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QWest Fiber optic train

On a hot day of July 1998, I took a trip to Milton, Florida to pick up some supplies at the hobby shop in the L&N depot. I got more than I bargained for, but not model railraoding. I found the hobby shop closed, but I also found the cable train parked on the small siding. Following is a table of equipment used on the Q-west trains (that I know of). If you have any additions or corrections, please let me know.

DeFuniak Springs, Fl; September 1998.
GP 7
SPCX 500-507
GP10
SPCX 700-707
Cable laying machine
NLLX 2100;    MESX 1998
Tool cars
SPCX 5027, 5033, 5037 and 5038
Caboose
SPCX 50 and 51

The train generally is headed by 2-3 SPCX engines either GP7s or GP10s. It is followed by one cable laying car either NLLX 2100 or MESX 1998. The colorful reels are loaded on gondolas or flat cars with specially made holders. A tool car and a caboose in the SPCX colors close the march.









QWEST on the P&A subdivision: on that day of July, the power was CSX 9665, a GP38 in pumpkin color, SPCX 701 and 703. NLLX 2100 was the cable laying machine. Several gondolas and flat cars were loaded with reels of colorful combinations of tubing. Luck of the railfan stopped there that day. The train could not be photographed properly because of all the Florida weeds surrounding the track. Furthermore, I found out later that my camera had a shutter problem. On my way back to Tallahassee, I got one more unusual sighting. Travelling westbound on the CSX mainline were 2 GP38s from the Bayline encharged of one ballast hopper!!!! What a difference with the usual run up the hill out of Panama City to the highest railroad point in Florida with 50-100 cars loaded with paper, pipes and molten sulfur. Can you see a smile on the face of 507? Only later, I found out that the 2 SPCX GP10s were out of commission with engine trouble. So, the cable laying company looked to lease some local power. This came at an opportune time for the Bayline as one of their main customer, the paper mill in Panama City was closed for a couple of months for maintenance. For the rest of the summer, the train operated out of De Funiak Springs, home of a C&O caboose and a Pensacola & Atlantic depot. 507 and 500 were still encharged of a few reel gondola cars, a box car #5033 for tools, a caboose #51 in the SPCX colors and NLLX 2100. When the train moved to Marianna late in September, 507 and 500 were replaced by 502 and 503. In the meantime, SPCX 705 and 707 were delivered in Cottondale. That was the last I saw of NLLX 2100 for quite a while.

QWEST on the Tallahassee subdivision: the train finally made it to the Tallahassee subdivision and was sighted for the first time in Tallahassee in October 1998. But it was not with the equipment from Milton. SPCX 502 was leading the train with SPCX 503 trailing, 2 GP7s including one equipped with torpedoes, were at the point of the train turning on the Y at the old GF&A junction. SPCX 502 and SPCX 503 were pulling the train. NLLX 2100 was substituted by MESX 1998 a substantially lighter cable laying machine. Reel gondola cars and flat cars, the usual tool car and the caboose #50 were all present. It was spotted again, ready to go to work out of the Aucilla siding in December 1998 with tool car #5037 and caboose #50. January 1999 marked the return of NLLX2100 in the consist. The train was now headed by 2 GP10s 706 and 704, and 1 GP7, 502. The tool car was still # 5037, and the caboose was # 51. During that period, the train covered the territory between Tallahassee and Midway where it sometimes parked on the small siding. This is the last time I spotted the entire train. Later in February of 1999, SPCX 706 and 704 were parked at Mossy Head Junction. In July 1999, 707, 705 and tool car 5027 were spotted in Chattahoochee. I overheard on the radio that the train was working around Grand Ridge, but I never checked it out. In January 2000, 2 GP7 were spotted on Q602 heading toward Jacksonville. In February 2000, the entire roster of GP7s was found at the Quanta shop in North Jacksonville, FL.