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Tri-Rail and Miami Metro Trip 9/01-02/2023



by Chris Guenzler



Elizabeth and I arose early at the DoubleTree Hotel in Deerfield Beach and did our Internet duties, after which we went downstairs to the Spotted Stag Restaurant and joined Robin, who was finishing his meal. I had French Toast and Elizabeth had a waffle. As Elizabeth was in charge of the registration room and would be busy setting it up for its opening at 4:00, I had the day free so Robin and I decided to ride Tri-Rail and Miami Metro.

TriRail History 1980-1990s: Planning and inauguration

Planning for a new commuter rail line began in 1983 and building the organization began in 1986. The current system was formed by the Florida Department of Transportation and began operation January 9, 1989, to provide temporary commuter rail service while construction crews widened Interstate 95 and the parallel Florida's Turnpike. Tri-Rail was free from opening until May 1, 1990, at which time the fare became $4 round trip.

Due to higher-than-expected ridership, FDOT made Tri-Rail a permanent service, adding more trains and stations in the process. Line extensions have enabled Tri-Rail to serve all three South Florida international airports: Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport. The state's original plan was to use the more urban Florida East Coast Railway line, but FEC declined the offer as it wanted freight to be their top priority. In 1998, the initial 67-mile-long route was extended north from the West Palm Beach station to the Mangonia Park, and south from Hialeah Market to Miami Airport (at an earlier station on the site of the current station). Construction of the extensions began in 1996; which added nearly four miles to the system.

In the early 2000's, Tri-Rail received a budget of $84.8 million for double tracking, building extensions, improving stations, establishing a headquarters and linking to buses.

In 2002, Tri-Rail began to upgrade its grade crossings to include raised medians and/or four quadrant gates to prevent cars from driving around them in an attempt to beat trains. This decreases accidents and allows the cities they run through to petition for them not to use their whistle between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. They also decreased headways to 20 minutes during rush hours.

In 2007, a project to upgrade the full length of the line from Mangonia Park to Miami Airport with double track was completed with the opening of a high-level fixed bridge over the New River near Fort Lauderdale. During the 2000's, most of the stations were completely rebuilt to accommodate for double-tracking and include dual platforms, elevators, pedestrian bridges over the tracks, large roofs over the platforms and better facilities.

In March 2006, Tri-Rail went from 30 passenger trains a day to 40 trains; the completion of the New River rail bridge, the double-tracking project, and the addition of a second Colorado Railcar diesel multiple unit ushered in sweeping changes to Tri-Rail's operational timetables. Tri-Rail added several more trains during peak weekday commuting hours in June 2007, increasing to the current 50 trains per day, as well as increasing weekend service. During "rush hour", trains ran every twenty to thirty minutes rather than the previous schedule of every hour. This change comes at quite a fortuitous time in Tri-Rail's operation history. With gasoline prices at record highs - particularly in South Florida's sprawling metropolis - Tri-Rail saw a double- digit percentage increase in ridership in mid-2007. By 2009, annual ridership had reached about 4.2 million passengers. This was also the time during which work was being done on I-95 to add the express lanes from the Golden Glades Interchange to the Airport Expressway near downtown Miami. In 2007, Veolia Transport commenced operating the Tri-Rail service under a contract that ran until June 2017.

2009 to present: Growth and Airport Station

In 2009, Tri-Rail service was nearly cut drastically, with the threat of being shut down altogether by 2011, even as ridership was at a record high, as Palm Beach County withheld its funding of the system and looked to cut its funding from $4.1 million to $1.6 million per year. This would mean that Broward and Miami-Dade counties would also have had to cut their support to $1.6 million each to match. The state, which was also running a budget shortfall and did not pass a rental car tax increase to help fund Tri-Rail, would have had to cut its support as well. This would have caused an immediate cut from 50 to 30 daily trains and a complete cutting weekend service, followed by additional cuts and possible shut down two years later. Schedules were decreased slightly, but service was never cut altogether, as dedicated federal funding was attained through the $2.5 million grant as part of the American.

Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.

After a 25 percent fare increase in mid-2009, annual ridership dropped by 15 percent(about 600,000) in 2010. However, in 2011, Tri-Rail again saw increasing ridership due to sustained high gas prices, averaging about 14,500 riders per weekday by the end of year. Throughout the year, ridership increased at a rate of about 11% per month, paired with a decline in automobile travel and an increase in employment, with 285 companies and 2,829 individuals joining in the discount program.

In 2011, the dilapidated Pompano Beach station received a $5.7 million federal grant, to be redone as a "green station," generating more than 100% of its energy demand through solar power, with the excess to be sent to the grid or stored for nighttime lighting. Construction started in spring 2012 with the station remaining open during construction. The crossing of Race Track Road and the Tri-Rail line near the Pompano Beach station, rough for several years, was also repaired in 2012.

In April 2015, Miami Airport station opened at the Miami Intermodal Center, once again connecting Tri-Rail directly with the Miami International Airport for the first time since the original Miami Airport station closed in 2011. This new station has connections to MIA Mover (providing a direct link to the airport), Metrorail, Metrobus and Greyhound. After extensive delays, Amtrak has yet to move its operations from its current station. This new station was under construction since 2009, with a September 2011 closure of the original Miami Airport station to allow for construction of the new station.

On January 27, 2017, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority board voted to award Herzog Transit Services a $511 million, 10-year contract to operate Tri-Rail beginning in July 2017. The board disqualified the other five bidders (Amtrak, Bombardier, First Transit, SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit and incumbent operator Transdev), stating that they had all submitted "conditional" prices despite the request for proposals mandating that the bid price be final. The other five losing bidders all protested the contract, with Transdev, Bombardier, and First Transit jointly requesting a court injunction to prevent it from being awarded.

Locomotives

The service began with five Morrison-Knudsen F40PHL-2 diesel locomotives. Tri-Rail later took delivery of three MotivePower F40PH-2C locomotives and two ex-Amtrak EMD F40PHs (now upgraded to 3C specifications and electronics). In 2006, six EMD GP49 locomotives were acquired from Norfolk Southern and were rebuilt by Mid America Car Company to the designation GP49H-3.

On October 29, 2008, the Tri-Rail switched to biodiesel fuel with a goal of a 99-percent blend, when available.

On February 25, 2011, Tri-Rail announced an order for ten Brookville BL36PH locomotives, with options for 13 more, from the Brookville Equipment Corporation at a cost of $109 million. The purchase was met with criticism by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and state lawmakers, who claimed the bidding process was flawed. Rival bidder MotivePower filed a lawsuit against Tri-Rail, claiming that the bidding process was skewed in Brookville's favour. Tri-Rail later added two more BL36PH locomotives to the order for a total of 12. As of 2015, all locomotives have been delivered and are used in regular service, allowing the F40PHL-2, F40PH-2C, and F40PH locomotives to be retired. However, in July 2018, all the F40PH-2C and F40PH locomotives were sent up to Progress Rail in Georgia to be rebuilt and returned to service for use on the Coastal Link. They were returned from August 2020 to January 2021, and have been put back in service.

Passenger cars

Tri-Rail uses two types of passenger cars. Since the beginning of operations, the system has used 26 Bombardier bi-level coaches purchased new from Urban Transportation Development Corporation (even though they were delivered in GO Transit colors, the Tri-Rail cars were purchased new and never used or sold secondhand by GO, only leased by GO for a short period of time), a common model among Canadian and US commuter railroads, 11 with operating cabs and 15 without. Briefly, bi-level rolling stock from Colorado Railcar (4 DMU power coaches and 2 unpowered coaches) was used beginning in 2006.

In 2010, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority agreed to purchase new rail cars from Hyundai Rotem for $95 million. The first new car was put into service in March 2011. By late 2011, the 12 new locomotives and 24 new passenger cars had not yet been delivered, and the original cars, many over 30 years old, were falling into disrepair. This led to Tri- Rail often running two cars per train instead of three despite increasing ridership, leaving only standing room on many trains during rush hour. By January 2013, all trains were again running with 3 cars, just as most of the Hyundai Rotem rail cars were delivered. In addition to decreased comfort but more reliability, the new cars provide additional safety with front and rear crumple zones designed to absorb energy in a crash.

In 2015, three Bombardier coaches were renovated to include additional bicycle capacity. Cars 1002, 1006, and 1007 had one side of seating removed from the lower levels, which were in turn replaced by bike racks. These trains with special bike cars have the capacity to carry an additional 14 bicycles per train.

Our Roundtrip 9/01/2023

After the three of us finished breakfast, I read Railpace magazine while I waited for Doug Scott to arrive and after that, called Robin to let him know we were ready. Doug then drove us over to the Atlantic Coast Line station in Deerfield Beach. We got passes to Deerfield Beach station and we waited for the train to arrive but had a surprise beforehand.





After several days of no trains due to Hurricane Idalia, the Silver Meteor arrived at Deerfield Beach this morning with a nice consist of equipment. It left for New York on time, then a few minutes later, we saw a headlight of Tri-Rail train P-625 approching.





Our train at the Deerfield Beach station with Robin and I boarding the rear coach. We took this train to the end of the line, making stops in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Wales Beach, West Palm Beach and Mangonia Park, where we detrained for twenty minutes.





The train at Mangonia Park.







Both sides of Tri-Rail BL36PH 823 built by Brookville Equipment in 2014.





Tri-Rail bi-level coach 1106 built by Rotem in 2011.





Tri-Rail bi-level coach 1102 built by Rotem in 2011.





Tri-Rail cab car coach 515 built by Rotem in 2011.





The Mangonia Park Eiffel Tower. We reboarded and Robin and I were on our way to Miami Airport, stopping at West Palm Beach, Lake Wales Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Cypress Creek, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale Airport, Sheridan Street, Hollywood, Golden Glades, Opa Locka, Metro-Rail Transfer, Hialeah Market and Miami Airport, where we detrained and tapped our passes.





Our train at the Miami Airport station. We returned to Deerfield Beach where we detrained, with Robin stopped at Wawa for a sandwich and I returned to the hotel where I picked up my tickets for all the convention events. Doug Scott, Robin and I planned to take pictures of Amtrak's Silver Meteor when it arrived later this afternoon, so I went down the elevator at 5:25 PM, met Doug and Robin and we drove to the Amtrak station.







Tri-Rail P-634 passed us on its way to Mangonia Park.







Tri-Rail P-637 arrived then departed.





Tri-Rail P-638 was next.





Amtrak's Silver Meteor came to a stop here in Deerfield Beach.





Amtrak Diner Viewliner II Diner "Hartford" 68013 built by CAF USA, Incorporated in 2017.





Amtrak Viewliner I Sleeper 60032 built by Amerail in 1996.





Amtrak Viewliner II Sleeper "Tombigbee River" 62521 built by CAF USA, Incorporated in 2017.





The "Pacific Home" was built in December 1949 as a 10-6 sleeper by the Budd Company in Philadelphia for the Union Pacific. It was built with no car number and named "Pacific Home", and although it was a stainless steel car, it was painted in solid Union Pacific Armour Yellow with red striping and lettering, a light grey roof and silver trucks. The car entered normal Union Pacific passenger car service and was used on the famous City of Los Angeles on at least one occasion (March 31, 1950). The car was originally heated with steam from a boiler in the locomotive, as was the normal practice in railroad passenger service at that time. In August 1969, the car was numbered 1418. From its delivery, "Pacific Home" was lettered "Pullman" in its letterboard until the discontinuance of Pullman sleeper service in 1970, when the lettering was removed entirely, leaving only the small "Union Pacific" lettering in the upper corner of the car's letterboard.

Amtrak took over all national interstate passenger service in May 1971. With much of its passenger equipment now surplus, Union Pacific sold "Pacific Home" to Amtrak in December 1971. The car became Amtrak 2616 but retained its name. "Pacific Home" had its yellow paint stripped off in favour of its natural stainless steel finish and a simple Amtrak red, white and blue windowband was applied. It ran on the first Amtrak train from New York to Montreal on September 30, 1972 and was a run-through car on the famous Southern Crescent on at least three occasions (October 30, 1975, March 9, 1977 and April 15, 1977). In December 1979, Amtrak completely rebuilt "Pacific Home", re-upholstering and re-carpeting much of the interior, carpeting the walls and removing the steam heat, replacing it with head-end power and electric heat. The car was repainted with the newer-style Amtrak windowband and renumbered 2885 at this time, and it kept this number until it was stored in September 1995 and finally retired by Amtrak in 2001.

The car was acquired by Mercer County, New Jersey and moved to a disconnected piece of track at the Dempster Fire Training Center of the Mercer County Fire Academy in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. It was used to support fire training exercises.

Private car owner and mechanic Chuck Jensen purchased the car in 2009. The car was trucked over the road to the shop of the Morristown & Erie Railway in Morristown, New Jersey, and Jensen began restoring the car with the help of other mechanics. The Amtrak-applied wall carpeting was removed from the interior and the electronics were fully upgraded. A new shower was installed and a bathroom replaced one of the roomettes. The car now sleeps 21 people in 6 bedrooms and 9 roomettes. A generator was added so the car could power itself without power from a locomotive. The Amtrak red, white and blue window band was removed, leaving the whole exterior in its shiny stainless steel finish with its "Pullman" lettering re-applied. The trucks and running gear were completely rebuilt to current Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak standards. After over three years of work, the Pacific Home was fully equipped to ride the rails again.







Pullman originally built this car at Calumet City, Illinois in June and July 1923. The car was originally named "Mountain View" and was built to Pullman plan 2521C. There were twenty cars built to this plan, known as the Mountain series (all of the car names start with the word "Mountain"). The cars were assigned as follows: five to the Monon Railroad, four to the Pennsylvania Railroad, three to the Santa Fe Railroad, six to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and two to general service. The cars were built as 10-section observation lounge cars with an open observation platform.

In 1937, "Mountain View" returned to Calumet for rebuilding into a solarium observation car, as were many Pullman open platform cars at that time. In Calumet shops, the car was given a complete overhaul, which included the addition of air conditioning. Major interior changes were the addition of a buffet kitchen area in the center of the car, a porter's room, and the reduction of the sections from ten to eight. All carpet and upholstery was updated and the car rolled out of the shop with a new plan designation of 4025H, an 8-section buffet lounge observation named "Kitchi Gammi Club". Only one other car in Pullman history had the same 4025H designation, the "Carlton Club" (formerly "Mountain City"), which was soon to become Nickel Plate Road business car 6. After "Kitchi Gammi Club" rolled out of Calumet shops in 1937, it was assigned to service with the Nickel Plate Railroad. The Nickel Plate assigned it to trains 9 and 10, operating between Cleveland and St. Louis. It ran on these trains throughout the 1940's and the early 1950's. Normally, it served as the only Pullman space available on these trains. In 1953, the Nickel Plate purchased the car from the Pullman Company and sent it to Nickel Plate's Calumet shop for conversion into business car 7 (the second Nickel Plate business car with this number). This conversion saw the removal of section 8 and the installation of a closet housing a hot water boiler so the car would have heat when operated on freight trains for inspection purposes. It remained in office car service until the merger with the Norfolk & Western Railway on October 16, 1964. After the merger, it was used on the old Nickel Plate system for a few official occasions, but not to the extent as when the Nickel Plate had it as a company business car.

In 1967, the car was sent to Chicago to replace the Chicago wreck derrick outfit's wooden dining car. "Kitchi Gammi Club" lost its name and simply became known as N&W 521417, a wreck diner-bunk car. In derrick service it was once again "remodelled", this time, section 2 was removed and a small foreman's office was installed in its place. Section 7 was also removed and three wash sinks were installed. The original men's bathroom and lounge was converted to a shower. Last but not least, the observation lounge was converted to an eating area with the addition of wooden booths and tabletops. It was a sad finish to a truly historical piece of equipment.

The car remained in Chicago until 1988 when it was retired as surplus and shipped to Roanoke for disposition. This is usually when cars are sold to scrap dealers. However, the scrap dealers would never get to use their torches on this car. In 1989, Virginia Rail Investment Corp. purchased "Kitchi Gammi Club" and moved it to Lynchburg for work to determine the soundness and probability of restoration. After complete removal of all the old and outdated equipment underneath and inside the car, it was sandblasted and primed. After careful inspection, the car was found to be in excellent condition, and restoration was started. The car moved from Lynchburg to Roanoke, then on to Evansville, Indiana where the majority of the work was accomplished.

In 2007, "Kitchi Gammi Club" was shopped once again for some upgrades in Morristown, New Jersey. The original 1923 trucks were replaced with smoother-riding trucks from a New Haven heavyweight streamlined coach, and a brand new, state-of-the-art stainless steel kitchen was installed.





The Silver Meteor then left Deerfield Beach on its way to Miami. The two private cars had been added at New York and were the South Florida Special, which several NRHS members rode aboard.





Tri-Rail P-640 arrived while the Silver Meteor was still at the station. We returned to the hotel and it started to rain heavily so Doug pulled under the eaves to let us out and we went to the Spotted Stag Restaurant where I had boneless chicken tenders and Robin had a sandwich before Elizabeth joined us during a break. I watched "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" while I finished this part of the story then Elizabeth returned at 10:00 PM and we called it a night.

9/02/2023 Today was the business meeting day, with the Advisory Council meeting followed by the Board meeting then lastly, the membership meeting. Since Elizabeth is the Secretary of the Advisory Council, she had to attend that meeting, but the registration room was well-taken care during that time. I arose late and after checking the Internet, went downstairs to the lobby and waited for Robin to come down then started the walk to the station but stopped at Krispy Kreme for breakfast to go. We walked to the station and after we both bought weekend passes for our Tri-Rail trip, we sat on a bench and it started to rain, which continued until our train arrived.





Tri-Rail train P-635 arrived, we boarded and ran to Opa Locka where we stopped for five minutes. We came to the Amtrak lead and passed six police cars from Miami-Dade County then started the detour on the Amtrak lead.





The Silver Star waiting to be deployed later today.





Amtrak Viewliner II Diner 68003 "Augustus" built by CAF USA, Incorporated in 2017.





Amtrak Viewliner II Diner 68007 "Columbia" built by CAF USA, Incorporated in 2017.





Amtrak Viewliner II Sleeoing Car 62518 "Susquehanna" built by CAF USA, Incorporated in 2017.









Tri-Rail cab car 517 built by Rotem in 2011.





Private cars "Pacific Home" and "Kitchi Gammi Club". We stopped to throw the switch to leave the Amtrak lead then took the connection to Tri-Rail which ended our detour trip. Once on the regular route again, we continued to the Miami Airport station, taking the elevator to the second level and I used my Easy Card to get us through the gate.

Miami Metro Rail History

Metrorail is the heavy rail rapid transit system of Miami and Miami-Dade County and is operated by Miami-Dade Transit. Opened in 1984, it is Florida's only rapid transit metro system, and is currently composed of two lines of 23 stations on 24.4 miles of track. Metrorail serves the urban core of Miami, connecting the urban centers of Miami International Airport, the Civic Center, Downtown Miami and Brickell with the northern developed neighbourhoods of Hialeah and Medley to the northwest and to suburban The Roads, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and South Miami, ending at urban Dadeland in Kendall. Metrorail connects to the Metromover in Downtown, which provides metro service to the entirety of Downtown and Brickell. Additionally, it connects to South Florida's commuter rail system at Tri-Rail station, as well as Metrobus routes at all stations. Together with Metromover, the system saw steady ridership growth per annum, with an average of 105,500 daily passengers in 2013.

In 2012, Metrorail opened its 23rd station, Miami International Airport station, at Miami International Airport, opening a newly created 16-station Orange Line between the MIA and Dadeland South stations. The new line is expected to increase ridership significantly, adding millions of riders per year and allowing residents and visitors alike direct access from the MIA to Downtown Miami, as well as greater connectivity between various modes of transit throughout Miami-Dade County. The station provides direct service to Tri-Rail commuter rail, Greyhound Lines intercity bus, and the Rental Car Center.

Rolling stock

Metrorail currently uses 136 heavy-rail cars built by the Hitachi Rail Italy, the first of which started running in December 2017. They were constructed in a custom rail-car building facility in Medley, Florida. The cars are semi-permanently attached in married pairs and joined up to form four-car trains, which is the normal train length. Included amenities are free Wi-Fi, interior bicycle racks, improved announcement systems, digital signs and high-efficiency air conditioning units.

Replacement

The Miami-Dade County Government was working with the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust to receive money from the half-penny sur-tax approved by voters in 2002 in order to purchase new Metrorail cars. MDT later planned to refurbish the existing Metrorail cars with the money instead of replacing them as promised. However, it was found that the fleet had never been maintained properly, and in 2008, a cost-benefit analysis found that, based on the current fleet's condition, a refurbishment would cost just as much as it would to buy new cars, if not more so. There were discussions with Washington, D.C.'s Metro system about combining car orders with their 6000-series cars to achieve lower costs through economies of scale, but the talks failed to work anything out.

The following year, Miami-Dade issued an RFP for new cars to replace their existing fleet, at a cost no greater than $2.419 million per car. Proposals from three railcar manufacturers were reviewed, with only two of which meeting the price requirements, these being from Italy-based AnsaldoBreda and Elmira Heights, New York-based CAF USA, an American branch of the Spain-based Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. CAF's bid was slightly higher than that of AnsaldoBreda, and thus Miami-Dade was prepared to award the contract to the former. However, the contract was stalled when CAF filed a lawsuit against the transit authority, claiming that their selection of AnsladoBreda was due to the fact that the builder was willing to open a local factory in Miami-Dade County to assemble the vehicles. This violation could render the deal ineligible for federal funding.

After re-evaluating the bids from the builders, without taking local geographic preference into account, Miami-Dade reaffirmed its selection of AnsaldoBreda, and in November 2012, approved a $313 million purchase of 136 new Metrorail cars from the company. Miami-Dade issued the notice to proceed the following month, with the cars expected to be delivered over the course of several years until 2017. By the time the custom rail-car building facility in Medley was completed in early 2016, AnsaldoBreda had been purchased by Hitachi Rail and the full rollout was pushed back to 2019, beginning gradually from 2017. The first trainset entered service in early December 2017. The delivery of the cars fell behind schedule once again due to flooding at the Hitachi Rail factory in West Plains, Missouri, and in February 2018 it was announced that the final replacement cars would not arrive before 2020. The shortage of replacement cars resulted in some Metrorail runs being operated as two-car trains.

We walked up the platform and boarded the train but detrained to take a few pictures.





Our train to take us to Earlington Heights, the junction with the mainline. Robin failed to get on the train before it started moving and made its way to Earlington Heights, then would reverse to the airport. I called Robin to tell him that I would take the train to the South Dadeland station and he should follow. Once the train moved, I called again to tell him that I was coming back to the airport to get him. He did not answer so I left a message and returned to the airport and he was there surprised to see me. We returned to the Earlington Heights station, both detrained and then waited twenty minutes for the next southbound train.





Our train at the South Dadeland station. Now we would travel west to the other end of the line at Palmetto.





The Miami Metro shops.





Our train at Palmetto.





Another train waiting to go into service.





The map of the Miami Metro system.





The Miami Canal from Lake Okeechobee. We went back to Metro Transfer and the connection there was horrible, so we misssed the connecting train. So with an hour to wait, we walked over to Track One and waited for our train. About ten minutes before, the public address system came alive telling us that our train would come in on Track One, which it indeed did and we boarded the last car and ran to Cypress Creek where the conductor had door problems, not being able to get the doors open and shut. It was so bad that he finally used the rear seat in our car and opened the window so he could watch the doors, as well as passengers boarding and detraining. We left and went two stations to Deerfield Beach.

Deerfield Beach Railroad Museum

Our goal has been to provide the public with a historical outlook to the reasons America's railroads played such an important part to the region's development. The development of the South Florida area is predicated upon the railroad, both in population growth and industrial needs of raw materials. We do our best to represent these points using artifacts and railroadiana displays. Our organization has been in existence since 1994. We are extremely fortunate to be associated with the Deerfield Historical Society. We offer both history through our displays and explanations of the past and we offer model railroading in the form of two operating layouts. We are active in other areas as well, including presenting swap meets of model railroad equipment and railroadiana, and assisting in the sale of collections and estates. Our collection of historic artifacts is constantly growing, and donations are always welcome.

























Scenes from the Deerfield Beach Railroad Museum. I returned to the hotel with Joe Maloney via Uber. I dealt with my e-mail before working on this story then went the dinner at the Spotted Stag then went to Mike Yuhas' presentation about the Florida Railroad systems. I finished the story, Elizabeth returned and we called it a night.

and had

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