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Port St. Lucie - Sebastian - Vero Beach St. Lucie, Martin, and Indian River counties (Treasure Coast)
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Old 01-21-2013, 08:07 PM
 
Location: Port St Lucie Florida
1,285 posts, read 3,607,107 times
Reputation: 408

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I was wondering if anyone had pictures of the Florida East Coast Railroad to share?
Sid
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Old 01-22-2013, 02:31 PM
 
Location: Vero Beach
910 posts, read 2,218,742 times
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No pictures to share, but the subject intrigues me - IS there any regular rail service from Florida to points north ? I know that NYC to DC is a popular train route, but does it extend further down the coast too ? We have very little Amtrak service in Ohio (the nearest stop from here is a good two hour drive) and I wondered if people use train service much in Florida. Or if there even is any !
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Old 01-22-2013, 02:47 PM
 
Location: Port St Lucie Florida
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A gentleman named Flagler built a railroad to develop Florida's east coast down to the Keys but alas after spending 50 million dollars the Railroad went bankrupt and the railbed became the road today. Really a great piece of history. PBS just aired a show on it last night. I am focusing my research on the old 1930's railroad. His idea was to develop a deep water port at the tip of the keys but the ships from the Panama canal did not show.
Henry Flagler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The irony is the company that made the railroad bankrupt for non payment of fuel bills was the same company he founded: Standard Oil. What a story.
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Old 01-22-2013, 06:10 PM
 
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Amtrak has the auto train that comes down to Sanford/Kissimmee. We used to take our classes to ride from Sanford station to Kissimmee so the kids got the experience of train travel as one of our field trips when I was teaching.

Plans are on track to use the FEC tracks for a new Amtrack down the coast. Land is being purchased and plans are drawn for the stations in most of the cities it will stop at. It might be on hold while Amtrak does investigations on ridership etc and gets the track upgrades, money, and the companies involved working together.
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Old 01-22-2013, 06:12 PM
 
3,977 posts, read 8,171,760 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alsidw View Post
A gentleman named Flagler built a railroad to develop Florida's east coast down to the Keys but alas after spending 50 million dollars the Railroad went bankrupt and the railbed became the road today. Really a great piece of history. PBS just aired a show on it last night. I am focusing my research on the old 1930's railroad. His idea was to develop a deep water port at the tip of the keys but the ships from the Panama canal did not show.
Henry Flagler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The irony is the company that made the railroad bankrupt for non payment of fuel bills was the same company he founded: Standard Oil. What a story.
The part of the railroad that went to the keys fell during a hurricane, didn't it?
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Old 01-22-2013, 06:25 PM
 
Location: Port St Lucie Florida
1,285 posts, read 3,607,107 times
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Default Fec

Yes a hurricane greatly damaged the line but it was rebuilt but the lack of freight cargo adversely affected revenues and the country was recovering from the great depression.
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Old 01-23-2013, 08:08 AM
 
Location: Miami, FL
403 posts, read 1,079,598 times
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I was reading that the FEC tracks from Jupiter south to the Central Business District of Miami will host Tri-Rail Coastal, a new service with increased stops along the US-1 Corridor. We need a commuter service between Sebastian and Stuart as well, stopping in Stuart, Jensen Beach, Vero Beach and Sebastian. Amtrak can be used to bridge the gaps between South (tri-rail) and North Florida. Not just that, a shorter route would be easier for the Treasure Coast to sustain and build upon. It may also be able to connect to All Aboard Florida if it were to include at least one stop on the Treasure Coast, granting speedy access to Orlando and Miami with possible future extensions to Tampa and Jacksonville.
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Old 01-23-2013, 08:56 AM
 
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A search gave up these:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fec+...w=1600&bih=733
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Old 01-26-2013, 04:19 AM
 
Location: Berwick, Penna.
16,215 posts, read 11,331,262 times
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The definitive work on the Florida East Coast was written by a gentleman named Seth Bramson some years ago. A major library should have a copy, or you might be able to get it on an inter-library loan.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...2BEast%2BCoast

Traditionally, New Smyrna Beach was a major crew-change-point and shop town.

In answer to Mr. SeaLark's question. Amtrak still operates two passenger runs in each direction daily, between Jacksonville and Miami, but they run via Palatka and Orlando, with a branch to St Petersburg via Lakeland. New service entirely within one state is conditional upon that state picking up a part of the subsidy. No conventional rail passenger service in North America makes money.

Last edited by 2nd trick op; 01-26-2013 at 05:20 AM..
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Old 01-26-2013, 05:40 AM
 
Location: Port St Lucie Florida
1,285 posts, read 3,607,107 times
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Default Historic FEC

I thank you for the book information and think I will order one. I would like to find some photos of the RR to frame as well as period wooden yachts. It would be nice to remember how Florida was 60 years ago. So much has changed and forgotten. I saw the tail end of a PBS show recently about the RR and they mentioned a museum somewhere dedicated to the RR but I did not find out where?
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