While departing TAVARES bound for SANFORD, a fire destroyed a
‘JT&KW’ engine pulling rail cars
branded ‘Sanford & Lake Eustis
Railway. The 1888 fire soon setoff far more than a blaze, as in addition to
destroying an engine, a blame game ensued.
Litigation arising out of the April 9, 1888 fire led to depositions
and court appeals, archives having an unexpected positive outcome – HISTORY!
WIN 1 OF 10 FREE Autographed BOOKS
CitrusLAND: GHOST TOWNS & PHANTOM TRAINS
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Now a phantom train, surveying for ‘Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway’ had begun in 1885. The train’s
path included present day ghost towns PAOLA and MARKHAM, but provided service
as well as for present day Lake County communities of SORRENTO and MOUNT DORA. Each
of these place names were 19th century depots on an Orange County
train, running east-west between towns Sanford and Tavares.
The Road to MARKHAM
A Seminole TRAIL today; one-time
RAIL route of S&LE
The 1888 fire litigation cited four early railroads: (1) Sanford & Lake Eustis; (2) Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad; (3)
Peninsular Land, etc., Co.; and the
Plaintiff, (4) Jacksonville, Tampa &
Key West Railroad.
Peninsular
Land, Transportation & Mfg. Co. was a TAVARES-based consortium
led by Louisiana native, Alexander St. Clair ABRAMS. The Abrams organization
had been very specific of its intentions to build hotels, construct railroads,
and grow oranges in and around their town of Tavares. Peninsular was the parent company of: Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad (See Part 5); Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad (See
Part 9 next week); and the subject of this week’s Blog, the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway.
Sanford and Tavares were competing by the mid-1880s for the coveted
title of Gateway to central Florida, cities then part of Orange County. Sanford
was promoting itself as the Gateway to
Orange County, where trains connected with steamboats traveling the St.
Johns River. Tavares likewise marketed itself as a gateway hub, where local
railroads connected with mainline railroads traveling to all points north.
Sanford
& Lake Eustis Railway planned to connect the two strategic hubs.
But by 1887, another land based railroad began working its way south from
Jacksonville. This new player in the railroad industry set its sights on a stop
at the port town of Sanford.
Jacksonville,
Tampa & Key West pre-dated Flagler’s east coast train, and as its
name implies, the railroad envisioned a train running the length of Florida. To
expand on its system, JT&KW chose to lease
the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway, paying a 2 1/2% royalty to the
Abrams group on all passenger and freight revenues.
This idea of leasing
an existing train, as opposed to building their own line, introduced a new
concept to the central Florida railroad industry.
JT&KW Railroad lost their lawsuit, but facts reported in
that suit document for history the early organizations of several of the
earliest central Florida railroads.
Alexander St. Clair Abrams organized three railroads, each
based out of Tavares, trains planning to connect the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic
Ocean and the port at Sanford with a new State Capitol located at their hub,
Tavares.
At least two overwhelming events prevented the Abrams plan
from ever becoming a reality, events beginning with Florida’s Yellow Fever
Scare of 1887, and followed up by the Great Freeze of 1894-95.
Plans of the Jacksonville,
Tampa & Key West Railroad likewise faltered, largely because of the first
event, the Yellow Fever Scare. By the mid-1890s the JT&KW had fallen into receivership, mainly because of a lack of
cash.
Today, much of the right-of-way for the phantom Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway has disappeared. A short stretch does exist today, an
isolated shady trail sitting along the north side of Markham Road, west of
Orange Boulevard, in Seminole County.
Stay tuned for a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST
TOWN or two, returning Wednesday, August 3, 2016. This summer series is
sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom
Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida pioneers,
and one historic 1894-95 devastating event that forever changed the Orange Belt.
WIN 1 of TEN FREE autographed copies of GHOST TOWNS
& PHANTOM TRAINS at GOODREADS.com – winners to be drawn
August 27, 2016.
Our giveaway begins
July 27, 2016, and it’s easy to enter.
Simply click on this link:
This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic
Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have each priced this book at a Rails
& Trails special price of $15.00.
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