Downtown Orlando, Fl
#16
It's like looking at an industrial lunar lanscape. No people, no hint of movement. Still Life With Weeds.
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#17
I never liked painting them LBPs anyway.

But on that note, wait til quitting time.... the employees will be coming out of there in droves!
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#18
Also, it was Saturday. Wink

It really was deserted, though. A great time to stop the car on crossings to take photos (also safest time to do that since FCEN rarely runs on the weekend).
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#19
Those are very interesting photos. I am specially impressed by the buildings on photo 3 and 5. Look at the details and shades of color. They are far away from boxes. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
Reinhard
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#20
The circus is coming to town! Per trainorders.com, RBBB Circus is arriving in Orlando Wednesday morning, 08 Dec 2010. CSX is taking charge of the passenger cars, but FCEN is spotting the four stocks and the 19 flat cars/COFC’s in the Silver Star area so equipment and animals will be near the fair grounds. This is an unexpected bonus: I knew RBBB passed through Orlando, but wasn't expecting to see any circus traffic on my chosen prototype!

Quote:Animal Stocks: Siding tracks between Eunice Avenue and Mercy Drive north of Silver Star Road. These tracks are seldom used except for Circus Train Stocks. Animals are off loaded and paraded to the Central Florida Fairgrounds located on W. Colonial Drive.
Flats & COFC: Located south of Silver Star Road, along Bengert Street, west of Saddle Creek Corp Warehouse siding. The main lead-in track for both sidings came off the ACL paralleling N. Orange Blossom Trail at Fairvilla.
More here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,2334130">http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?2,2334130</a><!-- m -->

Here's the general area:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9LkV1bmljZStBdmVudWUrb3JsYW5kbyU3ZXNzdC4wJTdlcGcuMSZiYj0yOC41Nzk5OTY3Mzc5OTQ1JTdlLTgxLjM5MzE3OTc0MDMxMTYlN2UyOC41NDM5NjI2NDY0MjM5JTdlLTgxLjQ1MzkwNDk1MjQwODc=">http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9LkV1bmljZ ... k1MjQwODc=</a><!-- m -->

I hope to get photos, but with daylight savings time in effect, it's a challenge to get over there after work while the light is still good. I might be able to swing something Friday or Saturday. I'l post pics of the rolling stock if I get anything. Some of the Orlando railfans will probably post footage of the full train arriving in Orlando on Youtube.
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#21
I did make it out to the Bengert Street area to photograph the RBBB flats.
[Image: rbbb01.jpg]

They're nestled into a double siding and feature an interesting drop ramp feature that links them into long connected platforms to ease loading and unloading.
[Image: rbbb03.jpg]

Moving a few miles away and back onto the mainline, here we are at the intersection of 441 (Orange Blossom Trail) and Carder Ave. Buildings don't get quite as fanciful in Orlando as they do in Miami, but every now and then you enounter one to warm the heart of a Mindheim. This is a furniture store called Marge's.
[Image: marge01.jpg]

At the back side of Marge's is the Carder siding, which FCEN uses to park cars it isn't using. Every now and then it pulls one off the other end when it needs one, then brings it back for another long spell.
[Image: marge02.jpg]

Like this aging kitten:
[Image: hlmx86004.jpg]

BTW can anyone ID the make of this car? Is it a Greenville?
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#22
Very nice photos. I would definately like to see more.

Larry
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#23
You bet! We're getting further away from downtown Orlando, but here's Louis Dreyfus Citrus—one of the last of the many OJ factories that once thrived in Central Florida. Before the dark times, before the freezes.

Louis Dreyfus Citrus lies at the tail end of the Winter Garden run. The line runs another mile or so before dead-ending at the Central FL RR Museum downtown Winter Garden. Aside from special occasions when Pinsley runs a freshly-washed FCEN locomotive to the museum for the school kids, no trains run past this point.

This industry will be on any Central Florida layout I design that can accommodate these long reefers; I grew up in a citrus town. As you might imagine, I have a few reefer orders in with BLMA and ExactRail.
[Image: louisdreyfuscitrus06.jpg]

[Image: oj01.jpg]
[Image: oj02.jpg]

Here's the other side of the factory. Since I can't get a clean straight-on shot of the factory where I took the other photos, I will probably use a shot from this side as the baseline for a backdrop image.
[Image: oj03.jpg]
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#24
There are quite a few big box warehouses along the Silver Star Branch, but their sidings seem to be used more for car storage than spotting these days. Some of these I've documented in this thread (update: the circus flats are still in residence).

What I couldn't figure out is where those colorful re-liveried fallen flag cars were going. I'd see 'em idling in Modello or rattling into Orlando toward Taft Yard—former Southern, Sabine River and Northern, and Nacionales do Mexico 50 footers, most of them contemplating their third or fourth decades in service. Cars, ah, freighted in history. 357

Well, as I discovered today, they were hanging out at the local beer joint: Schenck Company Distribution Center. Figures. Even more intoxicating, there is an accessible parking lot that parallels the siding, permitting full side views of most of the cars. Yay, me.

[Image: 98464822.jpg]

Some shots of the dock. Lots of interesting business to model here. I thought all would be quiet the Sunday after Christmas, but folks were out unloading cars in freezing, frost-bite-inducing 42 degree weather. Beer is money, I suppose!
[Image: schenck01.jpg]

[Image: schenck05.jpg]

Here are a few snaps of today's line-up. No Ferromax cars today, alas, but there were some well-loved Railboxes and a former SRN car in the mix.
[Image: schenck03.jpg]

[Image: schenck02.jpg]

[Image: schenck04.jpg]

Schenck is actually an exciting discovery for me, as I have (probably foolishly) resolved to model only cars that have ridden the home rails (I shall dive into some projects very soon). That most of these vintage boxes are all going to the same spot makes adding Schenck to my eventual layout a no-brainer. Tool World accounts for my covered hoppers, Louis Dreyfus Citrus my reefers, and now the exotic box cars have a home. (The muggle BNSF hi-cubes can go to Dixie Plywood & Lumber Company along with the centerbeam flats, while CMC Recycling takes the gondolas; I'll cover these businesses in another post.)
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#25
Without a dought,Orlando and Miami Florida have very interesting locations for rail service.I was up till 4:00 this morning surfin' google maps,and was literally amazed by the amount of small businesses served by rail.Expecially along a single branchline type trackage.I have been searching in my own neck of the woods(Michigan),and to be honest have come to complete dissapointment :cry: Most of the rail served industry is just too far and in between.

Most of the complexes,buidings are anywhere from 300-700ft in width and over 2000 in length...wow,try and fit that on your layout.Using the google scale as a guide i converted a structure that was 300ft in width and used my pc converter and it came out to be 3'-6"in HO scale.because i will be producing my scratch built buildings to actual scale,it looks like i will have to find some smaller scale buildings,and industry.I'm not going to do the "building flat" thing,or backdrops so i have have to concentrate on the smaller ones.

I came accross alot of packing companys that were small,along with company's that produce packaging materials.Distributions centers were also found to be of smaller size,where material was brought in by rail then shipped out via semi trailer.
Don Shriner
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#26
Paulman Wrote:I did make it out to the Bengert Street area to photograph the RBBB flats.
[Image: rbbb01.jpg]

They're nestled into a double siding and feature an interesting drop ramp feature that links them into long connected platforms to ease loading and unloading.
[Image: rbbb03.jpg]

Moving a few miles away and back onto the mainline, here we are at the intersection of 441 (Orange Blossom Trail) and Carder Ave. Buildings don't get quite as fanciful in Orlando as they do in Miami, but every now and then you enounter one to warm the heart of a Mindheim. This is a furniture store called Marge's.
[Image: marge01.jpg]

At the back side of Marge's is the Carder siding, which FCEN uses to park cars it isn't using. Every now and then it pulls one off the other end when it needs one, then brings it back for another long spell.
[Image: marge02.jpg]

Like this aging kitten:
[Image: hlmx86004.jpg]

BTW can anyone ID the make of this car? Is it a Greenville?

I think it's a Greenville,the brake piping exposed above the truck/wheel is a dead giveaway.
Don Shriner
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#27
train_guy Wrote:
Paulman Wrote:BTW can anyone ID the make of this car? Is it a Greenville?

I think it's a Greenville,the brake piping exposed above the truck/wheel is a dead giveaway.

Thanks! I suppose it was one of the those 86 footers that used to ship auto parts, but that's not what it's doing now. It moves around on this siding and disappears from time to time; I'd love to know what it's up to!
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#28
Awesome thread!. Any update on what is going today in this area?
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#29
Gary S Wrote:I never liked painting them LBPs anyway.

But on that note, wait til quitting time.... the employees will be coming out of there in droves!

Proving once and for all that the dead do come back to life! Thumbsup
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#30
Paulman Wrote:I did make it out to the Bengert Street area to photograph the RBBB flats.
[Image: rbbb01.jpg]

They're nestled into a double siding and feature an interesting drop ramp feature that links them into long connected platforms to ease loading and unloading.
[Image: rbbb03.jpg]

Moving a few miles away and back onto the mainline, here we are at the intersection of 441 (Orange Blossom Trail) and Carder Ave. Buildings don't get quite as fanciful in Orlando as they do in Miami, but every now and then you enounter one to warm the heart of a Mindheim. This is a furniture store called Marge's.
[Image: marge01.jpg]

At the back side of Marge's is the Carder siding, which FCEN uses to park cars it isn't using. Every now and then it pulls one off the other end when it needs one, then brings it back for another long spell.
[Image: marge02.jpg]

Like this aging kitten:
[Image: hlmx86004.jpg]

BTW can anyone ID the make of this car? Is it a Greenville?

Screen says images no longer available?? :?
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