SOUTHWEST FLORIDA was one of the last regions of the South to benefit from railroad service. For years, the region's small population and lack of big industry retarded railroad development. The Iron Horse finally reared its head in the late 1880's, but it was not until 1928 did the rail map of this tropical Mecca reach its greatest extent.

First to arrive was the Florida Southern Railway, an important component of the Plant System of Railroads owned by Gilded Age mogul Henry Plant (1819-1899). Its narrow gauge route connected Palatka with Gainesville, whereupon it descended the peninsula for Ocala, Lakeland, and Bartow. At Bartow, the firm's Charlotte Harbor Division was built along the Peace River valley to Arcadia, where construction briefly halted. Company officials now had to decide where to terminate their line. Fort Myers was seriously considered, as was Pine Island, Punta Rassa, and Gasparilla Island. In the end they chose Trabue, a tiny hamlet on the south side of Charlotte Harbor because its founder--Colonel Isaac Trabue--had gifted the railway large parcels of real estate. The first through train arrived in July, 1886. The railway erected a substantial hotel at Punta Gorda as well as a lengthy dock into Charlotte Harbor that allowed trains to directly meet steamboats bound for Tampa, Key West, and Cuba.

Meanwhile activity was occurring north of Trabue in Sarasota. The Arcadia, Gulf Coast & Lakeland opened a short stretch of track between Braidentown (Bradenton) and Sarasota in May, 1892. Because the 9-mile route was so poorly built, locals nicknamed it the 'Slow & Wobbly.' The prime mover was a used engine of Civil War vintage; the "day coach" was nothing more than a flat car with wood benches and a canvas top. Trains were run only as needed, and the poorly paid conductor and engineer frequently pocketed fares. Later, a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railway constructed a route into the growing area, by way of Parrish, Manatee and Oneco. The company's first train arrived in Sarasota in March, 1903.

After Henry Plant died, the 2,200 mile Plant System of rails was sold to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1903. Prominent figures of Fort Myers, eager for rail service, persuaded "Coast Line" officials to extend their line at Punta Gorda down to their setting, which was fast becoming a magnet for well-to-do winter residents. The first train chugged into the old cow town on February 20, 1904. Citizens rejoiced, and almost immediately an economic boom began. Tourists poured in as never before as did newcomers, immigrants, and farmers. Part of the attraction was the balmy weather and the lush tropical foliage. Fresh fish, packed in ice, also departed town for northern markets as did carloads of citrus and early winter vegetables.

About this time Southwest Florida received another carrier: the Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railroad. Built to transport phosphate between Arcadia and its marine terminal at South Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island, the route opened for traffic in August, 1907. Years before, a tiny predecessor firm of the CH & N had operated in the Arcadia-Hull area. After the route to South Boca Grande opened, the CH & N extended its track north of Arcadia to Mulberry to the famed Bone Valley, where even richer deposits of phosphate existed. The railroad also opened an inviting hotel at Boca Grande called the Gasparilla Inn. Though the railroad is gone, the famed watering hole survives.

Back up in Sarasota, new rail events were beginning to occur. The Seaboard extended its track east of town to the agricultural area of Fruitville. Then, Bertha Palmer, a wealthy Chicago socialite who had extensive land holdings in the area, convinced Seaboard officials to extend the line down to Venice by way of Osprey and Laurel. The line opened in January, 1910. A few years later, the Manasota Land & Timber Company advanced the route below Venice to the logging town of Manasota, later known as Woodmere. A spider web of rail lines penetrated area forests, with trains conveying the pine logs to the firm's mill house. Finished products were then sent to Tampa by rail, where ocean-going ships awaited.

In 1910, the aforementioned Atlantic Coast Line Railroad began constructing a new taproot. The Haines City Branch departed that community and headed for Avon Park and Sebring, where citrus groves and vegetable farms abounded. In 1916, the directors of the "Coast Line" decided to extend the route even further to Immokalee, where extensive stands of timber existed. At Harrisburg, below Palmdale, the railroad's contractor built a branch over to Moore Haven, the first train arriving in May, 1918. Work on the main line proceeded past Hall City and Ortona. Owing to the First World War, work on the Haines City Branch temporarily halted at Goodno. After the hostilities, the Moore Haven branch was extended southwards to Clewiston, where sugar cane production was flourishing. Work on the main line resumed below Goodno down to Immokalee, which got the Iron Horse in October, 1921. Later, it was extended to Deep Lake where the immense grapefruit groves owned by Barron Collier existed.

A huge surge in railway construction occurred during the 1920's. The Atlantic Coast Line extended its track south of Fort Myers to Naples, where service began in December, 1926. A drawbridge over the Marco River allowed trains to reach Collier City (Marco Island) the following June. Another carrier eager for the region's traffic was the Seaboard Air Line Railway. The company constructed an extension from Hull, a way station on the Charlotte Harbor & Northern, down to Fort Myers, Estero, Bonita and Naples, in places alongside the Coast Line track. Nerve center of the extension was Fort Myers, where a switching yard was installed. Further, the city received a large freight facility and handsome passenger station. The extension opened with considerable fanfare on January 7, 1927. That day the Seaboard dispatched five separate sections of the Orange Blossom Special down the route. After celebrants were entertained, the trains had to back up to Fort Myers, for no turntable or wye track existed in Naples! Branches from the main track extended eastward to LaBelle and westward to near Punta Rassa.

The "Coast Line" also constructed a new route from East Tampa down the Gulf coast to Palmetto and Bradenton. Service to Sarasota began in May, 1924. Later, the company extended its new line over to Southfort (near Fort Ogden) where it intersected the Coast Line route from Lakeland to Fort Myers, this in August, 1927. The Coast Line then purchased and rehabilitated Barron Collier's rail line between Deep Lake and Everglades City. The work, which was finished up in 1928, was the last major rail project in Southwest Florida. Everglades City also became the southern most point of the entire Atlantic Coast Line Railroad system.

For decades, Southwest Florida was served by both the Coast Line and Seaboard railroads. Both competed for the same traffic, though in retrospect the territory did not warrant two trunk carriers. When truckers made inroads on area traffic, track abandonments became the order of the day. An up-tick in rail business however occurred in the Second World War, for the region was home to several military installations. In 1967, the Coast Line and Seaboard merged as the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Passenger trains vanished, and even more track was taken up. Eventually, the Seaboard Coast Line helped form the CSX Corporation. Routes not meeting CSX's usage or profitability criteria have been spun-off to smaller concerns. What remained in Southwest Florida has been operated by Seminole Gulf Railway since 1987. A popular attraction is that company's dinner-mystery trains. (Click the Links button for more information about Seminole Gulf).

For further reading see:

Railroads of Southwest Florida by Gregg Turner
Available from Arcadia Publishing @ 1-888-313-2665
or Amazon.com

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