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U.S. Sugar 4-6-2 to Enter Freight Service on Monday

In what is now becoming an annual tradition, U.S. Sugar will haul the final cane train of the season behind steam. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Sugar. 

U.S. Sugar 4-6-2 to Enter Freight Service on Monday

By Railfan & Railroad Staff

CLEWISTON, Fla. — U.S. Sugar 4-6-2 148 will be put into freight service on Monday to haul the final sugarcane train of the 2020-2021 season. 

The train will depart the Sugarton Elevator at approximately 10 a.m., pull south through Clewiston over U.S. Route 27, and will later be placed on display for the general public at 235 West Aztec Avenue in Clewiston. Members of the community are invited to safely watch the Sugar Express from any public roadway and to stay at least 25 feet away from the railroad track at all times. Times and routing are subject to change. Follow the Sugar Express Facebook page for up-to-date information.

Last May, the former Florida East Coast 4-6-2 made its premiere on the point of the last cane train of the season and they kicked off the 90th season behind steam back in October

The oil-fired locomotive was built at Alco’s Richmond Works in April 1920 and worked in passenger service for Florida East Coast before being sold to U.S. Sugar in 1952. At U.S. Sugar, the locomotive moved sugar cane from the fields to a mill at Clewiston, Fla. After it was retired by US Sugar, 148 briefly returned to passenger service in the 1970s at New Jersey’s Black River & Western and Morristown & Erie. The locomotive saw a number of owners after that and spent time in Colorado, Michigan and Connecticut. In each instance, hopes to restore the locomotive to operation always faltered. In late 2016, U.S. Sugar repurchased the locomotive and brought it back to Clewiston for restoration. U.S. Sugar expects to use it for public events and excursions in the future.

U.S. Sugar’s South Central Florida Express operates on more than 200 miles of track in central Florida, much of which is still used to haul cut sugar cane from field to factory, the last such operation in the country.

This article was posted on: May 28, 2021