The Sanford and Lake Eustis Railway was a historic railroad that ran from Sanford, Florida west to the town of

Tavares Tavares may refer to: Places Brazil *Tavares, Paraíba *Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul *Rodovia Raposo Tavares, the longest highway in São Paulo *Tavares Bastos (favela), a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *Tavares River Jamaica *Tavares Garden ...

Lake Eustis Lake Eustis is located in Central Florida, west of the city of Eustis. It covers approximately . It is spring fed and is a member of the Harris Chain of Lakes, and is connected to Lake Harris by means of the Dead River. It is also connected ...

, a distance of 28 miles. The line served as a branch of the

Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway was a railroad and steamboat network in Florida, USA at the end of the 19th century. Most of its lines became part of the Plant System in 1899 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The line r ...

, a

Plant System The Plant System named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western ...

railroad, that later became part of the

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 ...

History

The line from Tavares to Mt. Dora was chartered as the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway Co. in 1885. Construction began in Sanford in 1885 and its rails passed through Sylvan Lake,

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...

, and Mount Dora before reaching

in 1887. The line crossed the

Orange Belt Railway The Orange Belt Railway (later known as the Sanford & St. Petersburg Railroad) was a narrow gauge railroad established in 1885 by Russian exile Peter Demens in Florida. It was one of the longest narrow gauge railroads in the United States at th ...

in Sylvan Lake and was constructed to gauge. It was immediately leased to the

Company upon its completion in 1877. The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway merged it into their Jacksonville to Sanford system in 1890 and operated it as their Lake Eustis Branch. The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway went into bankruptcy in 1893 and was operated by a receiver until 1899. The receiver leased the system to the Plant Investment Company in 1899 and it was then operated as the Lake Eustis Division of the

. It was sold to the Plant System in 1900 and fully merged into Plant's Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad where it remained until his death. Plant's family had no interest in his railroad empire and sold it to the

in 1902. The Atlantic Coast Line designated it as their TA Branch. Along with the St. Johns and Lake Eustis Railway, it would also be designated as the Leesburg Branch. By 1915, the Atlantic Coast Line operated two daily passenger trains round-trip on the line. By 1922, service was increased with four daily mixed trains (both passengers and freight). Additional trains running down the Atlantic Coast Line's Trilby Branch (the former

) would also run the line between Sanford to Sylvan Lake. By 1949, only one mixed train was running the full line six days a week from Sanford to Leesburg.Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Southern Division Timetable (1949)
/ref> Passenger service on the line ended in 1950. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad operated the line until 1967 when they merged with the Seaboard Air Line to form the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate li ...

. The line was abandoned from Sylvan Lake, 6 miles west of Sanford, to Sorrento, 13 miles, in 1980. Then in 1983 the 6 miles from Sanford to Sylvan Lake was abandoned. Today, the line is still in service from Sorrento to Tavares and is now operated by the Florida Central Railroad. The Seminole-Wekiva Trail runs on some of the former right of way near Sylvan Lake.

Historic stations

References

{{Reflist Defunct Florida railroads Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Atlantic Coast Line Railroad