Chasing Brightline Trains from the Air: Cocoa to Jupiter, FL - June 2024

This Brightline video looks at trains in action with shots between Cocoa and Jupiter, FL. This includes Rockledge, Melbourne, Grant/Valkaria, Sebastian, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, Stuart, and Hobe Sound. The day the majority of this video was filmed, Brightline debuted a new train wrap for The Palm Beaches which I caught multiple times throughout the day.
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This was filmed on June 8 & 9, 2024.
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Timestamps:
00:52 Cocoa-Rockledge Yard
1:51 Eyster Curve - Rockledge
2:48 CP Viera
3:37 Crane Creek - Melbourne
4:18 Goat Creek - Grant/Valkaria
5:08 Shell Pit Road - Grant/Valkaria
5:50 Sebastian River Bridge
6:37 Old Dixie Highway - Sebastian
7:43 Vero Beach
8:39 Fort Pierce Yard
9:52 Savannah Road - Fort Pierce
11:02 FEC Local Train 903 at Stuart Drawbridge
13:00 Brightline Trains at Stuart Drawbridge
16:22 Hobe Sound
18:21 Loxahatchee River Bridge - Jupiter

[@nicholasglisonn836]

Glad to see newer wraps don’t cover the windows. I hope this will this will become policy.

[@stevee4636]

Me too....

[@maestromecanico597]

Another excellent job, Austin. Thank you for braving the heat (for those of us retied folk who refuse to leave our Laz-e-boys).

[@MicrobyteAlan]

Nice seeing the trains running so smoothly at proper speed. Great railfan video. Thanks.

[@johnreed8336]

Thank you for the latest upload .

[@stevee4636]

Glad to see the later Wraps have he windws, not Wapped, as had to 😊see through the full wraps, headaches to, trying to see thru the Dots., when will, the added Rail Cars be delivered to Brightline.

[@Ergzay]

Will they fix the track alignment with the new bridge? That curve is really sharp and you can hear the wheels screeching.

[@RoamingRailfan]

The curve will get broadened slightly but not much of a change. With the surrounding developments and roads, there isn't a lot of room to change it.

[@SunRailMV]

List of my favorite ad wrap coaches from Brightline: 1. Vist Orlando 2. The Island of Bahamas 3. Princess Cruise 4. Cunard 5. Discover the Palm Beaches 2024

[@BradRains]

Always enjoy watching your videos. In the video, you talk about not being able to use your drone near the airport. How far away do you have to be to use a drone?

[@RoamingRailfan]

It depends highly on the airport. In Vero, I was essentially right on the line of where I could/couldn't so it wasn't worth the risk.

[@happyhome41]

Good looking - and presumably - running trains. Excellent capture, and thank you for keeping the real sound. Curious, classically, freight is very hard on rails, and don’t share track with passenger, particularly fast passenger - what speeds were you recording ? How is it going to work with Brightline sharing rail time with FEC to keep the rails and bed to spec for the high speed rail ? And for scheduling purposes, are the freights routed to the other side, in order for the fast passenger to pass ? I remember many trips on Amtrak back in the day, when the train crept along and the conductor announced “we’re behind a ________ freight” and looking at the schedule as we arrived ever later at each subsequent station.

[@RoamingRailfan]

Some of those trains were going 110mph. There are maintenance crews out most nights maintaining the tracks so freight and passenger can use both tracks and there are contractual obligations for FEC to keep it maintained that way. The upgrades were designed with crossovers every 8-10 miles so it's easy for Brightline to zig and zag around freight as necessary.

[@petera6984]

Great Work as always... Can you do a video on the progress towards Brightline Orlando to Tampa?

[@RoamingRailfan]

There is nothing to document in regards to Tampa so no videos anytime soon

[@geezer652]

Not a RXR related question, couldn't help but notice the bright red foliage occasionally. What kind of tree is that? Long time and loyal subscriber from Wyoming, Thank You.

[@ELAlcoRS3]

Not sure, might be a Cypress that's dying. They turn red around December before going dormant grey for winter. The smaller one's have more color than the full grown.

[@accidentalmeme5327]

With all the upgrades and double tracking between WPB and Cocoa, has the FEC been able to increase the speed of its trains or run more routes?

[@RoamingRailfan]

No real increases in speed other than not having to slow down for some curves anymore with them now being broadened. Number of trains is dictated by how much business they have.

[@benjaminjoslin989]

Is it typical now for trains to run on the left main north of Stuart?

[@RoamingRailfan]

Its whatever the dispatcher wants to do

[@patrickhuot001]

Pretty rare seeing four-axle power (especially a single unit) pulling an intermodal train these days.

[@MrMarshmallow26]

It was a shorter train so I wonder if it was just branching off somewhere, like a local

[@RoamingRailfan]

It was a local taking the loads from the Port of Palm Beach to Fort Pierce yard to be picked up by a road train headed north overnight

[@patrickhuot001]

@@RoamingRailfan Oh okay. Doesn’t FEC have similar intermodal locals like that between PortMiami and Hialeah Yard?

[@peterrobinson6872]

Have you seen any unusual Brightline workings, such as additional (or fewer) cars, or locos, or two whole trains coupled, or ..... ?

[@RoamingRailfan]

Since the trains are semi-permanently coupled, they don’t do one-off unusual consists in revenue service. Yes, there have been differences in trains back during testing for various reasons but nothing since service to Orlando began.

[@peterrobinson6872]

@@RoamingRailfan Ok, thank you