Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Over the winter of 2024 the Sugar Express in southern Florida was running a series of excursions behind former Florida East Coast 148. Most of these excursions ran between the towns of Clewiston and Lake Placid, with a diesel leading northbound and 148 racing south. After making a side trip to the coast to catch some Brightline trains, I chased the southbound run of the February 24th "Lake Placid Limited."
The 148 was built by ALCo in 1920 for the Florida East Coast Railway and began its life hauling premiere passenger trains from Jacksonville to Miami and across the infamous "overseas railroad" to Key West. The engine was retired in 1952 and sold to the US Sugar corporation, where it would spend the next decade hauling sugarcane to the mill in Clewiston. The engine would go to the Black River & Western Railroad in New Jersey for a brief excursion career from 1970 and 1973 and then the Morristown & Erie until 1977. Over the next 40 years the engine would go through a number of owners from New Jersey to Colorado, all failing to restore the engine back to operation. 148 would be repurchased by US Sugar in 2016 and finally returned to steam in 2020 to head the Sugar Express excursion trains across USSC's many miles of track in the Southern Florida cane fields.
Over the winter of 2024 the Sugar Express in southern Florida was running a series of excursions behind former Florida East Coast 148. Most of these excursions ran between the towns of Clewiston and Lake Placid, with a diesel leading northbound and 148 racing south. After making a side trip to the coast to catch some Brightline trains, I chased the southbound run of the February 24th "Lake Placid Limited."
The 148 was built by ALCo in 1920 for the Florida East Coast Railway and began its life hauling premiere passenger trains from Jacksonville to Miami and across the infamous "overseas railroad" to Key West. The engine was retired in 1952 and sold to the US Sugar corporation, where it would spend the next decade hauling sugarcane to the mill in Clewiston. The engine would go to the Black River & Western Railroad in New Jersey for a brief excursion career from 1970 and 1973 and then the Morristown & Erie until 1977. Over the next 40 years the engine would go through a number of owners from New Jersey to Colorado, all failing to restore the engine back to operation. 148 would be repurchased by US Sugar in 2016 and finally returned to steam in 2020 to head the Sugar Express excursion trains across USSC's many miles of track in the Southern Florida cane fields.
