First Coast to gain second commercial airport

[midnightblackrx]

Good luck at the meet Ock!  But I'm not waiting for the commuter rail to start using St. Aug Airport/ Skybus, TBDBITL are only $60 and an hour and a half direct flight for me  

Skybus is my savior from all these UF fans. 

[RiversideGator]

So how did it go with FEC, Ock?  Are you in railroad jail now for your heresy?   

[Ocklawaha]

Without making an announcment FOR FEC (far be it from me to put words in their mouths), let's just say that everything I have said about the LRT or Commuter Rail being doable, is indeed VERY DOABLE! Somewhere between let's talk doable and we're downright excited doable... TRUTH! Gator, while I've managed to stay in trouble most of my life, I've stayed out of jail (so far so good) LOL!

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

It would be interesting to see how much land Flagler Development owns along the tracks between downtown and St. Augustine.  With developments like Flagler Center at I-95 & St. Augustine Rd, they stand to make a ton of money on potential transit oriented developments.

[Ocklawaha]

Lake, the land was granted in alternating sections, by the Federal Government. Often the State and Local Governments would toss in sections of their own on top of this. Believe me, Flagler/FEC is well aware of what Mass Transit on rails will do for their properties. In fact they're banking on it, and say so in the press.

Land Grants. What is generally NOT known, is the railroads were required to carry government freight and passengers at a fraction of cost, for over 100 years. The "grants" were finally taken to court, where it was decided the railroads had indeed BOUGHT that land, several times over the value.  

Ocklawaha

[RiversideGator]

Wow.  Getting FEC on board with commuter rail would be HUGE.  I hope something comes of this.  Also, werent they sold to another company recently?  Perhaps the new guys recognize the potential of TODs.

[Jason]

FEC wasn't sold, the just moved their headquarters to Jax.

[Lunican]

They were sold to Fortress Investment Group, which is some private equity firm. Operations will be run by the same people. I think they essentially just bought the stock.

Florida East Coast Industries, Inc. ("FECI") (NYSE: FLA) announced today the completion of the merger transaction in which FECI has been acquired by a company formed by certain private equity funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC, pursuant to a previously announced definitive merger agreement entered into on May 8, 2007.

Seems pretty vague...

[gatorback]

FEC was mostly a privately held corp.  Um, in fact, FEC broke the union hold by having federal marshalls on their trains firing riffles at the union workers whenever the union tried to block the trains in an effort unionize the FEC.  I'm happy to see the FEC being rewarded for keeping the rail a right to work place.  I bet they got lots of money giving there's no union there.

[Ocklawaha]

Gatorback, your a little behind the curve. That was the FEC of 1963. The shotgun riders were due to the Union boys blowing a couple of trains to kingdom come with TNT. The Union was broken, but long before anything recent happened, they came back. The FEC WELCOMED the contracts and opened their doors to the UTU, BLE, BRAC, etc.

As they enter the new era, they have moved to the Fortune group. This includes FEC the RY and Flagler development Corp... ie: Nocatee. The Fortune group bought out one of the nations largest shortline holding companies AND the FEC in a separate deal. The FEC is not the same. New blood has come in at the very top and sweeping changes have occurred under the able hand of an old time railroaders - railroader. Mr. John D. Mc Pherson, CEO, is from the Illinois Central/CN, when he looked at the property he filled a notebook with places to improve. After he showed the notebook to the head of the investment group, they broke up their meeting, by the time he got home the phone was ringing... "You know, we REALLY like that notebook! If we buy it will you operate it?" So FEC got a new Daddy and a new brass hat. The train crews are paid hourly and swap out half way to Miami, so they get to go home after work. They are better paid and have better benefits then CSX or NS employees. Further, Mc Pherson often marks up as "Engineer" or "Conductor" and may show up anywhere, anytime. He also embraces fans, including a high school boy, reported to have a scanner in New Smyrna and who inspects the trains as they pass! Mc Pherson stopped in just to thank him!
Not you fathers FEC Gatorback...

Ocklawaha

[gatorback]

So, does Mc Pherson get paid extra if the train goes more then 125 miles.  In my railroader days, I understood that the crew got paid more if they went further then 125.   I think their contract was they got paid a days pay for how far a train could go in a day.  Way back then, a train could only travel 125 in a day and that contract exsists today.

[Ocklawaha]

Nope, the old 100 mile law is long gone, nationwide.
Divisions are consolidated, and much bigger,
division points have closed and crew change stations gone
MW no longer uses camp cars, Holiday Inn or Best Western takes care of them!
dispatch is centralized in mega centers (watch for this to change back to more local)
shops are consolidated
private owner freight cars are soaring in number
firemen are gone
long distance run-through-trains with another railroads power are standard
brakemen mostly gone
cabooses are "pushing platforms" or gone
2 man crews are standard nationwide
EOTD the End of Train Device or black box are standard nationwide
most trains are now pre-blocked for destination which closed hundreds of yards
gateways are down to just a few dozen nationwide
traffic has grown to the highest levels in history
12 hour law is about to bite the dust too. (Look for 8-10)
railroads are re-entering business they had given up to trucks, time-sensitive etc...
throttles are now on a "desktop" and whistle cords are now a small button
crew comfort issues are taking main stage, AC, toilets etc
CTC is the rule on mainlines
Hourly pay is in the cards for more and more employees
branchlines have been sold to "mom and pop" shortlines.
thousands of miles of second and third main tracks are going down... Chicago-LA BNSF, LA-New Orleans UP, FEC (planned), NY - Miami CSX (planned)
watch for CTC to come to NS in the JAX-ATLANTA corridor soon
Road Railers and containers will conquer the world
Trolleys and DMU'S will run over the BRT plan in Jacksonville

Ocklawaha