Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad

Coordinates: 28°48′07″N 81°43′32″W / 28.801960°N 81.725600°W / 28.801960; -81.725600

Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad
Locale Lake County, Florida, USA
Dates of operation October 8, 2011–January 29, 2017
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters Tavares, Florida

The Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad (TE&G), advertised as the Orange Blossom Cannonball, was a tourist railroad company operating excursion trains on historic track owned by the Florida Central Railroad,[1] from October 2011 to late January 2017.

It made stops among towns (including the county seat) in Lake County, in the northern portion of Central Florida. The TE&G was a subsidiary of the Reader Railroad, based in Arkansas.

History

The excursion railroad ran on track built in the late 19th century when railroads were first developed in this area of Lake County, Florida.

The oldest segment of track on which the TE&G routinely operated, between Eustis and Tavares, the county seat of Lake County, was originally constructed by the St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railway Company between 1882 and 1883.[2] The segment of track that the TE&G used most often, between Mount Dora and Tavares in Lake County, was originally constructed by the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway Company between 1886 and 1887.[3]

Train services

The Orange Blossom Cannonball.
A scene from the Trains of the Wild West special excursion.

The Orange Blossom Cannonball was a train service run by the TE&G using a wood-fired steam locomotive. The excursion was a 1-hour & 45-minute trip between Tavares and Mount Dora. The trip took 30 minutes each direction with a 45-minute stop in between at each town.

Special excursions were also offered, with the trains decorated according to theme. These included Trains of the Wild West, The Great Pumpkin Limited, and The Cannonball Christmas Express.

Locomotives

  • No. 2: 1907 Baldwin 2-6-0 steam locomotive. It was the only operational standard gauge steam locomotive in Florida and the oldest operational steam locomotive in the state of any gauge at the time of its operation under the TE&G.[4] It has been featured in several recent Hollywood movies, including O Brother, Where Art Thou? and True Grit (2010).[5]
  • No. 33: 1941 GE 45-ton switcher diesel locomotive. When this engine was pulling the train, it was listed as the Lake Dora Limited.

End of operations

On January 6, 2017, the Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad announced that they would be withdrawing from Lake County, Florida on January 31, 2017, with the last trains scheduled to run on January 29, 2017. No official details on the future of the company or of the rolling stock were provided.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Federal Railroad Administration Press Releases - FRA Announces $2.2 Million Grant for Central Florida Rail Upgrade
  2. ↑ "The Railroad", Saint Johns River Historical Society, Inc.
  3. ↑ "Florida's Little Railroads That Could", Orlando Sentinel, 16 July 1995
  4. ↑ "Surviving Steam Locomotives in Florida". Steamlocomotive.com. December 14, 2016. Archived from the original on December 14, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  5. ↑ "All aboard! Cannonball express is ready to roll this weekend", Orland Sentinel, 02 April 2014
  6. ↑ "Orange Blossom Cannonball Leaving Lake County". Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad. January 6, 2017. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
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