Raising Cane in South Central Florida. On an uncharacteristically chilly morning in late January, US Sugar's pretty Pacific Locomotive #148 charges southbound with a demonstration cane train over the little steel trestle at Rogers Road, about 7 miles southease of Clewiston, Florida. The occasion is a January, 2022 photo shoot for Trains Magazine, celebrating the return of steam power to South Central Florida's cane fields. In a previous life, this locomotive served US Sugar for about a dozen years, working these same cane fields, hauling in the harvest. Re-acquired by the company after nearly half a century, the locomotive has been restored to pristine condition for a new role as a tourist hauler, in which her primary consist will be heavyweight passenger cars. But occasionally, the company has and will continue to use her in a public relations role, hauling special holiday trains, and even some actual cane traffic, in cars just like the ones seen here.
