I am looking for information regarding inter railroad agreements in shipping freight and passengers between NYC and Miami. Specifically regarding the Florida East Coast Railway. FEC claims they were not involved in interstaate commerce, yet it is my understanding that their trains ran from Miami to NYC (at one time they went to Cuba, right?). I need any information that they "did business" in the State of New York.

-- Stephen Galatti (Ctryhmconn@AOL.com), March 08, 1999

Answers

I'm not certain what time frame you're talking about, but I assume you're referring to the strike period of the early 1960's, as that is the only time I've heard of this claim being made.

By this time, the trains that ran from New York to Florida were ACL trains that the FEC forwarded to Miami. These were very abruptly terminated at the onset of the strike in January 1963 for safety reasons. From then until 1965, the FEC operated no passenger service whatsoever. In 1965, the Florida Public Service Commission ordered the FEC to operate one train each way daily. The FEC did so, but neither sold nor honored interline tickets (those sold off-line).

The freight sales office serving the NYC area was in Freehold, NJ, at least in later years. (Whether or not it remained open at that ime I do not know.) The FEC continued to receive and handle such freight shipments as were interchanged to them as they were obligated to do under the Interstate Commerce Act.

It does not appear that the FEC did much, if any business, in the state of NY at that time.

Not certain I've covered what you want to know. Hope that helps.

Bob Hanson

-- Robert H. Hanson (RHanson669@aol.com), March 09, 1999.