It's not how you start the game, it's how you finish. The low-key Sarasota Division, 50 miles west of the higher-profile Fort Myers Division, occupies a patchwork of ex-SAL & ACL grade south of Bradenton and typically only sees activity once or twice a week.
Then came Hurricane Ian.
For the time being, the Sarasota ops are running with two crews during the day, five days a week, saving the railroad's freight revenue by acting as a transload hub to points east and south. All of the freight destined to Fort Myers, that is, is being offloaded here and sent to customers while the Fort Myers Division is rebuilt. This could have ended very badly, but it is the epitome of winning in the most adverse of scenarios.
Also winning, if only for the moment, is ex-FEC GP9 #580, which (along with sister #579 also on the branch) has been up for sale and said to be replaced by the GE that wandered over in recent years. Here, #580 is bringing three sheetrock loads down from Oneco (the CSXT interchange), where they will be spotted for offloading, then the crew will continue south downtown to work other transload cars where the SAL & ACL converge.
