South Florida Railfanning

[Sylvain727]

What is the good spots for railfanning in the Fort Lauderdale,Hollywood area for watching FEC,CSX,Amtrak and Tri-Rail trains please ?

[Noel Weaver]

For trains on the Florida East Coast
Hollywood - along Dixie Highway, Fort Lauderdale - area around the New River Drawbridge, River Walk, just south of this
location near the SW 7th, 6th or 5th Street crossings, Oakland Park around the area near NE 38th Street crossing, Pompano
Beach along the area north of Atlantic Blve on the east side of the tracks. Probably your best bet is the New River Drawbrirdge where you will get a good 10 to 15 minute warning for every train. More trains in morning and evening and at
night than mid-day. Another very good spot for the FEC is Palmetto Park Road crossing in Boca Raton on the west side of
the track, parking is in spaces on the side street or in a strip shopping area where the laundry and the Seven Eleven are
located. I need to tell you also that trains move fast over most of the FEC so you will get them once and once only, do not
try to follow them as you will not make it especially around here.
CSX/Tri-Rail - your best bet is probably one of the passenger stations - Hollywood Blvd, Sheriden Street, Griffin Road,
Fort Lauderdale (Broward Blvd. or Cypress Creek and finally Deerfield Beach which might be the best of the above. Hourly
service on weekdays, more in rush hours, plus two Amtraks north in the Am and around 1:00 PM and south in very early
evening. CSX has locals out of both Hialeah and Fort Lauderdale that operate in this territory but their one or two through
jobs generally run at night after Tri-Rail is done for the day.
I need to warn you to stay off railroad property in both cases, IF you do that I don't think you will enounter any problems with
police or authorities on either line.
I watch the FEC two or three days a week and ATCS is also a big help in this venture.
Noel Weaver

[Sylvain727]

For trains on the Florida East Coast
Hollywood - along Dixie Highway, Fort Lauderdale - area around the New River Drawbridge, River Walk, just south of this
location near the SW 7th, 6th or 5th Street crossings, Oakland Park around the area near NE 38th Street crossing, Pompano
Beach along the area north of Atlantic Blve on the east side of the tracks. Probably your best bet is the New River Drawbrirdge where you will get a good 10 to 15 minute warning for every train. More trains in morning and evening and at
night than mid-day. Another very good spot for the FEC is Palmetto Park Road crossing in Boca Raton on the west side of
the track, parking is in spaces on the side street or in a strip shopping area where the laundry and the Seven Eleven are
located. I need to tell you also that trains move fast over most of the FEC so you will get them once and once only, do not
try to follow them as you will not make it especially around here.
CSX/Tri-Rail - your best bet is probably one of the passenger stations - Hollywood Blvd, Sheriden Street, Griffin Road,
Fort Lauderdale (Broward Blvd. or Cypress Creek and finally Deerfield Beach which might be the best of the above. Hourly
service on weekdays, more in rush hours, plus two Amtraks north in the Am and around 1:00 PM and south in very early
evening. CSX has locals out of both Hialeah and Fort Lauderdale that operate in this territory but their one or two through
jobs generally run at night after Tri-Rail is done for the day.
I need to warn you to stay off railroad property in both cases, IF you do that I don't think you will enounter any problems with
police or authorities on either line.
I watch the FEC two or three days a week and ATCS is also a big help in this venture.
Noel Weaver

Thank you for your help.

I'm sorry for the delay for my answer because I'm not there very often on this rail forum if you know
what I mean.

Now, I always respect and I always make sure that I'm not on the railroad property anytime and
and this is how I act anywhere, anytime no matter whether in Canada and the United States.

And finally, I would like the CSX and FEC schedules to know what hours CSX and FEC trains passing each day from
Monday to Sunday on their tracks and their train numbers please ?

For Amtrak and Tri-Rail trains, I already know their schedules. I looked on their websites.
And I would like to thank you in advance for your answer for my question.

[kitn1mcc]

i am heading down there in 3 weeks i wanna catch some catch some fec stuff maybe tri-rail again. any one have the radio channels in use. also any rr museums worth checking

[JasW]

No doubt you've come and gone, but just for the record, the only museum truly worth a visit down here is the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. It's about 15 miles SW of downtown Miami on the same property with the Miami Zoo. They've got some interesting rolling stock like the presidential car the Ferdinand Magellan, a California Zephyr car, etc., plus the FEC engine that pulled the rescue train in the 30s hurricane that destroyed the Key West extension, among others. The only other museum is the South Florida Railway Museum, which is really just a large room in the freight depot section of the former Deerfield Beach Seaboard Air Line Railway station (now Deerfield Beach Tri-Rail). It's mostly all modeling with a scattering of memorabilia.

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

excellent info on spots to railfan Noel, thank you

[Noel Weaver]

Here is a link to a video which will give you an idea of what to expect here in SOUTH FLORIDA. I hope you find it interesting. This particular photographer is very talented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJktmZHR4SE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Noel Weaver