The bridge over the New River, upright and double-tracked, downtown Fort Lauderdale, late 1987.

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Here's an earlier view of the New River bridge. FEC #661 is still wearing the gold in this c.1985 view.

Only blocks away from the bridge, one of the most recent additions to the FEC power pool is #703, obviously with Union Pacific heritage and for the first time on these tracks, regular six-axle service.

FEC #411 is cold on a siding at the south end of Ft Lauderdale's intermodal facility early in December 2005. Thirty years ago, this curved track (turning left towards the west) actually connected the FEC with the SCL-Port Everglades track (see interlocking shed and Loisville Station pictures).



The "Loisville" depot on Perimeter road just north of the airport in the 1990s was the only remaining reminder of the Gold Coast Railroad's tenure in Fort Lauderdale. Construction of I-595 along this narrow corridor necessitated shifting Perimeter Road about twenty five yards to the north, effectively dooming the SCL spur to the port that ran in the same corridor. The most unique train station in Ft Lauderdale now has a highway running past it instead of railroad tracks.

One good thing came from the I-595 overpass, a really good view of FEC's intermodal yard at Fort Lauderdale. In 1988 we're looking north and standing practically right above the little shack pictured above. Curving to the west, now just a warehouse track, was the original part of the junction with the Pt Everglades track. The main tracks curving away at the bottom of the picture (which include flat-car holding tracks) demonstrate the realignment for the airport expansion during the 1980s. Below is a picture of the yard from the ground, looking North. Mainline track is evident by concrete ties.

Not really part of the FEC, this photo had to be part of this collection anyway. About 1985, the Gold Coast Railroad has already moved to Miami and all that's left was to tear up the old overgrown tracks north of Ft Lauderdale Airport which linked the SCL to the Port. Was it luck, or irony, that I happened to arrive on the scene just in time to record the final days of this track, so much a part of rail action in Fort Lauderdale since the 1930's??

A Fort Lauderdale map from 1980 demonstrates the rail activity centered around the FEC and its Port Everglades junction. The close corridor between the airport and Snyder Park was the home of the Gold Coast Railroad. Please use this map for historical reference only, twenty years of progress in Ft Lauderdale has rendered it quite useless as a navigation aid!