Florida East Coast Railway

Thanks TrainPohll

I was told FEC isnt railfan friendly u've been in fec territory give me ur perspective on the subject-Cal

Thanks CalMurray, You have to be very careful where you park & watch the trains. FEC has no trespassing signs everywhere down there & if you are on their property they will report you to the FEC police. The best place to park is at the San Sebastion River trestle where people park to fish off of the US 1 Hwy Bridge in St. Augustine, but I don't shoot every train there. I like to sit there so I can watch the northbound signal & when it lights up for a northbound, then I get ready to pick out a spot to shoot the train, but be warned do not set up inside a no trespassing sign or you will be approached by an FEC policeman, particularly near their headquarters like that. I listen to the scanner & drive around all day, until I see a signal light up & then try to wait as long as possible to set up to get my shot, then after I get the shot it's back in the vehicle to drive around & listen carefully to the scanner. Sometimes you will hear the crews report you. so the best idea is to shoot from public crossings or non railroad property. I have been warned before by an FEC policeman, because I was parked on their right of way waiting under a shade tree on a northbound & he showed up as I was in the process of filming the train. If I hadn't worked for CSXT he said he wouldn't have been so lenient & let me off with just a warning, he said he had the right to impound my vehicle & take me to jail for criminal trespassing where I would've had to pay to get my vehicle out of impoundment & pay a fine for trespassing. As long as you do not trespass on FEC'S property you will be fine. I even tried to get proper permission to film their trains, but they told me that they don't allow people on their property for anything other than business, so from then on I just chose to use caution & try to shoot them from public property & where I do have to trespass I'm more wary of my surroundings looking out for FEC police. I get my shot & leave immediately after the engines go by, which is hard to do if you video as well, but lately mine has been out of service, so all I've had is still shooting lately, which is alot easier not to get caught. The FEC police drive white ford taurus's with the FEC Hurricane Logo on the doors, if you see them drive away if you have time.

thanxs very much i have read the article in trains on FEC they said Fec is not one of the top favourites

I love the FEC, just not their attitudes towards railfans, I've heard they've gotten more friendly since, I've talked to some people that have been able to visit the FEC yard in Jacksonville, guess it's just a matter of who you talk to, I called their headquarters back when I tried to properly request permission to photograph them & sign a waver. Doesn't really matter to me, I'm getting my shots whether they like it or not, I just have to watch out for the FEC Special Agents more & try to set up on public property & when I set up on their property try to set up where the special agents would have a long drive to get to me & when they got to me I'd be long gone after getting the shot, Saint Augustine is very close to where special agents can pounce on you. I see fisherman trespassing all the time, they never bother them, just us railfans with the camera's. It helps that I work for CSXT, even though I get harassed sometimes, they usually don't do anything but tell me not to set up on their property, if you set up out away from cities in the country noone will have time to get to you unless you sit around all day, I generally set up as the train is coming, get my shot & back to driving around, very difficult for anyone to run you off when you're on the move all day. If you sit around in one spot all day you're a sitting duck where it's easy for the special agents to intimidate you, but if you're on public property nothing they can do. I try to make a trip to FEC once a year, it has been a while since I've been approached by a special agent, but I'm on the move most of the day until I know a train is close so I'm not drawing attention to myself where people are wondering what you're doing & report you, usually by the time a train reports you, if you move around you'll be long gone before whoever shows up to run you off does