Jacksonville, FL

I'm going to Jacksonville soon, and am wondering where the best spots to railfan might be - for CSX, FEC, or whoever. Appreciate it! Dave

A good SPOT to watch trains is off of broadway ave / mcquade street at the southern mouth of moncrief yard.

It is just off of beaver street near where beaver street tower was. You will get all NS, FEC and CSX traffic into jacksonville

NOTE: this is a rough part of town, if you know what I mean. It is NOT the kind of area where you want to be toting around thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment.

Another place to watch would be at the amtrak station north of moncrief yard, you will get most of CSX in and out of jacksonville, and NS is nearby

Another option, if you have time to go out there is baldwin yard, which is well west of town down I-10 at US 301. You get alot of traffic there, mostly mixed freights, autoracks and some east-west intermodal

Be VERY aware of your surroundings when railfanning in jacksonville, especially on the north side, and in most areas around the yards

Dave,

First, let me offer a "disclaimer" and suggestion: I have never really enjoyed Jacksonville as a train-watching mecca. Instead, I find the "outlying" portions of Jacksonville - Duval County as being much more enjoyable train-watching locations: Such as Baldwin and Callahan, FL

BALDWIN, FL:

Baldwin is located west of downtown Jax via I-10 or U.S. 90. From I-10, exit on U.S. 301 interchange south. Two blocks south, turn left onto a road beside the McDonalds, and proceed left into CSX's Baldwin Yd entrance road, and north to the Yard Tower. A fair amount of CSX + other road's power is lined up for assignments. STAY OUT OF THE WAY!

A short distance north is a major CSX interlocking, that can be reached from U.S 310 north: a right turn on Oliver St. From U.S. 90: south on S. Center St. Eastbound CSX freights often tie up west of the U.S. 301 crossing.

CALLAHAN, FL:

The small city of Callahan is located about 30 minutes northwest of downtown Jacksonville on U.S. 1. Callahan is the southern end of the "Folkston Funnel". and the junction point for the CSX mainlines into Jacksonville and to Baldwin Yard. From U.S. 1, turn left (west) onto Brandies Ave at the traffic light, and continue to the RR tracks.

JACKSONVILLE, FL:

If you must, then here are some good spots:

1. CSX's Jacksonville Intermodal Terminal =

Take I-295 north from I-10 or south from U.S. 1 or I-95 on the north side of town. Exit I-295 west on Prichard Rd., and go west to the overpass that is visible from the interchange. The overpass spans CSX's Intermodal Terminal. Best vehicle parking on w. side of the overpass. Sidewalk views from overpass (thru protective wire - bummer!).

A key location for other good train-watching spots is the intersection of U.S. 1 and Edgewood Avenue (S.R. 111) on the NW side of town.

From this intersection location:

NS's Simpson Yard area:

Go west on S.R. 111 about 1 block, and turn Right onto Edgewood Rd, which will take you through a large cemetery. Continue on and you will cross the CSX's double main line, a block later, you will cross the single track NS main line at the N end of Simpson Yard. Continue to another intersection with Edgewood Ave (SR 111). Turn R and go 1 block to the Old Kings Road intersection (traffic light). Turn L on Old Kings Rd and go to 2nd RR crossing. A gravel pull-off is on Left side, across the tracks from NS's Simpson Yd Office and loco servicing/car repair area at the S. end of NS's Simpson Yd.

Amtrak Station:

Go south on US 1 to Clifford Lane, turn right and continue to the Amtrak Station.

CSX Moncrief Yard area:
I am not recommending that you seek out CSX's Moncrief Yd. The roadways to and in the Yard are private property, and are well-patrolled. The local roads in the vicinity of the Yard, especially the south end, are in very unsafe areas, and your personal safety is definitely at risk! This area is definitely not where I want to spend the last moments of my life!

Talleyrand Docks area:

The Genesee & Wyoming operates the Talleyrand Terminal RR, and has 3 locomotives posted in this area for local switching services. The locos are usually parked a short distance to the W. of Tallyrand Blvd.
To reach this location, take US 1 east of I-95 north of downtown, exit US 1 at 8th Street interchange. Head E on 8th St to the intersection with Tallyrand Blvd, turn L (north) on Tallyrand to railroad crossing, and look for locomotives parked adjacent to a paved parking lot. on w. side of Tallyrand Blvd.

Now, my best suggestion is that you take the time (approximately one hour travel time on U.S. 1 each direction from downtown Jacksonville) to travel north to Folkston, GA. Folkston, GA has a railfan's viewing platform for watching the CSX trains on the "Folkston Funnel". The platform is covered, with ceiling fans, chairs, picnic tables, BBQ grills and restrooms, and has a speaker for listening in on train communications with the dispatchers in Jacksonville. Overhead fLoodlights come on at darkness for night-time illumination of passing trains, enabling train watchers to film the passing trains on a 24 - 7 basis. Folkston is a very friendly town, very safe, and has lots of amenities.

I live in the Orlando, FL area, and I usually bypass Jax (except for Baldwin or FEC's Bowden Yd) to spend quality time at Folkston, and Waycross, GA. Also, less than 1 hour north of Folkston is Waycross, GA, the home of CSX's giant Rice Classification Yard and major repair shops. Again, lots of action, and good, safe places to watch it.

I have posted instructions to FEC locations in Jax. on your FEC info. request.

Good luck and great train-watching!

ACLfan

I appreciate the replies, so far. Here's a little more info - I will be staying at the Hyatt Jacksonville on Coastline Dr. I won't have a vehicle while I'm there, other than taxis, and my free time is pretty much limited to a Sunday morning/afternoon. So, I really won't be able to get out of the city itself. How close are any of those sites to where I'll be? Also, how often and when does the Tropicana Juice trains roll? That's something I'd like to see. Thanks! Dave

The juice trains normally dont go through jacksonville, they go up the S-Line and up through baldwin bypassing the logjam that is jacksonville

they would usually come though in late afternoon, early evening northbound in baldwin

southbound varies quite a bit, you sometimes get them in early morning, sometimes around noon


If you are staying where I think you are staying, you are right near the CSX headquarters, and within walking distance of the old jacksonville terminal building, and the FEC bridge across the st. johns river.

I would not recommend walking anywhere other than those 2 places, and dont stray too far from the terminal building (now a convention center)

Of course if you have time, go to folkston rather than messing with jacksonville.

I much rather would make the extra drive, as railfanning around jacksonville is downright dangerous in places

As for callahan, its fine and all, but if you are going to go that far, my opinion is that its worth the extra 45 minutes to go to folkston.

but it sounds like you wont have much time

The Amtrak Sattion at JAX is my favorite spot to watch trains, I did so when the Amtrak Train I was riding in was sitting at Jacksonville, and I stepped out to watch the CSX Freight trains.

I posted some longer comments in the FEC forum, but as Nip said, the area along the river downtown is fine, and there are places on the Southbank and into San Marco to catch the FEC that are fine. Avoid CSX and NS on foot...the area beyond the convention center (the old Union Station) gets ugly fast.

I will never forget one night, when I used to live near jacksonville, and I happened to be in jacksonville late one Friday night for work, I decided to do a little late night railfanning, at least catch some of the intermodals go north, well I took a wrong turn, and ended up in a seedy neighborhood on the north side, out off of old kings road and at a stop sign 2 people approached my truck, and tried to open the passengers car door and get in, I high tailed it out of there, also one time drove up to a gas station off of beaver street to get gas, and apparently the clerk just got shot, because about 4 cop cars converged on the store, guns drawn

its definetly a place you need to be cautious in

So, approx how many trains go through the river downtown area on an average day? Dave

If you're staying at the Hyatt (the old Adam's Mark), you just need to go out the door, go to the River Walk (immediately in front of the hotel), take a right, and go about 1/2 - 3/4 mile (you'll walk right by CSX HQ on the right). The walk has recently been extended and goes over FEC milepost 0. Nice view of the draw span and what-not. No idea about daily train count... I'd guess 20-25 movements/day, including light engine moves. There are usually about 8-10 movements between 8am-6pm... all sorts of power, busier in the morning. Juice train blocks go through around 10am. Problem for you is that I understand weekend activity is markedly lighter, especially Sunday.

The downtown is as safe as any city... the old Jacksonville station (prime Osbourne convention center) is beautiful (but out of the way) and has an old business car and steam locomotive on display. It's 1/2 - 3/4 mile west of the CSX building.

Where is the bridge that I have seen many pictures of CSXT trains crossing water in Jax? (As in one photo of th 2005 CSXT calendar).


Also, as for Callahan, is the tower still in operation or is it closed?

CSX Conductor wrote:Where is the bridge that I have seen many pictures of CSXT trains crossing water in Jax? (As in one photo of th 2005 CSXT calendar).


Also, as for Callahan, is the tower still in operation or is it closed?

I do not think that there is an active signal tower in the state of Florida.
Beaver Street was the last active one and that has been closed for a
while now.
We are in the dispatcher zone, CSX in Jacksonville and FEC in St.
Augustine.
Noel Weaver

I think the river the bridge goes over is the St. John's River in Jax.

CSX Conductor wrote:Where is the bridge that I have seen many pictures of CSXT trains crossing water in Jax? (As in one photo of th 2005 CSXT calendar).


Also, as for Callahan, is the tower still in operation or is it closed?

I haven't seen the photo, but if it's downtown Jax., its actually the FEC bridge! The FEC bridge is right next to the CSX HQ (the "Purple Palace" built by the ACL in the 60's). My father worked there at the end of his time with CSXT (after being one of the last Chessie folks to reluctantly leave Baltimore)...visitors often remarked about how appropriate it is to have the trains right outside the building, until they learned that its the competition's bridge.

Of course, nowadays, CSXT sends a lot of its traffic to the FEC, and back when I was still living down there, started running transfer moves straight thru to Bowden Yard, which meant seeing CSXT units across the St. John's. Previously, most all FEC interchange happened in the yards near Beaver St. tower (can't remember the name of it at the moment).

And, CSX also used the bridge for publicity shots following the Conrail merger.

Nice avatar, btw, CSX Cond. All I gotta do now is find a B&O CPL for mine!

CSX Conductor:

As Noel Weaver indicated in his post, there are no active interlocking towers in Florida. All have been deactivated, and most (except 2) have been torn down.

One of the two remaining (but unused) towers is the Callahan Tower, which has been moved approximately 3 blocks NE of its railside location, and is attached to a single-story building that is presently used as a barber shop. The old Tower appears to be used as a storage building. But, at least it is still standing.

ACLfan