The ORLANDO & WINTER PARK, No Dinky Line!

Often referred to as a ‘Dinky Line’ today, the intention of organizers of ‘Orlando and Winter Park Railroad (O&WP)’ was anything but building an insignificant railway. The official plat detailing an alignment for the O&WP Railroad was recorded in May, 1887, merely months before Florida’s Yellow Fever Epidemic, a minimal outbreak locally but having a serious impact on the State’s entire economy.

The Rogers House, East side of present day Lake Osceola

Winter Park, Florida

Despite the epidemic, Orlando & Winter Park Railroad survived under the guidance of Francis B. KNOWLES, one of three New Englanders most often mentioned as influential champions of early Winter Park development. Knowles was President of the railroad up until the time of his death in May, 1890.

Initially, the O&WP departed ORLANDO traveling on its own track alongside South Florida Railroad, arriving at its first railway station, FAIR OAKS, on Lake Ivanhoe. The second stop was ROWENA, near the present day intersection of Princeton & Highway 17-92. LAKE MABEL and BONNIE BURN were two additional stops prior to arriving at a Winter Park station adjacent to ROLLINS College, twenty-three minutes after the train had departed Orlando.       

Despite the railroad’s name, Winter Park was not the railroad’s terminus. The first plat details the railroad continuing on, following a serpentine route around the north side of Lake Virginia, snaking around to the south side of Lake Mizell, with one branch ending at the Historic Rogers House on the east side of Lake Sylvan at present day Aloma Ave. That stop was called OSCEOLA, the planned town that preceded Winter Park. A second branch line terminated for a brief time at LAKEMONT.

By 1890, Orange County Surveyor John O. Fries mapped the route of Orlando & Winter Park Railroad, showing the train continuing beyond Lakemont, all the way to OVIEDO, and then connecting further north to Lake Jesup.

The expansion eastward followed closely the path of George C. BRANTLEY”S earlier 1878 planned railroad, intended to run between Tuskawilla and Orlando. (Part 1 of this series).

And so by 1890, central Florida’s earliest railroads, it appears, had come full circle.

Following the death of Francis B. Knowles in 1890, trustees signed over the Orlando & Winter Park Railroad, on April 6, 1891, to East Florida and Atlantic Railroad. By 1920, Orange County Florida maps were still showing train service along this route, having stops at Winter Park, GOLDEN ROD, GABRIELLE, and Oviedo.

1920 Orange County, Florida map

THERE WILL BE NO BLOG NEXT WEDNESDAY, but RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or many, returns Wednesday, September 7, 2016, for the FINALE. Our summer series has been sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ a novel based on true-life 19^th Century Central Florida pioneers.

All summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have priced this book at a Rails & Trails special price of $15.00.

ARRIVING SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 to Rick’s Blog:

Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen

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