Bone Valley, Florida

[edahrenhoerster]

I will be in Florida next week and remembered an article maybe 3-4 years ago, I think in Trains, about a thing called bone valley that had interesting operations. I have been through back issues but can't find it. Can anyone direct me to this article or have any advice on where to go and what to see in bone valley, or any other Florida hot spots for that matter. Thanks.

[fecfan]

Hey there, Ed.
Go to the google.com search engine, and type in precisely or cut and paste this line

"csx"+"bone valley"

in the box. It should return about 40 links to sites about this subject, including very specific homepages and a link to the Trains article in the Jan, 1999 issue about it.
I had some books with material about bone valley, couldnt find them, and couldnt remember details about it, then the search engine came to the rescue. The area called bone valley is in south/central Florida with huge phosphate mines, the phosphate is a natural by-product of a large concentration of dinosaur decomposition there,hence the name. The csx run trainloads out regularly much in the same manner other railroads operate in coal areas.
Have a good trip. If you get to the east coast, don't forget to stop and see the FEC rwy.

John

[Anonymous]

Ed, if you are going to be near Sanford, Florida, don't miss the south terminal of the Auto Train. Get there in the AM (8:30 - 9:00) and watch the unload, and prep for the return trip to Va. Good viewing realy up close, old EMD SW doing the switching with road railers off to the side. Great photo spots without getting in the way. CSX also serves a pulp yard and a cement customer within a few hundred feet of of the terminal and Amtraks Sanford station is just around the corner (you can walk from one to the other). Take I4 to RT46 east and follow the sign, you will see the terminal on your left as you pass over CSX rails.
Have fun, Bob