 Original Route (click to enlarge) | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Central Florida |
| Dates of operation | 1886–1969 |
| Successor | Seaboard Air Line Railroad |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Tavares and Gulf Railroad (T&G) was a historic railroad in Central Florida that operated for many years as a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. It existed from 1886 to 1969.
The Tavares and Gulf Railroad began just southeast of Tavares at Ellsworth Junction. From here, it ran south through Astatula and continued south winding through Ferndale and Montverde on the west side of Lake Apopka. Just south of Monteverde was Wait's Junction, where the Tavares and Gulf Railroad split with a line running west to Minneola and Clermont and a line heading east to Winter Garden and Ocoee.
The Tavares and Gulf Railroad was first incorporated in 1881 as the Tavares, Apopka and Gulf Railway. As its name suggests, it was intended to run from Central Florida southwest to the Gulf of Mexico near Fort Myers but it never made it that far. Construction began on July 15, 1885, from Ellsworth Junction and 12 miles of the line was complete (to a point near Double Run) in 1886. To reach Tavares, the Tavares and Gulf Railroad had trackage rights from Ellsworth Junction to Tavares on the Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railroad (which was later part of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad and later the Seaboard Air Line Railroad). [1]
The following year, the line was complete to Minneola and Clermont. The line would not beyond Clermont because the Orange Belt Railway would not permit the Tavares and Gulf from crossing their line there. [1]
In 1890, the railroad was reorganized as the Tavares and Gulf Railroad. A branch from Wait's Junction to Oakland was also completed that year. In 1899, the line was extended to Winter Garden. This extension was built beside and parallel to the Orange Belt Railway. It was extended from Winter Garden to Ocoee in 1915.
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad acquired the T&G in 1926. The Seaboard continued to operate the Tavares and Gulf Railroad as a separate entity. [2]
The line was busy in the 1950s but declined in the 1960s. In 1962, track from Wait's Junction to Clermont was abandoned. The rest of the line west of Winter Garden was abandoned in 1969 (two years after the Seaboard Air Line merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad).
The only remaining track still in service today is a short stretch from Ocoee to Winter Garden. It is operated by the Florida Central Railroad.
From Winter Garden to Oakland, the West Orange Trail runs along the right of way of both the Orange Belt Railway and the Tavares and Gulf Railroad where they ran right next to each other. A portion of the Lake Apopka Loop Trail runs on the former right of way as part of the Green Mountain Scenic Overlook and Trailhead near Ferndale. The Monteverde Greenway Trail also runs on the former right of way near Monteverde. [3]
| Milepost | City/Location | Station [4] | Connections and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Tavares | Tavares | located on Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railroad (SAL) and accessed through trackage rights |
| 3.4 | Ellsworth Junction | junction with Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railroad (SAL) | |
| 7.0 | Sunbeam | ||
| 7.8 | Astatula | Astatula | |
| 11.0 | Double Run | ||
| 15.2 | Ferndale | Ferndale | also known as West Apopka |
| 18.3 | Montverde | Montverde | |
| 21.9 | Wait's Junction | junction with line to Clermont | |
| 24.0 | Bear Gap | ||
| 25.5 | Killarney | Killarney | junction with Orange Belt Railway (ACL) |
| 27.1 | Oakland | Oakland | |
| 28.2 | Tildenville | Tildenville | |
| 29.0 | Brayton | ||
| 29.4 | Winter Garden | Winter Garden | |
| 32.2 | Ocoee | Ocoee | junction with Florida Midland Railway (ACL) |
| Milepost | City/Location | Station [4] | Connections and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Wait's Junction | ||
| 1.0 | Crenshaws | ||
| 3.0 | Mohawk | ||
| 5.0 | Minneola | Minneola | |
| 6.0 | Louise | ||
| 7.0 | Clermont | Clermont | junction with Orange Belt Railway (ACL) |
Winter Garden is a city in western Orange County, Florida, United States. Located 14 miles (23 km) west of Downtown Orlando, it is part of the Orlando metropolitan area. The population was 46,964 as of the 2020 census.
The Florida Midland Railway Company was incorporated under the general incorporation laws of Florida, and surveyed a line from Lake Jessup, in Orange County, to Leesburg, in Lake County.
The Florida Central Railroad Company is one of several short line railroads run by Regional Rail, LLC. It runs from downtown Orlando northwest to Apopka and Tavares with a branch from Toronto to Ocoee and Winter Garden and branches from Tavares to Umatilla and Sorrento. The Florida Central connects with the Central Florida Rail Corridor in downtown Orlando, Florida and has trackage rights on the CFRC from there south to Taft Yard where they interchange with CSX Transportation. The railroad is based out of the Plymouth freight station.
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The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was the final name of a system of railroads throughout Florida, becoming part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900. The system, including some of the first railroads in Florida, stretched from Jacksonville west through Tallahassee and south to Tampa. Much of the FC&P network is still in service under the ownership of CSX Transportation.
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.
The Apopka Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot is a historic Seaboard Air Line Railroad depot in Apopka, Florida, United States. It is located at 36 East Station Street. The station was built in 1918 to serve a line originally used by the Tavares, Orlando, and Atlantic Railroad in 1885. On March 15, 1993, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In 2010, a proposal was made to relocate the depot.
State Road 426 is a major road in Orange and Seminole counties, entirely north of Orlando. Its length is closely similar to SR 438. East of here, the road continues as County Road 426 as a direct route to Mims and Scottsmoor, the census-designated places of Brevard County, terminating at SR 46.
The Inland Lakes Railway, later known as Florida Rail Adventures, was a tourist railroad located in the northwestern portion of Central Florida. The railway operated several excursion trains ranging from a five course dinner train to sightseeing excursions throughout Lake and Orange Counties. The company operated through a lease agreement with the Florida Central Railroad, the owner of the tracks. Trains operated between the towns of Mount Dora, Tavares, Eustis, Lake Jem, and Orlando.
The Florida Southern Railway 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 Railroad and the Orange Belt Railway. The Florida Southern was originally chartered to run from Lake City south through central Florida to Charlotte Harbor. However, with the influence of Henry B. Plant, it operated with two discontinuous segments that would be part of the Plant System, which would later become part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
The Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway is a historic railroad line that at its greatest extent serviced Gasparilla Island in Charlotte Harbor and a major shipping port that once operated there. The railroad's principal purpose was to transport phosphate mined along the Peace River and in the Bone Valley region of Central Florida to the port to be shipped. It also brought passengers to the island community of Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island, and is largely responsible for making Boca Grande the popular tourist destination it is today. Part of the line remains in service today between Mulberry and Arcadia, which is now owned and operated by CSX Transportation. Today, it makes up CSX's Achan Subdivision and part of their Brewster Subdivision.
The Orange Belt Railway was a 3 ft 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 the time of its completion in 1888, with a mainline 152 miles (245 km) in length between Sanford and St. Petersburg. It carried citrus, vegetables, and passengers; and it interchanged with two standard gauge lines: the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway at Lake Monroe, and the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad at Lacoochee.
The Seaboard–All Florida Railway was a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that oversaw two major extensions of the system in the early 1920s to southern Florida on each coast during the land boom. One line extended the Seaboard's tracks on the east coast from West Palm Beach down to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, while the other extension on the west coast extended the tracks from Fort Ogden south to Fort Myers and Naples, with branches from Fort Myers to LaBelle and Punta Rassa. These two extensions were heavily championed by Seaboard president S. Davies Warfield, and were constructed by Foley Brothers railroad contractors. Both extensions also allowed the Seaboard to better compete with the Florida East Coast Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, who already served the lower east and west coasts of Florida respectively.
The Tampa and Gulf Coast Railroad (T&G) was a railroad company in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida in the United States. It initially built and operated a line that ran from the Tampa Northern Railroad main line in Lutz west to Tarpon Springs and into Pasco County. Additional track starting from Sulphur Springs running west towards Clearwater and south to St. Petersburg was built shortly after. The railroad was informally known as the "Tug n' Grunt" and the "Pea Vine" due to its frequent twists and turns. While it was the second railroad to serve St. Petersburg and Clearwater after the Orange Belt Railway, it had the advantage of being the first to connect the area directly with Tampa.
The Sanford and Lake Eustis Railway was a historic railroad that ran from Sanford, Florida west to the town of Tavares on Lake Eustis, a distance of 28 miles. The line served as a branch of the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway, a Plant System railroad, that later became part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
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The Seaboard Air Line Railroad's Orlando Subdivision was a rail line connecting the Seaboard Air Line's network to Orlando, Florida. Beginning at the Seaboard Air Line's main line in Wildwood, it ran southeast through Leesburg, Florida, Tavares, and Apopka to Orlando. From Orlando, the line continued northeast to Winter Park and Oviedo before coming to an end at Lake Charm.