Is the Tropicana juice train still running from Florida to New Jersey daily on the CSX line? Years ago I was told it passed through my area in early afternoon and I waited and never saw it.
From this site
http://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/CSX_Train_Symbols
| Q140 | Jacksonville, FL | Greenville, NJ | Sun-Thu | Intermodal and Tropicana juice. Works Philadelphia. Schedule change effective April 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q141 | Greenville, NJ | Jacksonville, FL | Mon-Fri | Intermodal and Tropicana Juice empties. Works Philadelphia |
| Q142 | Jacksonville, FL | North Baltimore, OH | Mon-Wed, Fri, Sat | Intermodal and Tropicana juice. Works Fairburn, Louisville & Cincinnati. Replaced Q042. |
I have heard that it still runs, but it does not have the colorful “Tropicana” insulated cars any longer. They are supposedly much more plain now.
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I should know more since this is “local” for me.
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-Kevin
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Oh, they still have the “Tropicana” cars, I see the train occasionally passing through the Richmond VA area.
The main difference now is, under the Hunter Harrison regime CSX doesn’t run the “Juice Train” as a dedicated train anymore, the “Tropicana” cars travel in blocks on the regular freights. Priority freights, I’d assume.
I’d also assume that as long as the cars get where they need to be in a reasonable amount of time the Tropicana folks don’t care how they get there.
The listing for the Q140, on the link I provided, has a note “effective April 2017”
The current cars are the white ones (see photos in the Wikipedia article on “juice train”). Many of the cars have a heavy amount of graffiti. I cross paths with it a few times a month, most recently a week or so ago. The Tropicana cars are, as noted elsewhere here, usually a block in a train that includes other cars.
Thank you for the information everyone. I have another question, the Q140 that departs Jax Sun-Thu, does it depart the same time each day or does that vary do to traffic?
They’ve been running on an intermodal for years now. Nothing has changed under Harrison, from my office perches at L’Enfant Plaza and CP Virginia. Sometimes still dedicated, but haven’t seen any Tropicana reefers in manifests.
Q Series: Regularly scheduled “Quality” trains- Note: All Q trains can run as L (Alternate schedule), R (Reroute), S (Advance section), or X (Extra section)
- Note: New Q train variable scheduling format: “Q” Day 1, “L” Day 2, “R” Day 3, “M” Day 4, “X” Day 5, “I” Day 6 --Noted by “ALT 28-hour” in frequency column below–
100 Q-series - Intermodal
I model the Juice train and on my railroad it’s a dedicated train with Tropicana reefers only… I see it sitting off the NJ Tpke on occassion or when I am parked on the overpass of I-78 in NJ. In the past it’s been a solid string of cars. According to a friend who works for NJ Transit, it’s part of a larger train…
Neal
[quote user=“NittanyLion”]
Firelock76
Oh, they still have the “Tropicana” cars, I see the train occasionally passing through the Richmond VA area.
The main difference now is, under the Hunter Harrison regime CSX doesn’t run the “Juice Train” as a dedicated train anymore, the “Tropicana” cars travel in blocks on the regular freights. Priority freights, I’d assume.
I’d also assume that as long as the cars get where they need to be in a reasonable amount of time the Tropicana folks don’t care how they get there.
They’ve been running on an intermodal for years now. Nothing has changed under Harrison, from my office perches at L’Enfant Plaza and CP Virginia. Sometimes still dedicated, but haven’t seen any Tropicana reefers in manifests.
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Interesting. Good to know.
Didn’t the Juice Train originate in Sarasota, FL? I know when I was younger we would see it pull through Gainesville going North. Later, when I moved to Southwest Florida, before Interstate 75 was complete, we would ocassionally get stopped by the Juice Train North of Sarasota.
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Why is it originating in Jacksonville? That is way far North of any Juice Concentration Plant I know of.
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I am very curious.
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-Kevin
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Years ago I had a VHS video of the “Juice Train”. If my memory is right, the train starts out in Bradenton Florida and winds it way through Florida getting to Jacksonville to the CSX mainline and becomes the Q140. I remember it took awhile to get to Jax because it had to cross over many bridges and numerous speed restictions.
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That makes sense. Bradenton and Sarasota are adjacent to one another. I wonder if it still originates in this area? I have not seen the train in ages.
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-Kevin
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I also loosely model the northern end of the juice train. I don’t know if the train runs by itself anymore or not. All i know is that the cars have become a rolling billboard for graffiti and that’s one part I refuse to model.
Also the modern cars are very plain I miss Tropic-Anna.
I’m modeling HO CSX / NS around my local area. I got 26 Tropicana reefers. I’ll be running my own Juice train soon after I get more of my layout completed.
My Juice facility…
I know what you mean. Graffiti “artists” find those big white boxcars an irresistable canvas. Disgusting. If I was the Topicana company I’d be throwing a fit over that vandalism.
Apparently it doesn’t seem to bother them and the railroads in general. It’s like they have thrown up their hands and given up trying to fight it.
Given how faded and bleached the paint jobs are (most of the oranges have turned white), I’d encourage graffiti if I was Tropicana. A fresh coat of paint for free!