Sanford & Indian River Railroad to OVIEDO

February 18, 1882, fifteen (15) months after South Florida Railroad (SFRR) had arrived for the very first time at ORLANDO, the railroad’s President, JAMES E. INGRAHAM, arguably Mr. Railroad of Central Florida, gave notice to the Florida General Assembly of their intentions to build another railroad that would originate in SANFORD.

The Sanford & Indian River Railroad (SIRR) envisioned opening up a vast untapped region of East Orange County, then heavily owned by English investors. The intent of the railroad was to connect Sanford with TITUSVILLE on the Indian River. The first six (6) miles of SIRR track was certified complete December 27, 1883.

The initial track alignment was indeed interesting. Departing southwest from Lake Monroe, along track laid down by South Florida Railroad, after about one mile the track veered sharply east, and continued east until arriving at the old homestead of Augustus VAUGHN. At Vaughn’s land, the track then made another sharp turn, this time veering south, heading toward Lake Jesup.

Sanford & Indian River Railroad of 1883 had made a bee-line directly to Vaughn’s land!

The Sanford & Indian River Railroad swerves to cross the

Augustus Jefferson Vaughn Homestead at Fort Reid

Augustus Vaughn had been among the earliest homesteaders south of Lake Monroe. His property included the site the 1840s fortress Reid. By the 1850s, village of FORT REID had grown up around this historic site, and over the years, the town expanded south, along The First Road to Orlando. (2015 Second Edition by Richard Lee Cronin).

Confederate Major George W. WYLLY platted, in 1875, an addition to Town of Fort Reid to the south of Vaughn’s acreage, land including a rail station on Depot Avenue. This land sat adjacent to another historic site; the Alaha Chaco, or ORANGE HOUSE Hotel.

Part Three of this series, The Veterans Railroad at Mellonville, told of the first planned Orange County railroad, organized in 1870, by Confederate Veterans, one entire decade before the South Florida Railroad was organized. The Corporate headquarters for that original Veterans Railroad was the Orange House Hotel at Fort Reid.

Track of the Sanford & Indian River Railroad, after veering south and crossing Vaughn’s property, continue another mile or two to historic RUTLEDGE, first established by Florida Brigadier General Joseph J. Finegan. The General, one of the original founders of the Veterans Railroad, named this location for his deceased son, Joseph Rutledge Finegan. 

Rutledge later became the residential site of railroader James E. Ingraham.

“One begins to recognize a task of engineering,” the SFRR wrote in 1887 of their route south of Rutledge. “Dynamite will do no good here. That black venomous looking mass must be fought hand to hand, with axe, pick and spike.”

The SIRR followed the original planned alignment of the Veterans 1870 Railroad, or at least as far as SOLDIERS CREEK, on the shore of Lake Jesup. At this point the track turned east, heading toward the Mitchell Grant’s town of Tuskawilla (Part ONE).

“The throttle valve takes a fit,” said SFRR in 1887 of the train’s engine as it traveled south of Soldiers Creek, “it yells a deep bass horror; it is terribly nervous, and it has a hoarse, horrible cold. But it bellows as if in frightful terror and dismay. Are we about to tumble over the edge of the world?”

Sanford & Indian River Railroad crossing at Soldiers Creek

The Sanford & Indian River Railroad did not to tumble over the edge of the world, but the 19^th Century train, today a phantom train, never arrived at Titusville on the Indian River either. OVIEDO, and a “switch to the west one mile,” LAKE CHARM, where the “eye rests with pleasing content,” was as far east as the train ever traveled.

Though never reaching the east coast of Florida, the Sanford & Indian River Railroad was responsible for bringing improved transportation to a largely unsettled east Orange County. Lake Jesup City, Lake Charm, Oviedo and to an extent, Tuskawilla, each flourished largely because of the SIRR.

Stay tuned, as a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returns next Wednesday, July 20, 2016. Our summer series is sponsored by my historical novel, ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ based on real-life Central Florida 19^th century residents, and a true-life 1895 tragic event that forever changed their lives.

All summer long, Central Florida Railroad Museum in historic Winter Garden, in association the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have priced my book at a summer discounted price of $15.00.

Take the family and explore central Florida’s remarkable network of RAILS & TRAILS.

ARRIVING THIS FALL to CroninBooks.Com - an entirely NEW Genre! Watch for details at http://www.croninbooks.com/MYSTIQUE.html as well as my Goodreads Author Page.

Richard Lee Cronin Author Page is up and running at www.Goodreads.com. Care to know more about any of my books? Visit www.CroninBooks.com.