Florida Gulf & Atlantic (FGAR) SD70M-2s return to Tallahassee 6/27/2025 2:58 PM

FGAR! M-2s! Cool stuff! This trip was meant for attending the Tallahassee Model Railroad Show, but I decided to get there early to wait for and catch FGAR. Florida Gulf & Atlantic is a Class-2 railroad which stretches from Pensacola to Baldwin across old Seaboard Air Line trackage (and some ACL segments). The trackage was previously owned by CSX, but the up-and-coming FGAR bought the line and re-used it. FGAR has 3 major trains: One manifest leaves Tallahassee going Westbound out to Pensacola, and then returning. This train leaves the west end of the Tally yard between 4 PM and 9 PM daily (excluding weekends), and returns late at night. One manifest leaves Tallahassee going Eastbound out to Lake City, and then returning. This train leaves the east end of the Tally yard between 7 AM and 9 AM (excluding weekends), and returns between 12 PM and 4 PM. One manifest leaves Lake City going Eastbound out to the CSX yard in Baldwin, and then returning. This train leaves Lake City between 7 PM and 8 PM (excluding Fridays and Saturdays), and returns extra late at night. FGAR has several ex-UP SD70Ms, and a few ex-Florida East Coast SD70M-2s. The main FGAR paint scheme is derived from the patriotic end paint scheme which FEC had these locomotives in. FGAR also has numerous SD40-series locomotives for local jobs. The SD70M-2 is the DC-traction equivalent to the SD70ACe, similar to how the ES44DC is the equivalent to the ES44AC. It did not sell nearly as well as the ACe, with 3 buyers: Canadian National, Norfolk Southern, and Florida East Coast. CN still uses theirs. NS retired all of theirs, sold most of them, and even rebuilt a couple into ACEs (the 1200-series). FEC retired and sold all of theirs after acquiring an even larger fleet of GE ES44C4s (ES44ACs). Locomotives: -EMD SD70M-2 Florida Gulf & Atlantic (ex-FEC) 106 -EMD SD70M-2 Florida Gulf & Atlantic (ex-FEC) 105