3:00 actually you are facing NE, track North. And a fun fact. I am one of the few people who have been over the whole track between Homestead and Richmond who isn't employed by CSX.
@@OleanderJunction The tail track on the CSX Homestead Wye is as far South as you can get. I was on the last car of the train and less than 10' from the end of the track. Actually standing in the vestibule at the time. We never did that again as it was easier to cut off the passenger cars and just run the loco around the Wye. And been on the track from there all the way up to Richmond which few people ever have been or will get a chance to be unless CSX reopens the line to passenger traffic. Even been into the FEC Hialeah yard from the CSX Homestead Wye which is another very rare happening.
@@gravelydon7072 Oh ok it makes sense now. I railfan the Homestead Sub a lot and i hope the line comes back. Right now it only receives 2 daily rock trains, L789 and L790.
@@OleanderJunction Did you notice the new crossing signals at Killian Drive? Again, does not make a whole lot of sense just for those two rock trains. But then again, I have seen CSX run cars thru the car shops, and then run them out the door into the scrap yard next door.
Hi RailROL82, Happy Sunday, always a good day when you upload. I love the talks on history, and the 1980s picture comparing the area to today is intriguing. Thanks for sharing!
Sure glad that you obtained that original photo of the Seaboard station. Gone but not forgotten by some. At least the Homestead line still has another station. Nice to see the tracks again.
CSX came down this far on the Homestead Subdivision to spray the weeds. What is going on here? Is CSX planning to revitalize the Homestead Subdivision or did they kill the weeds so that they can see the tracks to pull them Up? Only time will tell. Thank you for taking us down this far on the Homestead Sub.
Enjoy reading your posts. One way or another the trackage and ties would have to be removed anyway to meet standards for a commuter line like Trirail. Trackage can be replaced in premade sections. Let's hope for future use of the Homestead Subdivision.
They did it all the way to Homestead and the end of the Homestead Wye. Look above at my list of crossings that I have visited in the last few weeks. Including one where they put in the precast concrete sections instead of just asphalt.
Cool video man. Hope the Homestead comes back. Also side note, the thing about 1056 miles isn't technically that distance anymore because they took out the connection between Auburndale and Coleman I think in the 80"s.
I seriously doubt that CSX is behind this. Their track record indicates that they don’t give a rats rear end about lines like this unless they have a certain amount of business. Don, if anyone knows what goes on it’s you. There has to be a new large emerging customer in the works in order to justify the reactivation of the line. It sure isn’t for passenger service because the right corridor for rail passenger service was the FEC South Dixie Highway corridor. Or maybe, and I really hope that I am wrong, the line will be cleaned for a bike path.
@@armandoperez7967 I agree that the FEC area would have been better for rail use. And with the new Busway stations and crossing gates going in, you have to wonder. It would make sense if they were going to finally put DMUs in service on that run. Now as for the CSX tracks. I highly doubt that they are about to be taken out. If they were, then it would seem worthless to redo the crossing at Biscayne Drive as it was paved over just about a year ago. So putting in ties and new asphalt would make no sense. As would mowing it and spraying it down make no sense. Now what could be behind this? Well it would make sense if FPL needed to bring in new items for Turkey Point Power Plant. Also would make sense if HPS was getting in new equipment as their generators are getting a bit long in the tooth. The newest ones were brought in on the FEC. It also would make sense if the rock pit at Krome Aggregates was about to close. And Florida Rock and Sand's old pit was going to need to ship rock out. It also would make sense if they were going to reinstate TOFC/COFC service in Homestead. They want to get the trucks off Krome so running them down to Mowry, West to Redland Road, then East on Palm Drive to US-1 would make sense. Sadly, I was down in Florida City the other day and Strano's Packing House has been demolished. It use to be serviced by the FEC way back when.
@@gravelydon7072 The ironic thing is that when the FEC line and the HAFB spur were intact, it would have been very easy to serve Turkey Point. Thank God the CSX track still exists, but a trip on the streets is still required to reach Turkey Point. I completely agree with everything you said. Basically you have to completely replace the rails and ties west of SW 137 Ave, and replace the light rail south of the Wye. FEC had TOFC/COFC service from the Homestead/Florida City area and it was eliminated by FEC President R. W. Wyckoff (the same man who condemned the FEC line from Dadeland to Florida City by selling it for scrap value if at that), who is in my opinion the worst president a railroad could have, with only Penn Central President Stuart T. Saunders worse. I know that the land between Card Sound Road and the Overseas Highway is off limits but this is the ideal area for a new intermodal and auto rack facility. If the SR 836 and SR 874 extensions are built, far more land will be destroyed than if this land in south Miami Dade county is used. A trans load facility could be in this new yard as well and the two rock pits in the area could even be reactivated. Again, the FEC would make this easier. The Ludlam corridor would have to be rebuilt as well.
One interesting thing that I realized is that the new busway “stations” are not built for trains at high levels but instead are built for trains or buses at ground level. One of the excuses that the politicians used is that they wanted MetroRail elevated all the way to Homestead. They would have to demolish all of these stations and rebuild them again. They could have double tracked the entire corridor from the Miami Springs yard all the way to Florida City and maybe even extend the track to Key Largo for less cost than what has been spent already. They will never admit that they are paid off by the highway and trail lobbies.
Roly have you ever done a video on Aladdin City and how they even built an SAL station for it along the homestead sub in the 20s? The station is gone but it’s cool history
Looks so very old now causing all the wooden ties to rot every year, i hope they restore it, and it looks so historically preserved or maybe just for a storage? nice catch mate!
It no longer looks like a sugar cane field God knows how far down those chemicals went. It even scared away the sacrifices for the most part. Too bad the hurricane did the Depot in but if no one was really taking care of it then it was bound to happen. Who knows what the future holds but hopefully it's something Progressive in the rail industry
Maybe and finally Miami and Dade County and C S X those warehouse are gaining business and need more fright coming in those warehouses and take rails to reactivate them
Great history on that tracks. It's too bad there's no more train station. I wonder why they always leave the emergency contact info on the abandoned crossings? Do they expect people to call? lol 😂
because of lawyers. otherwise they would remove EVERYTHING and then let the cities involved be responsible for the Right-of-Ways. They apparently never give up the rights (because even the property has protentional value)
You think they would rebuild the Train Station I doubt it but if the Railroad got Major Traffic I can see that becoming a Possibility... but again I have my Doubts!
3:00 actually you are facing NE, track North.
And a fun fact. I am one of the few people who have been over the whole track between Homestead and Richmond who isn't employed by CSX.
What do you mean
@@OleanderJunction The tail track on the CSX Homestead Wye is as far South as you can get. I was on the last car of the train and less than 10' from the end of the track. Actually standing in the vestibule at the time. We never did that again as it was easier to cut off the passenger cars and just run the loco around the Wye. And been on the track from there all the way up to Richmond which few people ever have been or will get a chance to be unless CSX reopens the line to passenger traffic. Even been into the FEC Hialeah yard from the CSX Homestead Wye which is another very rare happening.
@@gravelydon7072 Oh ok it makes sense now. I railfan the Homestead Sub a lot and i hope the line comes back. Right now it only receives 2 daily rock trains, L789 and L790.
@@OleanderJunction Did you notice the new crossing signals at Killian Drive? Again, does not make a whole lot of sense just for those two rock trains.
But then again, I have seen CSX run cars thru the car shops, and then run them out the door into the scrap yard next door.
@@gravelydon7072 I didn't know, thats weird i go to that crossing all the time
Hi RailROL82, Happy Sunday, always a good day when you upload. I love the talks on history, and the 1980s picture comparing the area to today is intriguing. Thanks for sharing!
Sure glad that you obtained that original photo of the Seaboard station. Gone but not forgotten by some. At least the Homestead line still has another station. Nice to see the tracks again.
CSX came down this far on the Homestead Subdivision to spray the weeds. What is going on here? Is CSX planning to revitalize the Homestead Subdivision or did they kill the weeds so that they can see the tracks to pull them Up? Only time will tell. Thank you for taking us down this far on the Homestead Sub.
Enjoy reading your posts. One way or another the trackage and ties would have to be removed anyway to meet standards for a commuter line like Trirail. Trackage can be replaced in premade sections. Let's hope for future use of the Homestead Subdivision.
@@csxtommy65626562 you are correct. We must have hope that the future of the Homestead Subdivision is bright/
They did it all the way to Homestead and the end of the Homestead Wye. Look above at my list of crossings that I have visited in the last few weeks. Including one where they put in the precast concrete sections instead of just asphalt.
Excellent Video!!
🌷🎉🇮🇳🎉🌷
Cool video man. Hope the Homestead comes back. Also side note, the thing about 1056 miles isn't technically that distance anymore because they took out the connection between Auburndale and Coleman I think in the 80"s.
1989 was when it was abandoned. I road over the segment from Ocala to Miami in 1985.
@@gravelydon7072yes so in the late 80s
I love this rail station before and after video
Update on the crossings:
Crossings that have been redone:
SW 232nd St ( Silver Palm Drive)
SW 182nd Ave ( Roberts Road )
SW 272nd St ( Epmore Drive )
SW 280th St ( Waldin Drive )
SW 288th St ( Biscayne Drive )
SW 296th St ( Avocado Drive )
SW 312th St ( NW 8th St, Campbell Drive )
Crossings still needing work:
SW 256th St ( Plummer Drive )
SW 304th ST ( NW 15th St, Kings Highway )
SW 320th St ( NW Mowry Drive )
Crossing done just before CSX stopped running:
SW 177th Ave ( Krome Ave )
SW 248th St ( Coconut Palm Drive )
As of 8/20/2023.
I seriously doubt that CSX is behind this. Their track record indicates that they don’t give a rats rear end about lines like this unless they have a certain amount of business. Don, if anyone knows what goes on it’s you. There has to be a new large emerging customer in the works in order to justify the reactivation of the line. It sure isn’t for passenger service because the right corridor for rail passenger service was the FEC South Dixie Highway corridor. Or maybe, and I really hope that I am wrong, the line will be cleaned for a bike path.
@@armandoperez7967 I agree that the FEC area would have been better for rail use. And with the new Busway stations and crossing gates going in, you have to wonder. It would make sense if they were going to finally put DMUs in service on that run.
Now as for the CSX tracks. I highly doubt that they are about to be taken out. If they were, then it would seem worthless to redo the crossing at Biscayne Drive as it was paved over just about a year ago. So putting in ties and new asphalt would make no sense. As would mowing it and spraying it down make no sense. Now what could be behind this? Well it would make sense if FPL needed to bring in new items for Turkey Point Power Plant. Also would make sense if HPS was getting in new equipment as their generators are getting a bit long in the tooth. The newest ones were brought in on the FEC.
It also would make sense if the rock pit at Krome Aggregates was about to close. And Florida Rock and Sand's old pit was going to need to ship rock out. It also would make sense if they were going to reinstate TOFC/COFC service in Homestead. They want to get the trucks off Krome so running them down to Mowry, West to Redland Road, then East on Palm Drive to US-1 would make sense.
Sadly, I was down in Florida City the other day and Strano's Packing House has been demolished. It use to be serviced by the FEC way back when.
@@gravelydon7072 The ironic thing is that when the FEC line and the HAFB spur were intact, it would have been very easy to serve Turkey Point. Thank God the CSX track still exists, but a trip on the streets is still required to reach Turkey Point. I completely agree with everything you said. Basically you have to completely replace the rails and ties west of SW 137 Ave, and replace the light rail south of the Wye. FEC had TOFC/COFC service from the Homestead/Florida City area and it was eliminated by FEC President R. W. Wyckoff (the same man who condemned the FEC line from Dadeland to Florida City by selling it for scrap value if at that), who is in my opinion the worst president a railroad could have, with only Penn Central President Stuart T. Saunders worse. I know that the land between Card Sound Road and the Overseas Highway is off limits but this is the ideal area for a new intermodal and auto rack facility. If the SR 836 and SR 874 extensions are built, far more land will be destroyed than if this land in south Miami Dade county is used. A trans load facility could be in this new yard as well and the two rock pits in the area could even be reactivated. Again, the FEC would make this easier. The Ludlam corridor would have to be rebuilt as well.
One interesting thing that I realized is that the new busway “stations” are not built for trains at high levels but instead are built for trains or buses at ground level. One of the excuses that the politicians used is that they wanted MetroRail elevated all the way to Homestead. They would have to demolish all of these stations and rebuild them again. They could have double tracked the entire corridor from the Miami Springs yard all the way to Florida City and maybe even extend the track to Key Largo for less cost than what has been spent already. They will never admit that they are paid off by the highway and trail lobbies.
I still doubt that CSX is behind what is happening. I wonder if Norfolk Southern, BNSF, WATCO, Genessee and Wyoming or someone else is behind this?
Looks like they did some landscaping around those tracks. Hopefully that is a good sign.
Me too. It would be nice to see. Let's hope so. Have a nice day 😊🌈
Roly have you ever done a video on Aladdin City and how they even built an SAL station for it along the homestead sub in the 20s? The station is gone but it’s cool history
Looks so very old now causing all the wooden ties to rot every year, i hope they restore it, and it looks so historically preserved or maybe just for a storage?
nice catch mate!
bad place for storage if anything. The efforts to kill the standing grass shows MUCH disregard in the manner they did it...
This is either a reactivation of the line or the beginning of the conversion to a hiking biking trail.
Hey Rol, I'm in south Florida now for the National Railway Historical Society convention based in Deerfield Beach.
I have an antique Atlantic coast line railroad spike from 1933 I found it in Florida
That's one lucky find.
@@csxtommy6562 I was wrong about the acl railroad spike it’s actually an rf&p railroad spike from 1933
Hopefully it's coming back to life soon 🙏
It no longer looks like a sugar cane field God knows how far down those chemicals went. It even scared away the sacrifices for the most part. Too bad the hurricane did the Depot in but if no one was really taking care of it then it was bound to happen. Who knows what the future holds but hopefully it's something Progressive in the rail industry
Wow saw abandoned train station wow cool
I think I remember your video when the cars were in storage their. If I'm correct there was people party with the girls dancing
CSX gotta have some kinda plan for it, otherwise they wouldn't have sprayed/cut the growth.
I agree, great minds think alike.
What good is the sacrifice if railway not running?
Maybe and finally Miami and Dade County and C S X those warehouse are gaining business and need more fright coming in those warehouses and take rails to reactivate them
Great history on that tracks. It's too bad there's no more train station.
I wonder why they always leave the emergency contact info on the abandoned crossings? Do they expect people to call? lol 😂
because of lawyers. otherwise they would remove EVERYTHING and then let the cities involved be responsible for the Right-of-Ways. They apparently never give up the rights (because even the property has protentional value)
You think they would rebuild the Train Station I doubt it but if the Railroad got Major Traffic I can see that becoming a Possibility... but again I have my Doubts!
To bad the station was not saved! Maybe with the spraying something good will happen
Good like always
Let's hope CSX reopens this line,they put in some work for some reason, wonder the pounds per yard that rail is!🛤🚂👍
Most of it was 90lbs.