Coming back to Philadelphia from Ft.Lauderdale on the Silver Meteor
last week, When stopped at Orlando, The Tropicana train was stopped
next to us. It pulled ahead of us ten minutes before we departed.
The Meteor arrived in Philly ten minutes early which must be a record.
and we must have been right behind it most of the way.
Does the Tropicana have priority over other freight trains???
How often does it run ???
Couldn’t see exact number of cars, How many cars does it usually have???
Noticed quite a few modern white cars with Refrigs at end of cars,
are all the older cars being replaced???
What would the temp be in these cars???
Any further info on this ite, would be appreciated.
I now that the temp of the reefers should be set at 36 degrees give or take a couple of degrees also normally runs with around 60-70 cars. The older cars are being replaced the newer cars are larger and have a more reliable reefer unit. All the railroad did was mount Carrier reefer units that would normally be put on a trailer. By doing that they gain access to a better unit and no longer have to keep custom parts around Carrier units are all standardized on the iunside.
H’mm would love to see the stats of how many days it has been late to how many times it has been early or on time. I would suspect you were very lucky on the day you rode it. [:o)][8D][:D].
I can tell you at least part of the train is loaded in Ft. Pierce FL. I think I read Lakeland FL is another loading point for the juice train. [:o)][:p][:)]
A friend of mine relates a story told by an aquaintance of his who was an Amtrak engineer on the NEC.
The fellow was running northbound on a commuter train. As he was zipping along at 90 mph the nose of a GG-1 started to pass him on the next track. One G went by, then the nose of a 2nd G appeared. The engineer thought it must be a “Florida” train or another long distance train to be going that fast with 2 G’s. After the rear nose of the 2nd G passed him, he started seeing Tropicana cars going by, it was the Tropicana train doing over 100 mph.
Oh by the way, the Tropicana train engineer was relieved from service for speeding.