The Seminole Gulf Railway is a
short line freight and passenger excursion railroad headquartered in
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
, that operates two former
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
railroad lines in
Southwest Florida
Southwest Florida is the region along the southwest Gulf coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is known for its beaches, subtropical landscape, and winter resort economy.
Definitions of the region vary, though its boundaries are generally ...
. The company's Fort Myers Division, which was previously the southernmost segment of CSX's Fort Myers Subdivision, runs from
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
south to
North Naples via
Punta Gorda,
Fort Myers
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
,
Estero, and
Bonita Springs. The company's other line, the Sarasota Division, runs from
Oneco
Oneco (sometimes called Owaneko) was a sachem of the Mohegans in the Connecticut Colony and the son of Uncas. During King Philip's War (1675–78) he distinguished himself as a battlefield commander and has been credited as one of the executioner ...
south through
Sarasota
Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...
. Seminole Gulf acquired the lines in November 1987 and operates its own equipment.
The company's first train departed Fort Myers on November 14, 1987.
The Seminole Gulf Railway has a commonly owned affiliated company, the
Bay Colony Railroad Corp. , which is based in southeastern
.
Current operations
Seminole Gulf Railway is one of two freight railroads operating in Southwest Florida (the other is
South Central Florida Express, who operates tracks farther inland near Clewiston). Freight transported by Seminole Gulf Railway includes
lumber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
,
propane
Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...
, stone, steel, scrap metal, and other commodities. Freight is interchanged with CSX usually once or twice a week on each line. On the Fort Myers Division, freight trains between the yard in Fort Myers and Arcadia are known as the Desoto Turn.
The Desoto Turn switches customers between North Fort Myers and Arcadia while industries in Fort Myers and south of there are switched locally from the yard.
Murder Mystery Dinner Train and Excursions
![SGLR Dinner Train](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/SGLR_Dinner_Train.jpg)
In addition to carrying freight, Seminole Gulf Railway also operates a popular Murder Mystery Dinner Train from Fort Myers. The dinner train runs five nights a week, year-round from a station at
Colonial Boulevard north to a point just south of Punta Gorda before returning. The dinner train is often headed by a vintage
EMD F-unit
EMD F-units are a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors-Diesel Division. Final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grang ...
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
, SGLR 502, which previously operated on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
and the
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
. The train uses a fleet of 1930s-era vintage rail cars named after nearby barrier islands (some of which were previously
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus rail cars). The dinner train includes a five-course dinner and has featured over 80 different murder mystery productions throughout its history.
Special holiday dinner trains also operate including ''Sweetheart Express'' on Valentine's Day, ''Halloween Ghost Train'', ''New Year's Eve Gala'', and ''Christmas Rail-Boat'' (which runs to the historic
Punta Gorda Atlantic Coast Line Depot for a Christmas boat tour through Punta Gorda Isles) to name a few.
Seminole Gulf has also operated general excursion trains in the past. Seminole Gulf first introduced passenger excursion trains and dinner trains in 1991 after losing a major freight customer. The first excursion train ran on January 5, 1991, which initially operated from a small platform in North Naples near Railhead Park. In 1993, excursion trains began operating from the current station near
Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers and ran between there and the platform at Old Depot Park in Bonita Springs, though dinner trains only operated from Fort Myers. By the late 1990s, excursion trains discontinued operation south of Fort Myers and instead ran north of Fort Myers until their discontinuation (which left the Murder Mystery Dinner Train as Seminole Gulf's only passenger service).
Fort Myers Division
![Seminole Gulf Caloosahatchee Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Seminole_Gulf_Caloosahatchee_Bridge.png)
Seminole Gulf's Fort Myers Division, which extends nearly 80 miles, begins in Arcadia and runs south to
Punta Gorda,
Fort Myers
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
,
Bonita Springs, and
North Naples.
The Fort Myers Division begins just north of Arcadia, where it continues south from CSX's
Brewster Subdivision (at milepost SVC 880.75). From this point, it runs south across the Peace River, passing Morgan Park, and turns southwest into the Arcadia yard. CSX has trackage rights into Arcadia yard to facilitate the interchange between the two companies.
[CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable](_blank)
/ref>
From the yard, the main line continues from a wye southeast a short distance before turning southwest near downtown Arcadia. From here, it roughly parallels the Peace River through Fort Ogden and Cleveland to Punta Gorda. In Punta Gorda, it turns south and then southeast closely paralleling Interstate 75
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
towards North Fort Myers before crossing the Caloosahatchee River
The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 It dr ...
between there and Tice. The crossing over the Caloosahatchee River includes a drawbridge and series of trestles that traverse Beautiful Island. From Tice on the south side of the river, the line turns southwest and runs parallel the river towards Downtown Fort Myers. Just east of downtown, the line turns south and enters Fort Myers yard limits. Seminole Gulf's main switching yard in Fort Myers is located south of Hanson Street under the Metro Parkway overpass, and a maintenance yard is just south of Colonial Boulevard next to Page Field
Page Field is a public airport three miles (4.8 km) south of Fort Myers, in Lee County, Florida, United States. It is owned by the Lee County Port Authority; the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ...
.
From the yards, the main line continues south along the Ten Mile Canal (the John Yarbrough Linear Park
The John Yarbrough Linear Park (originally the Ten Mile Canal Linear Park) is a 6-mile linear park trail located in Fort Myers, Florida. The trail parallels the Ten Mile Canal and the Seminole Gulf Railway, and is owned and operated by Lee County ...
parallels the line along the canal). The line has a short spur just north San Carlos Park known as the Baker Spur, which extends west a little over a mile along Alico Road.
From the Baker Spur, the main line then heads south through Estero and Downtown Bonita Springs before terminating near Wiggins Pass Road in North Naples, just a mile south of the Lee/Collier County
Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from E ...
line. Though, this segment of the main line is currently inactive and has not had any active shippers since around 2008.
History
What is now Seminole Gulf Railway's main line came into existence incrementally in the late 1800s and early 20th century.
The northernmost section of the Seminole Gulf track along with the Arcadia yard and the CSX line to the north was originally built by the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway. Built from 1907 to 1910, the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway (which would later be acquired by 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 ...
in 1926) historically extended from Arcadia south to Boca Grande. The line from the Arcadia yard southeast along Pine Street was the Charlotte Harbor and Northern's connecting track to the Florida Southern Railway
The Florida Southern Railway (later known as the Florida Southern Railroad) was a railroad that operated in Florida in the late 1800s. It was one of Florida's three notable narrow gauge railway when it was built along with the South Florida Rail ...
.
From this point, Seminole Gulf continues south along the former Florida Southern Railway
The Florida Southern Railway (later known as the Florida Southern Railroad) was a railroad that operated in Florida in the late 1800s. It was one of Florida's three notable narrow gauge railway when it was built along with the South Florida Rail ...
(a subsidiary of Henry Plant
Henry Bradley Plant (October 27, 1819 – June 23, 1899), was a businessman, entrepreneur, and investor involved with many transportation interests and projects, mostly railroads, in the southeastern United States. He was founder of the Plant Sys ...
's system of railroads) south to Punta Gorda. This segment was built in 1886 making it the oldest segment of the Seminole Gulf line and was the southernmost segment of the Florida Southern's Charlotte Harbor Division, which originated in Bartow. The original Florida Southern route north of Arcadia (which ran past the historic Arcadia passenger depot) was removed in 1984. Surveying work to determine the route for the Florida Southern Railway to Punta Gorda was done by Punta Gorda civil engineer Albert W. Gilchrist, who would later serve as Florida's 20th governor. The line's first train to Punta Gorda arrived on July 24, 1886. The line, originally built as narrow gauge, was widened to standard gauge in 1892, and the Florida Southern was fully integrated with the 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 R ...
in 1896.
In Punta Gorda, the line initially continued west through the city and terminated at a dock facility in the Peace River
The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...
near Charlotte Harbor. This dock, known as the Long Dock, was located near the Punta Gorda Isles Yacht Club (a mile west of where Fishermen's Village stands today). A passenger depot was also located near King Street (the historic depot on Taylor Street was built later in 1928). Punta Gorda became the southernmost point the 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 R ...
ever reached, and the railroad's arrival is largely responsible for Punta Gorda's development as a city, which was incorporated four years later. Today, the spur near Elizabeth Street in Punta Gorda is all that remains of the original alignment to the Punta Gorda docks (the Punta Gorda Linear Park today runs along the rest of that route west of US 41
U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...
).
Charlotte Harbor was Henry Plant's ultimate goal and he had no interest in having the line continue south to Fort Myers. This is despite the fact that Plant opened a hotel in Fort Myers in 1896. Fort Myers was seeking railroad service at the time and had already been established as a city unlike Punta Gorda. After Plant's death in 1899, his heirs would sell his entire system of railroads to 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 ...
(ACL) in 1902, and serving Fort Myers quickly became a top priority for ACL president Henry Walters
Henry Walters (September 26, 1848 – November 30, 1931) was noted as an art collector and philanthropist, a founder of the Walters Art Gallery (now the Walters Art Museum) in Baltimore, Maryland, which he donated to the city in his 1931 will f ...
. Construction commenced promptly on the extension to Fort Myers via Tice, which made it the ACL's first expansion of the former Plant System. The alignment through Tice was selected so the line would cross the wide Caloosahatchee River
The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 It dr ...
farther upstream at Beautiful Island, where a series of shorter trestles could be built. The northernmost trestle originally had a steel swing span built by the American Bridge Company
The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitts ...
to accommodate river traffic. Service up to the Caloosahatchee River commenced in 1903. The first train reached Fort Myers on May 10, 1904 after the completion of the trestles over the river.
In Fort Myers, the ACL built a depot downtown at Main and Monroe Streets and a wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
along the Caloosahatchee River
The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 It dr ...
at the end of Monroe Street. The original depot would be replaced with the depot that still stands today on Peck Street (now Widman Way) in 1924, and the wharf would only exist until 1944. The spur that runs from the line just south of State Road 82 is all that remains of the wye and tracks that once served the downtown Fort Myers depot and docks. Fort Myers also experienced major growth after the arrival of the railroad and would remain the southernmost point of the entire Atlantic Coast Line Railroad system until the Florida land boom of the 1920s
The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble. This pioneering era of Florida land speculation lasted from 1924 to 1926 and attracted investors from all over the nation. The land boom left behind entirely new, planned ...
.
Once the land boom was underway, the ACL partnered with a number of local businessmen including advertising entrepreneur Barron Collier
Barron Gift Collier (March 23, 1873 – March 13, 1939) was an American advertising entrepreneur who became the largest landowner and developer in the U.S. state of Florida, as well as the owner of a chain of hotels, bus lines, several banks, and ...
, who owned large amounts of land in the newly created Collier County. Through this partnership, they acquired the dormant charter of the unbuilt Fort Myers Southern Railroad and used it to extend the line from Fort Myers further south into Collier County. The line reached Bonita Springs by late 1925 where a depot was built just south of the Imperial River (the depot has since been demolished but the depot's platform and siding still remain near Riverside Park). The line was further extended to Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
by December 1926, and to Collier City on Marco Island
Marco may refer to:
People
* Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco
* Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor
* Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin
* Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish ...
in mid 1927. At the same time, 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 ...
(SAL) was building a competing line from Fort Ogden to Fort Myers and Naples via their Seaboard-All Florida Railway subsidiary. SAL's service to Naples commenced eleven days after the ACL, though SAL discontinued service to Naples by 1942. By 1944, the Atlantic Coast Line abandoned the line to Marco Island, and extended the remaining track from near Vanderbilt Beach
Vanderbilt Beach is an unincorporated community in Collier County, Florida, United States. It is located north of the Pelican Bay census-designated place and west of Naples Park, along the Gulf of Mexico. Vanderbilt Beach is north of the cente ...
down the ex-SAL right of way to the SAL's former passenger depot on Fifth Avenue South.
The Atlantic Coast Line relocated its freight yard from downtown Fort Myers to its current location south of Hanson Street in 1960.
The Atlantic Coast Line became 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 lin ...
(SCL) in 1967 after merging with the Seaboard Air Line, its former rival. The Baker Spur just north of San Carlos Park was then built in 1973. The Baker Spur would extend beyond the route of Interstate 75
Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
to serve rock mines in eastern Lee County on land owned by the Atlantic Land and Improvement Company (known today as Alico, Inc.), which at one point had been a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and was the holding company for its real estate division. Seminole Gulf abandoned the easternmost three miles of the Baker Spur in 1994.
Intercity passenger service to Southwest Florida was discontinued in 1971 upon the creation of Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
, who opted not to serve Southwest Florida. In 1975, Seaboard Coast Line sold the Fort Myers passenger depot to the city of Fort Myers. In 1977, the swing bridge over the Caloosahatchee River was replaced by the current bascule bridge
A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...
.
In 1979, tracks into downtown Naples were removed and the line was cut back to its current terminus in North Naples, a year before Seaboard Coast Line would become CSX (nine years before Seminole Gulf would begin operating it).
Image:SGLR Punta Gorda.jpg, Desoto Turn near Punta Gorda
Image:Seminole Gulf Freight Train.jpg, Seminole Gulf freight train crossing Alico Road near the Baker Spur junction south of Fort Myers
Image:SGLR Christmas Train Punta Gorda 2019.jpg, Seminole Gulf's Christmas Rail-Boat at Punta Gorda Depot in 2019
Image:Bonita Springs SGLR Tracks.jpg, Seminole Gulf track though Downtown Bonita Springs. The platform is all that remains of the Atlantic Coast Line's passenger depot
Image:Peace River FL 2016 3.JPG, Bridge over Peace River near Arcadia
Sarasota Division
In Sarasota, Seminole Gulf largely operates on a u-shaped line. The northwest end of the line is located just south of Bradenton
Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698.
History
Late 18th and early 19th centuries
A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...
in Oneco
Oneco (sometimes called Owaneko) was a sachem of the Mohegans in the Connecticut Colony and the son of Uncas. During King Philip's War (1675–78) he distinguished himself as a battlefield commander and has been credited as one of the executioner ...
, where it continues south from CSX's Palmetto Subdivision
The Palmetto Subdivision is a CSX Transportation rail line in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. It runs from East Tampa and roughly parallels U.S. Route 41 in Florida, U.S. Route 41 south through Ruskin, Florida, Ruskin to Palmetto, Florida, Palm ...
. The interchange point is located a little over a mile south of CSX's Tropicana Yard, where a side track facilitates the interchange between the two companies. From Oneco, the line heads due south along former 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 ...
tracks towards Sarasota, passing through Tallevast and close to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. The line's locomotives are stored on a spur into Suburban Propane on Whitfield Avenue in Tallevast. Just north of Downtown Sarasota, the line turns east onto former 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 ...
tracks and comes to a wye just east of US 301
U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...
. From the wye, the line turns back north along the former Atlantic Coast Line main line and terminates just south of Whitfield Avenue in Motoaka.
The line went as far south as Venice when Seminole Gulf first began operating it. Track to Venice previously ran from the wye at the southeast corner of the current line and went south-southeast through Fruitville, Bee Ridge, Palmer Ranch
Palmer Ranch is a census-designated place and planned community in Sarasota County, Florida between the cities of Sarasota and Osprey. Palmer Ranch encompasses approximately , bounded by Clark Road to the north, U.S. Route 41 to the west, Inter ...
and Nokomis
Nokomis is the name of Nanabozho's grandmother in the Ojibwe traditional stories and was the name of Hiawatha's grandmother in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, ''The Song of Hiawatha'', which is a re-telling of the Nanabozho stories. Nokomis is ...
. Track was abandoned south of Palmer Ranch in 2004 and the remaining line up to Fruitville Road was abandoned in 2019. The Legacy Trail runs on the former right of way from Fruitville Road to Venice.
History
The first trackage of the Sarasota Division to be built (the west track) was built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) through their Florida West Shore Railway
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad's Sarasota Subdivision (W Line) was a rail line that ran from the company's main line at Turkey Creek, Florida, Turkey Creek south to Palmetto, Florida, Palmetto, Bradenton, Florida, Bradenton, Sarasota, Florida, Sar ...
subsidiary in 1903. It was part of a line that extended from Durant (just east of Tampa), to Sarasota via Parrish, Palmetto and Bradenton. Some of the line was built on the former road bed of the Arcadia, Gulf Coast and Lakeland Railroad, an earlier unsuccessful railroad between Bradenton and Sarasota. In Sarasota, the tracks originally continued south into downtown along Lemon Avenue and served a dock facility in Sarasota Bay. In 1905, Seaboard extended the line east into Fruitville, which initially ran southeast along Pineapple Avenue and then east along what is now Alderman Street and Brother Geenen Way. In 1911, at the request of local socialite Bertha Honoré Palmer
Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.
Early life
Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wit ...
, the line was extended south to Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
.
The Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) came to the area later in 1924 as part of the Florida land boom when they built the Tampa Southern Railroad
The Tampa Southern Railroad was a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) originally running from Uceta Yard in Tampa, Florida, Tampa south to Palmetto, Florida, Palmetto, Bradenton, Florida, Bradenton, and Sarasota, Florida, Sarasot ...
(the east track). The ACL's passenger depot existed at Main Street and School Avenue and a spur was built to Payne Terminal at Hog Creek (this spur and its wye today form the connection track between the east and west track). From Sarasota, the ACL track turned east and ran directly beside the SAL track through Fruitville. From 1924 to 1949, the ACL track continued from Fruitville southeast as far as Fort Ogden (along the Peace River
The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...
), where it merged with the Coast Line's route to Fort Myers (which is, coincidentally, Seminole Gulf's Fort Myers Division). Spurs connected both lines to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus's Sarasota headquarters near Fruitville (which existed from 1927 to 1959, when the headquarters were relocated to the end of the line in Venice).
In 1967, the Seaboard Air Line and the Atlantic Coast Line merged 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 lin ...
(who later merged with the Chessie System
Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated und ...
in the 1980s to form CSX). The mergers brought the all of the track under a single owner and led to consolidation of the two routes and abandonment of redundant trackage. This included the SAL's original route through downtown Sarasota (which was removed in 1968), the ACL's tracks between Bradenton and Matoaka, and the consolidation of the east–west parallel track through Fruitville to a single track (using the former SAL track).
After taking over the line in 1987, Seminole Gulf continued to carry the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to their Venice headquarters up until 1990, when the circus relocated their headquarters to Tampa. The circus relocated to Tampa mainly due to the fact that the Venice segment of the rail line could no longer support their rail equipment due to the rough condition of the track. As previously mentioned, the line was abandoned from Venice to Palmer Ranch in 2004 due to decreased demand and the heavily deteriorated condition of the tracks and bridges. The rest of the line up to Sarasota was abandoned in 2019.
Image:Atlantic Coast Line hist marker back.jpg, Historical marker commemorating the location of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's former Sarasota depot
Image:Venice Depot Aerial from south.JPG, Venice Seaboard Air Line Railroad depot at the former southern terminus
Image:Legacy Trail @ 681.jpg, Legacy Trail on former right of way at milepost 898 near Laurel. The trail's mile markers match the railroad's mileposts.
Locomotive roster
Locomotive roster
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seminole Gulf Railway
Transportation in Charlotte County, Florida
Transportation in Collier County, Florida
Transportation in DeSoto County, Florida
Florida railroads
Transportation in Lee County, Florida
Transportation in Manatee County, Florida
Transportation in Sarasota County, Florida
Spin-offs of CSX Transportation
1987 establishments in Florida