The Tropicana Juice Train History has been covered in a few pages in Trains Magazine.
Has there ever been a 150 to 300 page book throughly covering the history of the Tropicana Juice Train and the people operating it.
I have not seen such a book. Has any one seen a complete Tropicana Juice Train Book? If not somebody has an opportunity to make it.
Andrew Falconer
Not to knowledgeable on the subject but I saw a train somewhere south of New York about six years ago with maybe a hundred or so Tropicana juice boxcars. With two CSX AC4400CWs at the front.[dinner]
A few years ago I stayed in a hotel in Crystal City, Virginia. Our room overlooked the CSX main and I got to see the Juice Train every day.
It may be tough to do a whole book on one train for one shipper. It is more likely to appear in a book on the history of refrigerated rail cars. Say from the begining to today. There used to be unit trains of Pacific Fruit Express on several lines. The TFE way be the last such unit train.[2c] As always ENJOY
Here a way to make a whole book on the Tropicana Juice Train.
Each chapter would cover one year.
Each chapter must be 3 to 12 pages long.
In each chapter there would be photos and data about the refrigerator cars and motive power, the loading of the train, the movement of the train, the crews who operated the train, and the unloading of the train. There were constant changes to the train. This book would capture the frequent improvements and additions to the Tropicana Juice Train.
It will take several people who live in the areas the train passes through to collect about 35 years worth of photos and facts about the Tropicana Juice Train.
Andrew Falconer
Such a project at this level would be a massive undertaking with little reward except for a dedicated author with a lifelong passion for the topic – and with no bills to pay. My guess is the market would be extremely limited for a 300-plus page book in the form you suggest, and therefore no mainstream publisher would consider it.
As someone else implied, the topic is interesting, but I think a good, healthy take-out piece with archive photos in a magazine would be enough to satiate the average railfan’s curiosity on the subject. The fine details would be overkill.
So yes, the book could be done, but only for art’s sake.
The Tropicana Juice Train 1970-2005
This potential book does not have to be a giant 300 pages long. That is the top limit.
3 pages for each year of the operation of the Tropicana Juice Train is only 105 pages. That is a reasonable size book. I am sure that somebody at Kalbach Publishing could assemble in a few months with help from Tropicana, CSX, Conrail, and various photographers & journalists. It is not a huge challenge, if the editor of the book has the right connections.
Andrew Falconer
Why don’t you do it? Call Don Heimburger at HeimburgerHouse Publishers in Chicago. He does a lot of special interest books on railroad minutae. He is the publisher of S Gaugian, too.
Has Orange Juice ever been shipped in tanker cars?
Rich
OK OK What’s a Tropicana Juice Train ? ?
This train originates in Florida and consists of Refrigerator Cars of Juice products. The routes have been similar for years, but there are changes in the make-up of the train all the time.
I would like to do the book, I just need to make the connections or find someone who has the connections.
Andrew Falconer
You could stretch the topic abit -history of PFE-single commodity express freights-although alot of this has been covered in detail in other books. Wasnt there an article in Trains that went into detail on this?
Yes, there was an article in Train that covered it. That is what made me ask the question in the first place. I have seem some unusual books.
I must know if this book has been made, because it seems like a such a high profile subject would have already been in a book. If not, CSX and Tropicana have missed a big chance. I have been coming across many more photos on web searches. How many more photos involving aspects of this specific train operation are not posted somewhere on the web.
Andrew F.
Andrew, You might try these guys:
They’ve published at least one railroad book: “Rods Down and Dropped Fires”, a history of the Illinois Central. It was written by one Richard P. Bessette, a former ICG VP and racing animal owner (pacers). If he can find a publisher, you can find a publisher. (Just kidding Rick)
Memorable moment, Bessette calls me in to his VP’s office. I had refused to lower a rate to capture some business. Sales Dept. went balistic. Bessette “stongly” suggests that I lower the rate. OK, no sense getting in to a urinating contest with a VP.
I lowered the rate to the level required to get the business.
He called me back into his office.
I had lowered the rate too much. Well, there was no sense lowering it to a level that wouldn’t get the traffic. Sometimes, you just want to go home.
So go for it. Bessette did. You’ve got nothing to loose by going to the RTN website and pitching the idea.
You have discovered the big secret of publishing, and getting yourself published. If it was as easy as you’d like it to be, someone else would have done it already.
So dig in your heels, do the research, and get it done. Look for a publisher after the gathering is nearly finished, because they’ll want to see a product, not just hear an idea. People with nothing more than ideas are a dime a dozen to publishers and are given no quarter. Publishers look for books that have either a broad appeal, or an imprisoned audience (i.e., writing a book for a club that will be a mandatory purchase by every member) .
Of course, you’ll have to do everything on spec because they don’t give advances to unpublished authors. And don’t let anyone talk you into self-publishing, either, unless you can afford to lose every penny you sink into such a project. Most self-publishing houses are interested in one thing – getting paid for formatting, printing and binding your book. Promoting it and selling it will be up to you, which is a very, very hard thing to accomplish. As well as an additional expense.
Topicana Juice Train or K650 and K651 when running comes for Bradenton,FL to Greenville,NJ carring Orange Juice. There is a video about it called the Orange Special but I don’t know who made it. I have saw Tropicana cars in Tucson,AZ for the past 2 years on a frieght and a double stack there anybody know what is was there.
kevin
Unfortunately I can’t help you with writing a book, except for teh assurance that as long as the price is reasonable I would like to read the book.
Crap, now I want some orange juice! [:o)][dinner]
Falconer the 300\105 page book you describe would be a good subject for a desktop publishing book. They could be produced one copy at at a time as they are sold or needed. To interest even a niche publisher you may well need to expand your subject beyond such a limited scope. The history of the juice train goes back all the way to the first “iceed” reefer of lettuce that rotted on it way to New York well before 1970. This will give you a larger audience and a better chance for success. [2c] As always ENJOY