Subj : Re: Various Things (1) To : Barry Martin From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Feb 03 2023 01:15:00 Barry, DS> More likely the bulb is burned out. :P BM> Hmm: I can relate to that! That means you don't have any new ideas coming to you. BM> Well if that's the only thing needing to be moved not a bad job of BM> planning! OTOH the signal box probably has a ton of wiring and BM> controls in it, and of course can't simply be sliced and stuck in a BM> junction box underground. The signal box was there when the line was single tracked. They are making it double tracked from Miami to Cocoa, where it then heads west to the Orlando, International Airport. All the track and signals are in place, but they need to do some final things on the embankments and the tracks, before the test trains can start running on it, before they start the actual service. From what I understand, one will be able to go from Miami to Orlando in just over 3 hours. The stops are at Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and the Orlando International Airport. I'm not sure if there will be any others. It will take a bunch of traffic off of Interstate 4, and Interstate 95. From Miami to West Palm Beach, the max speed is 79 mph, the same as the Amtrak trains around the country. From West Palm Beach to Cocoa, in some spots, the max speed will be 110 mph...and from Cocoa to the Orlando International Airport, the max speed will be 125 mph...mainly because from Cocoa to the Orlando International Airport, there are no highway grade crossings. The route may eventually be extended to Tampa. I don't know when the actual revenue service from the Orlando International Airport and West Palm Beach will start...it already runs between West Palm Beach and downtown Miami. They have built an interchange connection track with the South Florida Rail Corridor and the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC) (which Brightline is using), to where Tri-Rail trains (that run on the former Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) route) from Mangonia Park (just north of West Palm Beach to the Miami Airport Station, just east of the Miami International Airport), can switch to the FEC at the "diamond" crossing known as "Iris". You can view videos of the Brightline Trains, construction on the line, on YouTube by searching for "Roaming Railfan Brightline". The original Miami Amtrak station in the Allapattah section of town, was razed in 1978. Some pictures from "The Miami Herald" from the depot, and trains around the area are at: https://flashbackmiami.com/2015/06/03/seaboard-railroad/ The current Miami Amtrak station is in CSX Railroad's Hialeah Yard, next to Tri-Rail's maintenance facility. There was talk of moving the Miami Amtrak Station to the Miami Airport Station, where both Amtrak and Tri-Rail would share trackage, but I don't know what the progress on that is. With the current Miami Amtrak Station, there's a loop track, where the train can basically get turned around...it's the southern most point on the route for Amtrak's Silver Meteor and Silver Star. Just south of the Hialeah Market station for Tri-Rail (the original Hialeah depot), the line splits into two sections. The first one was what the original Amtrak station was on (it was a stub end terminal, like at Tampa Union Station...basically a dead-end -- you can't go out the other end, but have to go out the same way you came in). The second one is the CSX Homestead Subdivision, that heads past the southwest point of Miami International Airport (at the Oleander Interchange, which is now the far southwest point of the FEC), and the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, built on the site of the former Richmond Naval Air Station. However, there is no Y at the point to go to the CSX Homestead Subdivison, and to the Tri-Rail Miami Airport Station. So, they may end up doing the same thing as is done at Tampa's Union Station. Basically, before the trains get to Tampa, at the Neve Wye, on what was the one time Fanotasassa Subdivision, they basically Y the train, and back it into Tampa Union Station. You can watch it on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMZm4iG1v3g At the Tri-Rail Transfer Station, you can switch to the Metro Rail, to get to southwest Miami and the Dadeland Shopping Center (other places on that route are Downtown Miami, the Vizcaya Botannical Gardens, and the University Of Miami campus), or to Palmetto, and a station at the south end of the former Hialeah Park Horse Race Track. I didn't know I was going to give a description of south Florida railroads!! BM> You're wearing your pants teen-age style slung below your rump and BM> going commando?! DS> The latter is only during the night...as that's when nature DS> calls the most...plus for 5 hours after Lasix out-pee-forms DS> itself. BM> No hose to the bucket by the bed?! With my luck, things would get stuck (I know you needed that visual) DS> Good...I can sleep for a few days. BM> Constant?! Only when I'm sedated. I'm lucky to sleep more than 90 minutes at a time. BM> Hmm: since you don't watch TV.... Use of the eating/meal is BM> probably a good way for the characters to be shown as relaxing, BM> socializing, etc. FOOD FIGHT!!! There is a door on the BBS called "Food Wars". At Microlimp Junior High School, you get in Food Fights with students, etc. It's a freeware door now. There are other similar doors, but the details on them escape me right now. BM> Dumm-de-dumm. Can I sit next to you? .... whapped with purse> DS> "I just want to ask you a question". So, she lets him ask it. DS> Artie: "Do you believe in the hereafter??". DS> Ruth: "Of Course I Do". DS> Artie: "Then, you know what I'm here after". BM> Their play on words was good! I don't know when I first became a fan of puns, but I've liked them ever since. BM> Monday starts Diarrhea Awareness Week. Runs until Friday. Looks like a rather crappy scheduling assignment. I thought this tagline went good with it. Daryl .... "Farfrompoopin'" - German word for constipation. === MultiMail/Win v0.52 --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (454:1/33) .