Pineola [1] is an unincorporated community in Southeastern Citrus County, Florida. It is located in the southeastern part of the county, to the south of Floral City. It is along County Road 39 (South Istachatta Road) between the Hernando County-Citrus County Line north of Istachatta and County Road 48(East Bushnell Road). The ZIP Code for this community is 33536.
The Pineola Grotto (limestone caverns formed by sinkholes) as well as limestone bluffs were associated with the area. They provided specialized fern and other plant habitats [2] and were once studied and documented by prominent botanists. Much has been lost to mining and other encroachments. [3] A. H. Curtiss visited the grotto in 1881 and was followed by others. Several (12?) previously undiscovered species were identified at the chasm. [4] [5]
The community itself may have developed around the limestone industry in the early 1900s in conjunction with Pineola Lime Company [6] and the mining of limestone quarries.
The area contains a few rural homes at present.
Pineola was the site of what has been referred to as "The Great Train Wreck of 1956." On October 18, 1956, a head-on collision between two Atlantic Coast Line Railroad freight trains occurred killing four crewmen. A signpost at the site of the crash on the Withlacoochee State Trail memorializes the event. [7]
The signpost at the site of the crash contains the following text describing the events.
The Great Train Wreck of 1956
You are standing on the site of one of the worst train disasters in Florida history. The tragedy occurred October 18, 1956 , on a dark and foggy morning in Pineola. At 5:12 a.m. , people from five miles around were awakened when two freight trains collided head-on.
Catastrophe Unfolds
The trains, loaded with perishables and dry goods, were traveling on the same track full speed at 49 mph. Realizing they were on a collision course, Dunnellon Dispatcher Braddock phoned Croom Station agent Cooper, telling him to get in his car and "go see what you can find." Cooper and fellow agent Thomas raced 90 mph on an ungraded road to alert the engineers---but did not reach them in time. At the sight of an oncoming headlight, the northbound train engineer slammed on emergency brakes as he yelled to his assistants to brace themselves for the crash.
An Ironic End
Four engines and 16 cars derailed. Four crewmen died, with fire engulfing the scene. Firefighters and hearses came from as far away as Tampa to offer assistance. Ironically, this tragedy might have been averted if recently installed radios had been put to use. However engineers had agreed to not use them until they received additional pay as radio operators. One of the casualties, Engineer B.J. Martin of No. 237, had been a leader in the holdout.
In Their Honor
We honor those who lost their lives in this tragic event: Brakeman W.E. Snyder, No 118 Section 2 Engineer B.I. Martin, No 237 Fireman E.W. Vaughan, No. 237 Brakeman J.L. Phillips, No. 237 Engineer Otis Bridges and Fireman Welliam Hardee, Jr. were injured.
The South Florida Railroad was a railroad from Sanford, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, becoming part of the Plant System in 1893 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. It served as the southernmost segment of the Atlantic Coast Line's main line. The line remains in service today and is now part of the Central Florida Rail Corridor in the Orlando metro area. The rest of the line remains under the ownership of CSX Transportation as part of their A Line.
The Great East Thompson Train Wreck was a large rail disaster which occurred in East Thompson, Connecticut, on December 4, 1891. It was one of the most extensive train wrecks in American history, and the first of two to involve four trains. It happened on the New York and New England Railroad, which provided a shortcut from New York City to Boston by making a diagonal across Connecticut. The railroad is now abandoned, and most of its tracks removed.
The Hammond Circus Train Wreck occurred on June 22, 1918, and was one of the worst train wrecks in U.S. history. Eighty-six people were reported to have died and another 127 were injured when a locomotive engineer fell asleep and ran his troop train into the rear of a circus train near Hammond, Indiana. The circus train held 400 performers and roustabouts of the Hagenbeck–Wallace Circus.
Withlacoochee State Trail is a 46-mile (74 km) long paved, multi-use, non-motorized rail trail in Florida located in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties. It follows along the Withlacoochee River and passes through the Withlacoochee State Forest. It is the longest paved rail trail in Florida.
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The Rockport train wreck occurred in Rockport in Mansfield Township, New Jersey, United States, about three miles outside of Hackettstown, on June 16, 1925. A violent storm washed debris onto a grade crossing, derailing a Lackawanna Railroad (DL&W) train. The crash killed 42 passengers and five crewmen and injured twenty-three others.
The Bagley train wreck occurred in Utah, United States, on the morning of Sunday December 31, 1944. The crash killed 50, including over 35 military personnel, and injured 81.
The Guyandotte River train wreck occurred on the morning of January 1, 1913, when the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's (C&O) train No. 99, scheduled to run from Hinton, West Virginia, to Russell, Kentucky, and headed by Mikado locomotive 820, fell through a bridge over the Guyandotte River near Huntington, West Virginia while attempting to cross it. The accident killed seven people.
On April 14, 1907, northbound freight train No.23 of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, operating on the Rome and Richland branch of the former Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad crashed when the bank on the lower side of the track failed and a section slid down the hill undermining the track. The accident occurred approximately 2.5 miles south of Blossvale, a hamlet in the Oneida County, New York, town of Annsville. The sixty-car freight train, carrying coal and other freight was pulled by engines No. 1726 and 1863. Both engines plunged down the sixty foot embankment. The lead engine came to rest in an inverted position while the second engine was on its side. Both engines and several cars were destroyed by fire. In addition to the two engines, a total of fifteen cars derailed.
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The Harvey train collision took place on October 12, 1979, when the Shawnee train operated by Amtrak between Carbondale and Chicago Union Station crashed into a parked Illinois Central Gulf freight train, leading to the death of two crew members.
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The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's DuPont—Lakeland Line was a historic rail line in southern Georgia and the northern west coast of Florida. On employee timetables, the line was actually divided into the DuPont—High Springs Line and the High Springs—Lakeland Line. The line was primarily used for freight, though some passenger services ran on parts of it in Florida. While parts of the line were built as early as 1863, the full line was not complete until 1913. Parts of the line in Florida are still active today.
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