mary's survival, and that port would be the key to it prospering again.

BOB

Ocklawaha · April 23, 2012, 11:50:31 AM

Yes, I was there, standing in the engine cab observing the operation and opportunities to increase business. It's always a bit entertaining to watch people with no railroad background or experience get their first taste of what it feels like to manage 248,000 pounds, 1,200 horsepower, 600 gallons of fuel and 35,000 pounds of tractive effort. You get a real appreciation for these crews when it dawns on you that you might not be handling the locomotive and that the locomotive might be handling you!

To answer one of the questions, "how much did it cost?" It only cost years of rubbing elbows with these guys, a railroad with some needs, and a proactive media group that usually has a lot of answers. We may be talking about MJ excursions in the future, when that happens, we'll post the fare.

A bunch of these railroaders go way back with me, Richard Long is one of them. We hadn't seen each other for about 30 years... or as Richard put it, a whole lot of pounds ago. It was like a family reunion, really great to see Richard and catch up on each others railroad adventures.

Creative business ideas is the key to the St. Mary's survival, and that port would be the key to it prospering again.

BOB

BackinJax05 · April 25, 2012, 01:38:56 AM

Another great story.

And once again: Abandoning the S-line was one of the stupidest things CSuX has ever done.

nomeus · April 27, 2012, 03:55:45 AM

http://www.youtube.com/v/MPzZNQo8SyQ?version=3&hl=en_US"

On the train you get smaller, as you get farther away
The roar covers everything you wanted to say
Was that a raindrop in the corner of your eye?
Were you drying your nails or waving goodbye?

billy · April 29, 2012, 01:19:50 PM

Cool!
I noticed some limited work on part of the S Line greenway on the east side of Main Street recently.

Ocklawaha · April 29, 2012, 01:41:06 PM

Sorry Billy, but anything east of Main on the old 'S' could only be more of the bike trail. There's a school right smack in the middle of the old 'S' and THAT will force any streetcar/rail use of a future 'S' to round the curve near Moncrief and Davis then jog north onto the Norfolk Southern right-of-way to get east of Main. Fortunately the city already owns the land, unfortunately at this moment, if you want to see rail transit development in Florida, drive south to Orlando. Jacksonville is digging it's own grave in the race to become a first tier 'world' city.