As ‘The journey begins…..’ we pull out of Amtrak’s Miami station. Our train is longer than usual because it includes carriages for the suspended Silver Meteor service.

Please click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:

As we travel through the north Miami suburbs we pass a train full of scrap metal and then a breaker’s yard. The first breaker’s yard of the series! I’m sure there will be many more.

Our first stop is in Hollywood, the Florida one. The town is between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The paved broad-walk by the beach is nearly 2 1/2 miles long.

Apparently there are seven miles of beach, seven golf courses and many parks in the town. Find out more by clicking here. Or watch their beach cam.

The city is known as the Venice of America because it has a large canal system. It is a popular tourist destination with many restaurants,  nightclubs and, of course, beaches.

Check out the weather and waves on this beach cam. Because advertising funds the webcam it turns off after 10 seconds if you use an ‘ad blocker’.

This town is named after the deer that grazed along the Hillsboro river.

The historic station not only has trains but also hosts SFRM – The South Florida Railway Museum. Their website is here. Sadly the train doesn’t stop for long enough for a visit to the museum.

The museum takes part in the Operation Lifesaver rail safety programme which makes the public aware of the dangers associated with level crossings.

Another short journey to the next station in the next small town with a beach. You can find out more here. The land boom in the 1920s brought prosperity and now tourism is a major industry.

This is the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida with the station dating from 1925. In 2019 53,700 Amtrak passengers used it.

The city is home to over 117,000 residents.

According to the town’s website ‘if you’re looking for a friendly, rural, small town community with a forward-thinking attitude, you’ll feel right at home here in Okeechobee!’

The station is next to a level crossing and the long train causes a traffic queue because it has to make multiple stops as the platform is shorter than the train.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this podcast. Please join me in a couple of weeks for the next part of my journey on the Silver Star to New York.

To visit the Amtrak website please follow this link.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

AKM Music licenses the theme, Steam Railway and The 50s 56 Caddy for use in this podcast.

© The MrT Podcast Studio 2019 – 2023

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