The Ocklawaha Valley Railroad, originally the Ocala Northern Railroad, was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

running from Silver Springs Junction, Florida (east of Ocala, Florida) to

Palatka, Florida Palatka () is a city in northeastern Florida and it is the county seat of Putnam County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,558 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Putnam County. Palatka is the principal city of the Palatka Mi ...

, running roughly parallel to the Oklawaha River. Except for the southernmost part, from Silver Springs Junction to Silver Springs, which was leased from the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

(with

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...

on the SAL main line to Ocala), the railroad never had any corporate relationship with larger railroad companies.

History

The Ocala Northern Railroad, a new railroad company, leased the

spur to Silver Springs on December 14, 1909, and obtained

over four miles (6 km) of the

to downtown

Ocala Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

. The ONRR was owned by E. P. Rentz, who owned a

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...

at Silver Springs. He soon built his railroad north to Fort McCoy and built a series of logging railroads into the forest. He continued to build the ONRR, and it reached

by 1912, with of track stretching from Silver Springs to Palatka. According to E.P. Rentz quoted in the Palatka Daily News there were dreams of a great diagonal railroad running from Jacksonville to Tampa via Ocala. Rentz may have had in mind an associations with the Ocala Southwestern Railroad, which ran about 6 miles southwest of Ocala in the direction of Tampa; no but nothing more ever came of it. Plans to extend the railroad across the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and then north on the east shore to

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

fell through; the company went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in May 1913. H. S. Cummings of Cummings Lumber built a large cypress sawmill in Rodman, Florida, a company town. Rodman, Florida, became a boom town and eventually reached a population of over 4,000 persons. The town even sported a central city park with an oriental garden and the mill provided high quality tool handles for industries across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The logging operation initially depended on the nearby

at Horse Landing, to ship raw logs out of the Ocklawaha River Valley. The completion of the railroad to Rodman Junction spelled the end of hauling logs to market by wagon, soon Cummings Lumber was operating a large rail system reaching into the forest in every direction. On April 16, 1915, the railroad was bought by H.S. Cummings of Rodman Lumber in Rodman, Florida, and reorganized as the Ocklawaha Valley Railroad. The lease of the SAL's Silver Springs Branch was transferred on August 19, 1915. A short branchline was built from Rodman Junction to Rodman. and many logging lines were built to connect to the OVRR. Passenger service was also provided. H.S. Cummings no doubt knew of 'Billy' the railroad goat. Billy belonged to the daughter of the railroads chief engineer and the day after the family's arrival in Fort Mc Coy the goat escaped and reboarded the next train out. The railroad crew knew who the little critter belonged to and promptly returned him on another train, further investigation proved Billy performed the entire feat without human assistance, in fact, it became a habit. The legend quickly spread and H.S. Cummings snapped it up as a marketing tool. New settlers along the railroad were given their own baby 'Billy The Ocklawaha Valley Railroad Goat.' The truth may be stranger than fiction but Florida's first documented railroad enthusiast had 4 legs. The mill closed in 1922, and Cummings had grown ill. The railroad was sold at a bankruptcy auction. Each major railroad wanted the line, but they were all afraid of a

bidding war A bid price is the highest price that a buyer (i.e., bidder) is willing to pay for some goods. It is usually referred to simply as the "bid". In bid and ask, the bid price stands in contrast to the ask price or "offer", and the difference between ...

, so they agreed to allow an independent company to win the auction unopposed. Unfortunately for them, that independent company, Assets Realization of New York, had bought it for scrap value. Residents and companies along the line and connecting railroads protested, and brought the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ordered that it would not be abandoned. However, Assets Realization disobeyed the court and tore it up anyway in December 1922, leaving the Florida Railroad Commission "no recourse but to declare the Ocklawaha Valley Railroad abandoned". railroad comments

Today

Several station foundations remain, and large parts of

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

are visible on aerial photos and on the ground. Parts of the right-of-way were used for CR 315 from Orange Springs to Kenwood and SR 19 into Palatka.

Connections

Connections were provided to every major railroad and one area shortline: *

at Silver Springs Junction and Ocala (via leased trackage) *

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

at Palatka and Ocala (via leased trackage) * Florida East Coast Railway at Palatka * Southern Railway at Palatka * Ocala and Southwestern Railroad at Ocala (via leased trackage)

Stations

References

Sources

All below sources are dead links. * * * *

External links

Ocklawaha Valley Railroad History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocklawaha Valley Railroad Defunct Florida railroads 1914 establishments in Florida 1922 disestablishments in Florida History of Marion County, Florida Putnam County, Florida