Photos: A halloweened-colored FCRD engine sits vacant at the Fernandina Rail yard. The Fernandina Depot at Mile Post Zero, the Northern terminus of the Florida Railroad. A yellow diesel slowly chugs up the tracks toward the Port of Fernandina Beach. Pulling about 20 cars, the locomotive heads southward back into the rail yard.
I went to a lecture about a Native American archaeological dig site on Amelia Island tonight at the Amelia Island Museum of History in Fernandina Beach.. I arrived 40 minutes early so I decided to walk several blocks to Centre Street where several blocks of mint condition 1880s brick buildings stand. On the corner of Front and Centre Streets stands the Fernandina Depot, the brick Victorian style station is at Mile Post Zero of the historic Florida Railroad which was the Sunshine State's first cross peninsular railroad. The line is presently leased by CSX Transportation to the First Coast Railroad owned by Genesee and Wyoming. I started to take a picture or two of the depot when I heard the familiar two shorts blasts from a diesel engine's horn. I turned southward and saw the yellow and black trimmed locomotive engine creeping northward sans cars from the large rail yard toward the Port of Fernandina Beach. 15 minutes later it pulled about 20 old graffiti-covered box cars southward over the Centre and Ashe streets grade crossings where I stood. The early evening sun lit the train perfectly so I got a few good shots. Fernandina is not one of Nassau's hottest spots for train watching but it does have a railroad, a depot and a large train yard so it does has its moments.
