Updated 2024.04.04
Bote's Florida Sugar Cane Train Chaser's Guide
Overview
There are two railroads operating around the perimeter of Lake Okeechobee: South Central Florida Express and United States Sugar Corporation. USSC interchanges with SCFE exclusively, while SCFE also interchanges at their eastern terminus with F.E.C. (Florida East Coast Railway) and at their western terminus with CSX.
South Central Florida Express, based in Clewiston, was created in 1994 by U.S. Sugar Corp. as a wholly-owned subsidiary and operates independently as a common carrier. SCFE is a shortline railroad governed by the Federal Railroad Administration. USSC is a private industrial railroad not subject to F.R.A. oversight. Despite the apparent coziness of these two companies, neither operates on the other's main lines; they only share yard limits.
The sugar cane harvest brings the most activity from about October through March which happily lines up pretty nicely with Florida's tourist season.
Feel free to scroll the overview map left and right if you are viewing on a small screen like a smartphone. The base map is copyright OpenStreetMap.org and is licensed under CC-BY-SA; I just drew some annotations over it.
SCFE
SCFE operates over 87 miles of (ACL heritage) track purchased from CSX on the west half of their extent and 70 miles of track leased from Florida East Coast Railway on the east half of their extent. SCFE interchanges with CSX at Sebring and F.E.C. at Fort Pierce Yard. The segment leased from F.E.C. extends from about milepost K15 at “Cana” to K70.8 where a trestle crosses Miami Canal near Lake Harbor; this segment is depicted on the overview map with dashed red lines.
Note that their reporting mark does not end with “X” because they own and operate their own railroad. Their official reporting mark is actually SCXF.
Cargo hauled includes sugar cane and mixed freight (dead loads) including molasses and refined sugar crystals, as well as mechanical parts for WATCo located at Bryant.
SCFE Radio Frequencies
| Frequency | AAR Ch. | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 160.830 | 048 | SCFE road channel |
| 452.9375 | head-of-train transponder, the railfan's best friend | |
| 457.9375 | end-of-train transponder |
SCFE Trains
The mill mentioned in the tables stands in Clewiston at the USSC yard, accessed via Sugar Junction.
The SCFE Bryant jobs running on SCFE track have been abolished in favor of U.S. Sugar trains hauling Bryant cane via their newly laid private track across their private fields.
The table below can change at any time without anyone knowing, not even employees. Expect the movement of trains at any time, on any track, from any direction.
| Symbol | Terminals | Time | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cane 1 | fields to mill | 08:00 | sugar cane from fields to the mill |
| Cane 2 | fields to mill | 08:00 | sugar cane from fields to the mill |
| Cane 3 | fields to mill | 20:00 | sugar cane from fields to the mill; relieves Cane 1 |
| Cane 4 | fields to mill | 20:00 | sugar cane from fields to the mill; relieves Cane 2 |
| Cane 5 | fields to mill | 08:00 | sugar cane from fields to the mill |
| Cane 6 | fields to mill | as needed | extra, sugar cane from fields to the mill |
| Bryant South | Clewiston | ??:?? | works Clewiston to Bryant yard |
| BT2 | Bryant to Clewiston | ar 17:00 | Bryant Turn 2, 100+ car trains from USSC Clewiston yard to Bryant |
| BT3 | Bryant to Clewiston | ar 01:00 | 100+ car trains from USSC Clewiston yard to Bryant |
| BT4 | Bryant to Clewiston | 05:00 | Meets eb BT1 at Buker passing track |
| Ft. Pierce Turn | Clewiston to F.E.C. | 07:00 | mixed freight to F.E.C. Ry Fort Pierce yard |
| Sebring Turn | Clewiston to CSX | 07:00 | mixed freight, dep SCFE North Shops in Clewiston; interchange at Sebring, FL |
| Local | Clewiston | x | Switches manifest to all customers; see notes for details |
| Work Train | anywhere | as needed | extra job, works maintenance-of-way wherever whenever |
The opposing Bryant Turn trains typically meet at Buker passing track, west of South Bay. All the other trains aim for a 10, 14, 18, 22, 02, and 06:00 arrival time. This means they will be at or near the mill or Bryant loaded around those specified times.
U.S. Sugar Corp.
United States Sugar Corporation operates on their own private trackage, exempt from certain F.R.A. rules and regulations, which allows for operational shortcuts that you won't see on SCFE. USSC is also restricted from operating over certain stretches of SCFE trackage, and even from switching their own traffic at SCFE customers. They are most definitely not to be confused with SCFE.
Sugar cane harvesting season begins in early October and runs through March. There is no way of knowing which fields will be harvested on any given day so you must be agile and have good maps; a knowledge of local roads, shortcuts and traffic patterns can help, too.
U. S. Sugar Corp. is owned by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, notable as the latest holders of the Mott's Apple Juice brand. U.S. Sugar itself owns the SCFE Railroad and Southern Citrus. Fanjul Brothers own the other mills and processing plants on the various rail lines in the area. For more information see A. S. R. Group web site
USSC Radio Frequencies
USSC uses a mix of their old analog channels as well as DMR trunked and conventional repeaters, so you will need a MotoTRBO radio, an SDR decoder rig, or very new scanner capable of receiving digital transmissions, such as the Uniden BCD160DN.
If you discover the usage or official name of a channel, please send me an e-mail note so that I can update this table. Thanks.
| Frequency | AAR Ch. | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 160.830 | 048 | USSC analog comms |
| 161.250 | 076 | USSC analog comms |
| 160.290 | 317 | TS1, CC4, TG1 |
| 160.50 | 345 | TS1, CC1, TG9 |
| 160.50 | 345 | TS2, CC1, TG8 |
| 160.620 | 361 | TS1, CC1, TG1 |
| 161.025 | 415 | TS1, CC1, TG9 |
| 161.055 | 419 | TS1, CC1, TG4 |
| 161.055 | 419 | TS2, CC1, TG4 |
| 161.145 | 431 | TS1, CC1, TG1 |
Hulcher on-the-spot wreck cleaners — 43.04 MHz nationwide
USSC Trains
Trains listed as “Road Job” haul loaded hoppers full of sugar cane from the various loadouts near the growing fields to the yard; then they haul empty hoppers back to the fields to be loaded again.
The Clewiston road jobs are basically a conveyer belt carrying cane staged at Bryant yard to the mill at Clewiston every 4 hours around the clock during harvest season via the new private track that U.S. Sugar laid in the late 2010s. It is laid along irrigation canals serving private cane fields, so it is largely inaccessible.
The table below can change at any time without anyone knowing, not even employees. Expect the movement of trains at any time, on any track, from any direction.
| Symbol | Terminals | Time | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRJ 1 | fields to mill | 07:00 Th-M | Clewiston Road Job #1, sugar cane from fields to the mill |
| CRJ 2 | fields to mill | 07:00 Sa-W | Clewiston Road Job #2 |
| CRJ 3 | fields to mill | 19:00 W-Su | Clewiston Road Job #3 |
| Industrial | mill | 14:00 Su-Th | builds F.E.C. Fort Pierce turn; extra switchin in the yards |
| Dump jobs | mill | 24 hours | unloads cane cars at Clewiston mill as needed, 24/7 |
| BRJ 1 | Bryant | 07:00 ??? | Bryant Road Job, Bryant to swap w/Clewiston train & return |
| BRJ 2 | fields to mill | 07:00 F-Tu | Bryant Road Job #2 |
| BRJ 3 | fields to mill | 19:00 F-Tu | Bryant Road Job #3 |
| Work train | as needed | as needed | extra job, works wherever whenever |
USSC Locomotive Roster
U. S. Sugar and SCFE share a pool of locomotives. Even though USSC is a private industrial road, all engines must pass F.R.A. inspection since any locomotive can run on either road depending on demand at the time. Remember that SCFE is a common carrier railroad operating under F.R.A. regulations.
Although locomotives are lettered with "USSC", their reporting mark is actually USCX. Many display "U.S. Sugar" logos to remove any doubt as to what company owns them. Their livery appears as bright yellow bounded by light grey stripes. The red and blue combination for which SCFE was known is no longer used. Look sharp for the USSC or SCFE lettering in the bright yellow on the long hood.
| Type | Numbers | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| GP40 | 501-506 | |
| GP38 | 404-408 | |
| GP11 | 301-312 | One GP11 has been cut up and thus no longer in service |
| SW1200 | 202, 203 | 202 sold to St. Mary's RR, 203 next, to be replaced |
| SW1500 | 201 | |
| MP15AC | 204 |
USSC Reporting Marks
Reference: Piedmont and Western Railroad Club. Rail cars bearing these marks are associated with U.S. Sugar in some capacity.
| Mark | Owner | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| SCXF | South Central Florida Express | |
| SSPX | Tate & Lyle Ingredients | partly owned by Fanjul Brothers |
| STLX | Tate & Lyle Ingredients | partly owned by Fanjul Brothers; A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company |
| STSX | Tate & Lyle Ingredients | partly owned by Fanjul Brothers |
| TLEX | Tate & Lyle Ingredients | partly owned by Fanjul Brothers |
| TWSX | Tate & Lyle Ingredients | partly owned by Fanjul Brothers |
| USCX | William G. Simon Tank Car Management | U.S. Tank Car Corp.; U.S. Coal & Coke Co. |
| USSX | U.S. Sugar Corp. | shared with U.S.A., possibly obsolete |
| USSZ | U.S. Sugar Corp. |
USSC Maps
USSC Clewiston Division
The U. S. Sugar Clewiston Division extends west from just below Clewiston Yard to County Road 833 and then turns north to Southern Citrus which ironically receives no rail service.
Feel free to scroll the maps left and right if you are viewing on a small screen like a smartphone. The base map is copyright OpenStreetMap.org and is licensed under CC-BY-SA; I just drew some annotations over it.
Clewiston Yard
Clewiston Yard is shared between U. S. Sugar and SCFE.
Feel free to scroll the maps left and right if you are viewing on a small screen like a smartphone. The base map is copyright OpenStreetMap.org and is licensed under CC-BY-SA; I just drew some annotations over it.
Moore Haven District
SCFE operates under F.R.A. rules on its main line. It gathers cane plants from 8 load-outs between Graham Dairy Farm (mp 928 northwest of Moore Haven) all the way back to Sugarton (mp 945.2) just northwest of Clewiston, Florida.
Feel free to scroll the maps left and right if you are viewing on a small screen like a smartphone. The base map is copyright OpenStreetMap.org and is licensed under CC-BY-SA; I just drew some annotations over it.
