Growth for the Tropicana Trains

[Tharmeni]

 

Tropicana plans to enhance the backhaul service for its orange juice trains.  This is from the Bradenton (FL) Herald:

 

Tropicana plans to build more railroad tracks

SARA KENNEDY

Herald Staff Writer

Tropicana Products Inc. wants to build additional railroad tracks and a covered loading dock for a warehouse on its property because its shipping service is growing.

The company plans to build approximately 1,150 feet of railroad track known as a spur and an 8,600-square-foot covered off-loading dock, according to the Manatee County Planning Department.

The company ships huge quantities of fresh juice to the rest of the nation and, rather than allowing its railcars to return empty, it operates a backhaul service to ship goods from other companies on the return trips. Tropicana's refrigerated railcars carry goods like ketchup, carrots and other food products destined for restaurant chains.

"The additional railroad tracks and dock will add in increasing the capabilities and efficiency of the Tropicana train and the train backhaul services," explained Karen May, Tropicana's manager of public relations. "Specifically, the additional track and dock infrastructure will facilitate the growth of the backhaul process."

The company currently uses the same docks for both outbound and inbound services. "The additional dock and track will help us increase efficiency and expand backhaul capabilities," she said.

As part of the project, plans call for an existing pond to be re-configured and a new stormwater lake dug, documents show. The company plans to fill a man-made retention pond in order to build the single railroad spur through it, officials said.

Because the company wants to remove trees, it has proposed planting 18 oak trees when its construction is finished on the 3.13 acres located at 1511 Ninth St. E.

The company hopes to finish construction within three years.

Tropicana's partner in the project is CSX Corp., a transportation company with whom the juice giant works closely in moving its products by railroad.

Other changes in the works at the company's campus on the edge of Bradenton include the demolition of parts of an old glass factory, designed to make room for construction of the company's new high-speed production line, May said. The additional production line is designed to increase the company's ability to support the roll-out of Tropicana Pure, a new line of 100 percent fruit juice blends the company launched in August.

 

[Datafever]

Seems like an excellent way for a shipping company to make the best use of all available resources.  In this case, the resource of backhaul services. 

[trainfan1221]

Tropicana advertises the trains on their juice containers.  Complete with a very interesting two-thirds of a -840cw picture and a boxcar sitting on a locomotive frame.  Of course I am the only one who notices this..

[Datafever]

From the Tropicana website -

• Average train size: Approximately a mile long
• Train Departures: 5 days per week from Florida to both the northeast and Midwest
• Trip duration: 48 hours from Florida to New Jersey
• Miles traveled: Rail fleet travels more than 35 million miles per year
• Capacity: Juice trains each week carry North enough juice to fill 300 average size swimming pools
• First train: Shipped from Bradenton, Fla. to Kearny, NJ on June 6, 1970
• Railroads: Trains leave our Florida facilities powered by the CSX and Florida East Coast railroads
• Fun Fact: Railcars were originally white, followed by orange with newer cars being white again

 

[jclass]

Just curious.  Are the Tropicana cars tagged?  Wondering if Tropicana takes pride in and protects its brand name (where the railroads don't about their own).

[bn13814]

From the Tropicana website -

• Average train size: Approximately a mile long
• Train Departures: 5 days per week from Florida to both the northeast and Midwest
• Trip duration: 48 hours from Florida to New Jersey
• Miles traveled: Rail fleet travels more than 35 million miles per year
• Capacity: Juice trains each week carry North enough juice to fill 300 average size swimming pools
• First train: Shipped from Bradenton, Fla. to Kearny, NJ on June 6, 1970
• Railroads: Trains leave our Florida facilities powered by the CSX and Florida East Coast railroads
• Fun Fact: Railcars were originally white, followed by orange with newer cars being white again

 

 

Florida East Coast? How are they involved when they don't serve Bradenton, Florida or any place on Florida's West Coast?

[Datafever]

From the Tropicana website -

• Average train size: Approximately a mile long
• Train Departures: 5 days per week from Florida to both the northeast and Midwest
• Trip duration: 48 hours from Florida to New Jersey
• Miles traveled: Rail fleet travels more than 35 million miles per year
• Capacity: Juice trains each week carry North enough juice to fill 300 average size swimming pools
• First train: Shipped from Bradenton, Fla. to Kearny, NJ on June 6, 1970
• Railroads: Trains leave our Florida facilities powered by the CSX and Florida East Coast railroads
• Fun Fact: Railcars were originally white, followed by orange with newer cars being white again

 

 

Florida East Coast? How are they involved when they don't serve Bradenton, Florida or any place on Florida's West Coast?

Hey, don't ask me!  I drink Tropicana orange juice, but I'm a west coaster.  Anyway, here's a pic of the FEC pulling a Tropicana train.  Note that the first car is quite well tagged.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=149256 

[ericsp]

Tropicana does have a smaller plant on Florida's east coast. I think it is Fort Pierce, but I am not sure.

[Datafever]

Yes, Ft. Pierce it is.  The Tropicana web site does not list its manufacuring facilities.  But I was able to verify that Ft. Pierce is an FEC terminal for Tropicana.  I found a location in Ft. Pierce for Tropicana that just happens to be located on trackside.  So, mystery solved.  Thanks, Eric.

[Tharmeni]

There is a small team at Tropicana assigned to clean up incoming box cars.  I saw the southbound train yesterday and about one out of seven cars had graffiti.  Guess that's job security for the team.

[jclass]

Thanks, Tharmeni.

[Anonymous]

Tropicana advertises the trains on their juice containers.  Complete with a very interesting two-thirds of a -840cw picture and a boxcar sitting on a locomotive frame.  Of course I am the only one who notices this..

Actually it is an AC44 with the "wings" edited out and the boxcar has the same underframe as the AC.

[ericsp]

Interesting that they have a photograph of a CP SD40-2 that has Tropicana on it. I wonder why they chose a CP locomotive to Photoshop. I would think that they would use a CSXT MOW locomotive.
http://www.tropicana.com/TRP_TropicanaHistory/TropicanaStory.cfm

[Andrew Falconer]

Interesting that they have a photograph of a CP SD40-2 that has Tropicana on it. I wonder why they chose a CP locomotive to Photoshop. I would think that they would use a CSXT MOW locomotive.
http://www.tropicana.com/TRP_TropicanaHistory/TropicanaStory.cfm

Perfect paint scheme for a Toy Train Starter Set.

Andrew

[Railfan1]

Just curious.  Are the Tropicana cars tagged?  Wondering if Tropicana takes pride in and protects its brand name (where the railroads don't about their own).

Yup, these cars are tagged just as bad as any other freight car. They try to keep it under control by repainted patches on the cars, but it seems they can't keep up.

[Railfan1]

Here are some examples tagged cars.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=510205

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=487479

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=510210

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=379528

[ericsp]

Here are satellite photographs of all of the Tropicana rail terminals that I know about.

Bradenton, FL

Fort Pierce, FL

City of Industry, CA

Jersey City, NJ

Cincinnati, OH

[Railfan1]

Interesting, I didn't know they had that many terminals.