Misplaced Pages

#287712

44-530: The South Central Florida Express, Inc. ( reporting mark SCXF ) (originally known as the South Central Florida Railroad ( reporting mark SCFE )) is a common carrier shortline railroad in southern Florida run by U.S. Sugar Corporation . Its trains operate from Sebring to Fort Pierce via Clewiston around the southern perimeter of Lake Okeechobee , and serves customers at 26 locations. With 171 miles (275 km) of track,

88-695: A 2-digit code indicating the vehicle's register country . The registered keeper of a vehicle is now indicated by a separate Vehicle Keeper Marking (VKM), usually the name of the owning company or an abbreviation thereof, which must be registered with the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and which is unique throughout Europe and parts of Asia and Northern Africa. The VKM must be between two and five letters in length and can use any of

132-464: A hyphen. Some examples: When a vehicle is sold it will not normally be transferred to another register. The Czech railways bought large numbers of coaches from ÖBB. The number remained the same but the VKM changed from A-ÖBB to A-ČD. The UIC introduced a uniform numbering system for their members based on a 12-digit number, largely known as UIC number . The third and fourth digit of the number indicated

176-700: A predecessor of the CNW, from which the UP inherited it. Similarly, during the breakup of Conrail , the long-retired marks of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central Railroad (NYC) were temporarily brought back and applied to much of Conrail's fleet to signify which cars and locomotives were to go to CSX (all cars labeled NYC) and which to Norfolk Southern (all cars labeled PRR). Some of these cars still retain their temporary NYC marks. Because of its size, this list has been split into subpages based on

220-547: A small swing bridge in Moore Haven. The line continues southeast from Moore Haven winding through sugar fields before reaching Clewiston. Clewiston is the location of U.S. Sugar's refinery which is co-located with SCXF's Clewiston Yard. The yard and refinery are located off the main line on a wye known as Sugar Junction. SCXF's maintenance facility is also located in Clewiston along W.C. Owen Avenue. South of Clewiston,

264-491: A small three-track switching yard. CSX has trackage rights into Desoto City Yard where interchange between the two companies takes place. From Desoto City, the line continues south running mostly parallel to US 27 through Lake Placid and Palmdale . Just south of Palmdale, at a point historically known as Harrisburg, the line turns southeast towards Moore Haven . The line crosses the Caloosahatchee Canal on

308-510: Is referred to as the Bryant Turn. Since the junction switch at the entrance to Bryant Yard is oriented north on the main line , Bryant Turn trains are backed out of the yard on to the main line before heading south and west to Clewiston. During harvest season, Bryant Turn trains can run as often as every four hours. Refined by-products such as sugar crystals and molasses are shipped from the refinery by rail to interchanges on each end of

352-455: Is taken by rail in specially designed rail cars to U.S. Sugar's refinery in Clewiston for processing. The SCXF refers to these trains as "cane trains", which then take empty cars back out to the fields. On the east side of the lake, sugarcane is collected the same way and loaded cars are brought to Bryant Yard near Pahokee , where cars are combined on to longer trains before being sent to Clewiston. This movement of trains from Bryant to Clewiston

396-467: Is where the two sides officially connect. The milepost numbers on each side are independent from one another and remain as they did under predecessor companies. The 82 miles (132 km) of main-line track on the west side of Lake Okeechobee begins in Sebring at a connection with CSX's Auburndale Subdivision just south of Sebring's Amtrak station . A short distance south from Sebring is Desoto City Yard,

440-501: The Brandywine Valley Railroad , a Lukens Steel Company subsidiary, and sold to U.S. Sugar on September 17, 1994. U.S. Sugar then spun off the railroad into a separate company with its own board of directors to operate independently from the 119 miles (192 km) of branch lines U.S. Sugar already owned (USSC trackage). The 71 miles (114 km) of main-line track on the east side of Lake Okeechobee continues

484-581: The St. Lucie Canal on a small lift bridge in Port Mayaca . The line then continues to follow the lake a short distance before turning northwest to a point known as Marcy. The line crosses CSX's Auburndale Subdivision at Marcy before continuing northeast directly to Fort Pierce, where it connects to the FEC. When the FEC ran the east side, it referred to the line as their K Branch. It was the southernmost segment of

SECTION 10

#1732790296288

528-610: The Sugar Express , U.S. Sugar initially leased the Georgia 300 observation car . They also acquired an ex- Pennsylvania Railroad lounge car renamed from William Penn to Palmdale , along with an ex- Santa Fe and Amtrak baggage car converted into an open-air car and named the Miami Locks . Additionally, USSC acquired three ex- Great Northern Railway passenger cars and an ex-Pennsylvania Railroad observation car from

572-669: The TTX Company (formerly Trailer Train Company) is named for its original reporting mark of TTX. In another example, the reporting mark for state-funded Amtrak services in California is CDTX (whereas the usual Amtrak mark is AMTK) because the state transportation agency ( Caltrans ) owns the equipment used in these services. This may also apply to commuter rail, for example Metrolink in Southern California uses

616-814: The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey and the Galveston Railroad Museum , respectively. All of the rolling stock will be repainted in an Illinois Central City of Miami homage livery. U.S. Sugar also purchased a second 4-6-2 steam locomotive, Atlantic Coast Line 1504 from the North Florida Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in Jacksonville, Florida, which will become part of

660-630: The 1970s. U.S. Sugar originally bought it from the FEC, which ran the locomotive on its Key West Extension . After being reacquired from the Denver and Rio Grande Historical Foundation in Monte Vista, Colorado and a three-year restoration work performed by the FMW Solutions, the No. 148 locomotive now runs on recycled vegetable oil and began its first revenue service, pulling the last cane train of

704-414: The 2019–2020 harvest season on May 28, 2020. The South Central Florida Express now runs the No. 148 locomotive as part of USSC's heritage tourist passenger train named the Sugar Express . During the summer months of 2021, U.S. Sugar acquired an ex- Wabash turntable from St. Louis, Missouri , which will eventually be used to turn the No. 148 locomotive around at Clewiston. In need of rolling stocks for

748-513: The 26 letters of the Latin alphabet . Diacritical marks may also be used, but they are ignored in data processing (for example, Ö is treated as though it is O ). The VKM is preceded by the code for the country (according to the alphabetical coding system described in Appendix 4 to the 1949 convention and Article 45(4) of the 1968 convention on road traffic), where the vehicle is registered and

792-568: The AAR, maintains the active reporting marks for the North American rail industry. Under current practice, the first letter must match the initial letter of the railroad name. As it also acts as a Standard Carrier Alpha Code , the reporting mark cannot conflict with codes in use by other nonrail carriers. Marks ending with the letter "X" are assigned to companies or individuals who own railcars, but are not operating railroads; for example,

836-601: The Coast Line (the USSC tracks). By 1944, the Atlantic Coast Line completely bought out the Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway. Through mergers, the Atlantic Coast Line network would become part of CSX by 1986. CSX operated the line as their Sebring Subdivision along the main line to the sugar fields and Okeelanta Subdivision on the branch line to Okeelanta. The west side was bought from CSX on June 2, 1990, by

880-493: The FEC main line by way of a new track from Fort Pierce known as the Glades Cutoff. The SCXF began leasing the east side line from the FEC on March 2, 1998, and now fully operates the line from milepost K 15 (Cana) south, and has trackage rights into FEC's Fort Pierce Yard where the interchange takes place. In late 2016, U.S. Sugar reacquired USSC No. 148 , a 4-6-2 steam locomotive that they previously owned from 1952 to

924-672: The FEC's Kissimmee Valley Line to Lake Okeechobee, which originally branched off the FEC main line near New Smyrna Beach and ran south through the Kissimmee Valley. It reached Belle Glade by 1923, and was extended to the Miami Canal in Lake Harbor in 1929 to connect with the Atlantic Coast Line. Most of the Kissimmee Valley Line north of Marcy was abandoned in 1947, and the remaining track was connected to

SECTION 20

#1732790296288

968-642: The Lake Okeechobee region. In 2024, USSC leased a former FEC observation car the Bay Biscayne from the East Tennessee Railcar. Reporting mark In North America , the mark, which consists of an alphabetic code of two to four letters, is stenciled on each piece of equipment, along with a one- to six-digit number. This information is used to uniquely identify every such rail car or locomotive, thus allowing it to be tracked by

1012-511: The Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway was built, which extended the Coast Line's tracks to Clewiston. The Coast Line leased the Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway in 1925, and extended it to Lake Harbor in 1929. Even in its early days, the line mostly served U.S. Sugar (and its predecessor, the Southern Sugar Company prior to 1931), who built and operated their own small branch near Clewiston and Lake Okeechobee that connected to

1056-485: The No. 148 locomotive participated in taking the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners' (AAPRCO) special Sugarland Limited train on a multi-day tour around the Lake Okeechobee counties . Sugar Express continues to operate a full season of events, including special holiday train events for Lake Placid, Sebring, and Clewiston, Florida, as well as short trips and all-day excursions in and around

1100-488: The SCXF began operating the Sugar Express ( reporting mark CHOX ), a heritage tourist passenger train featuring a steam locomotive pulling historic passenger cars . The South Central Florida Express (SCXF) is at its busiest during the main sugar harvest, which usually runs from October to March each year. U.S. Sugar is the only sugar company in the continental U.S. that transports sugarcane by rail. In addition to

1144-543: The SCXF is the largest private agricultural railroad in the U.S. The railroad began operation in 1994 on tracks previously owned and operated by CSX Transportation ; in 1998, operation expanded on to tracks leased from the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) . In addition to the SCXF, U.S. Sugar has its own private tracks known as the U.S. Sugar Railroad ( reporting mark USSC ), which consists of multiple branch lines connected to SCXF tracks. In 2021,

1188-411: The SCXF, U.S. Sugar has its own private tracks known as the U.S. Sugar Railroad , which is made up of several branch lines running from SCXF tracks to sugar fields near Clewiston and Bryant . Unlike the SCXF, the USSC is not a common carrier and is not subject to Federal Railroad Administration regulations. Sugarcane harvested from fields along the line on the west and south sides of Lake Okeechobee

1232-551: The Sugar Express after it is restored to operating condition. On December 12, 2021, the Sugar Express ran its first public excursion, featuring the No. 148 locomotive pulling the Lake Placid Limited train from Clewiston to Lake Placid and back. On January 29-30, 2022, U.S. Sugar and Trains Magazine hosted a private photo charter of the No. 148 locomotive pulling passenger and freight consists. On April 23-25,

1276-536: The USSC reporting mark. The South Central Florida Express operates on 171 miles (275 km) of track, making it the largest private agricultural railroad in the U.S. The SCXF owns the tracks between Sebring and Pahokee, and leases the tracks between Pahokee and Fort Pierce from the FEC. The main line is divided into east and west sides, and the Miami Canal on the south side of Lake Okeechobee in Lake Harbor

1320-682: The VKM BLS. Example for an "Einheitswagen" delivered in 1957: In the United Kingdom, prior to nationalisation, wagons owned by the major railways were marked with codes of two to four letters, these codes normally being the initials of the railway concerned; for example, wagons of the Great Western Railway were marked "G W"; those of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway were marked "L M S", etc. The codes were agreed between

1364-541: The acquiring company discontinues the name or mark of the acquired company, the discontinued mark is referred to as a "fallen flag" railway. Occasionally, long-disused marks are suddenly revived by the companies which now own them. For example, in recent years, the Union Pacific Railroad has begun to use the mark CMO on newly built covered hoppers, gondolas and five-bay coal hoppers. CMO originally belonged to Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway ,

South Central Florida Express - Misplaced Pages Continue

1408-448: The first letter of the reporting mark: A railway vehicle must be registered in the relevant state's National Vehicle Register (NVR), as part of which process it will be assigned a 12-digit European Vehicle Number (EVN). The EVN schema is essentially the same as that used by the earlier UIC numbering systems for tractive vehicles and wagons , except that it replaces the 2-digit vehicle owner's code (see § Europe 1964 to 2005 ) with

1452-424: The line from Lake Harbor east to South Bay and then north to Belle Glade , Pahokee, and Canal Point . Located just off the main line on a spur between Pahokee and Canal Point is Bryant Yard. Bryant Yard is used to sort cars and consolidate trains from a number of nearby fields before being sent to Clewiston. Bryant Yard was co-located with the now defunct Bryant Sugar Mill, which closed in 2017. The line crosses

1496-413: The line winds south and east through more sugar fields before coming to a point known as Keela. At Keela, the line splits with a 16-mile (26 km) branch line heading south and east to Okeelanta while the main line heads east from Keela to Lake Harbor, where it crosses the Miami Canal and connects with the east side. The northernmost 42 miles (68 km) of the west side between Sebring and Harrisburg

1540-1144: The line, where they are sent throughout the United States. Chemicals for refining sugar are also brought in to the refinery from the interchanges. SCXF's western terminus interchanges with CSX on their Auburndale Subdivision in Sebring, and the eastern terminus in Fort Pierce interchanges with the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) in Fort Pierce. The SCXF also has haulage rights with the FEC to Jacksonville to further interchange with CSX and Norfolk Southern . The South Central Florida Express operates eight EMD GP11 locomotives (road numbers 302-305, 308, 310, 312), six EMD GP38 locomotives (404-405, 407-410), six EMD GP40 locomotives (501-506), and two EMD SD40 series locomotives (6323 and 6324). U.S. Sugar also operates one SW1500 and one MP15AC switcher engine. To haul raw sugarcane, SCXF and USSC operate about 800 specifically designed rail cars. Nearly all locomotives on both SCXF and USSC tracks carry

1584-572: The owner of a reporting mark is taken over by another company, the old mark becomes the property of the new company. For example, when the Union Pacific Railroad (mark UP) acquired the Chicago and North Western Railway (mark CNW) in 1995, it retained the CNW mark rather than immediately repaint all acquired equipment. Some companies own several marks that are used to identify different classes of cars, such as boxcars or gondolas. If

1628-405: The owner, or more precisely the keeper of the vehicle. Thus each UIC member got a two-digit owner code . With the introduction of national vehicle registers this code became a country code. Some vehicles had to be renumbered as a consequence. The Swiss company BLS Lötschbergbahn had the owner code 63. When their vehicles were registered, they got numbers with the country code 85 for Switzerland and

1672-406: The railroad it is traveling over, which shares the information with other railroads and customers. In multinational registries, a code indicating the home country may also be included. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) assigns marks to all carriers, under authority granted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board , Transport Canada , and Mexican Government. Railinc , a subsidiary of

1716-559: The railways and registered with the Ministry of Railways , Government of India . Miami Canal The Miami Canal , or C-6 Canal , flows from Lake Okeechobee in the U.S. state of Florida to its terminus at the Miami River , which flows through downtown Miami . The canal flows in a south and southeasterly direction for approximately 77 miles, and passes through three counties: Broward , Palm Beach , and Miami-Dade . It

1760-762: The railways and registered with the Railway Clearing House . In India, wagons owned by the Indian Railways are marked with codes of two to four letters, these codes normally being the initials of the railway divisions concerned along with the Hindi abbreviation; for example, trains of the Western Railway zone are marked "WR" and "प रे"; those of the Central Railway zone are marked "CR" and "मध्य", etc. The codes are agreed between

1804-820: The reporting mark SCAX because the equipment is owned by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority —which owns the Metrolink system—even though it is operated by Amtrak. This is why the reporting mark for CSX Transportation , which is an operating railroad, is CSXT instead of CSX. Private (non-common carrier) freight car owners in Mexico were issued, up until around 1990, reporting marks ending in two X's, possibly to signify that their cars followed different regulations (such as bans on friction bearing trucks) than their American counterparts and so their viability for interchange service

South Central Florida Express - Misplaced Pages Continue

1848-568: Was built in 1916 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad as part of an effort to extend their Haines City Branch south to Immokalee . Harrisburg was named after the Harris track-laying machine used to construct the line. Trackage south of Harrisburg to Immokalee, which went as far south as Everglades City at one time, was abandoned in 1989. The Atlantic Coast Line built tracks from Harrisburg to Moore Haven in 1918. In 1921,

1892-636: Was constructed in the early part of the 20th century to drain the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). Removing the canal was proposed as part of the Restoration of the Everglades . 25°55′01″N 80°24′31″W  /  25.91694°N 80.40861°W  / 25.91694; -80.40861 This Miami-Dade County, Florida location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about

1936-580: Was impaired. This often resulted in five-letter reporting marks, an option not otherwise allowed by the AAR. Companies owning trailers used in trailer-on-flatcar service are assigned marks ending with the letter "Z", and the National Motor Freight Traffic Association , which maintains the list of Standard Carrier Alpha Codes, assigns marks ending in "U" to owners of intermodal containers . The standard ISO 6346 covers identifiers for intermodal containers. When

#287712