Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) & Brightline Operations

What exactly is the thing that looks like a tank car?

Tommy posted:

What exactly is the thing that looks like a tank car?

Fuel tender.

Nicky, so very nice to see you back on the Forum!!!

Sorry to see you have forsaken the drab colors of our beloved and fallen flag "Lightning Stripes" in favor of something more colorful.  I too like the color scheme you've chosen to follow... I prefer them on older Southern Pacific steam however; Jack will probably agree.

Best, Dave

Somebody needs to make that tender in 3-rail. Are you listening MTH?

SouthernMike posted:

Somebody needs to make that tender in 3-rail. Are you listening MTH?

Probably not, as I doubt that anyone from MTH pays much attention to the Real Trains Forum. You might try commenting on the MTH Products Forum, or the MTH General Topics Forum.

Dave Garman posted:

Nicky, so very nice to see you back on the Forum!!!

Sorry to see you have forsaken the drab colors of our beloved and fallen flag "Lightning Stripes" in favor of something more colorful.  I too like the color scheme you've chosen to follow... I prefer them on older Southern Pacific steam however; Jack will probably agree.

Best, Dave

 

Hey Dave! Don't worry, I still bleed two-tone gray  But since FEC's mainline runs right behind my condo I've grown to love the "Champion" paint scheme on those locomotives seeing them every day. You're absolutely right about the similarities to the SP Daylight livery and I always thought that myself!

Hot Water posted:

SouthernMike posted:

Somebody needs to make that tender in 3-rail. Are you listening MTH?

Probably not, as I doubt that anyone from MTH pays much attention to the Real Trains Forum. You might try commenting on the MTH Products Forum, or the MTH General Topics Forum.

I too have had interest in an O-Scale model but the tender is still very limited in real world use. I believe only FEC and one other line use them. I haven't been around to see what Malcolm is up to these days but this seems like a perfect "Brother Love" custom build 

Nick,

Malcolm is still around and still creating those beautiful "miracle" models that he has a God-given talent to create - shoot him an email!

Best, Dave

That fuel tender is Very Interesting! I wonder if this design gives the tank BETTER protection than the Converted 60' unibody tank car? Nice way to incorporate a 48' outdated stand alone double stack car with a tank that's fits within the box outline.

OK folks, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the tender is a natural gas tank and that these engines burn pressurized natural gas instead of diesel.  I suppose that these engines are very clean burning if they do use natural gas.  Does anyone know if the regular fuel tanks on these engines carry natural gas also.  Can the engine burn either gas or diesel by reprogramming the computer?

Does anyone know if these engines have AC or DC traction motors.  I read somewhere that GE uses the same engine body on both AC and DC engines.  I would think that the FEC would use DC motors because there are no hills to speak of in FL.  

Great photos and good looking locomotives.  I especially like the night shots.

NH Joe

New Haven Joe posted:

OK folks, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the tender is a natural gas tank and that these engines burn pressurized natural gas instead of diesel.  I suppose that these engines are very clean burning if they do use natural gas.  Does anyone know if the regular fuel tanks on these engines carry natural gas also.  Can the engine burn either gas or diesel by reprogramming the computer?

Does anyone know if these engines have AC or DC traction motors.  I read somewhere that GE uses the same engine body on both AC and DC engines.  I would think that the FEC would use DC motors because there are no hills to speak of in FL.  

Great photos and good looking locomotives.  I especially like the night shots.

NH Joe

 

 

I believe the system FEC uses runs on a blend of diesel and natural gas. The FEC uses ES44C4 engines, which have AC traction motors, but only on 4 axles. The middle axle on each truck is an idler. 

NH Joe is right.  They are LNG tenders. I remembered reading about them in Trains magazine last year.  FEC ordered their ES444ACs with an option to burn LNG increasing their options in the event that diesel fuel rates spike. FEC has been running at least some of their ES44ACs on LNG since June of 2016. I saw the same Champion/Blue GE combination sandwiching a LNG tender when I was in Florida in April.  

All of FEC's ES44 units have AC traction motors.  I don't know how easy it is to convert them from diesel to LNG and vice versa.

-Ed Abbot

The new Brightline trainsets look Ugliness to me.

The Central had the reversed TTG.

The FEC livery on the new GE's look great.

Now FeroMex W

Owns FEC?