ACL and SAL in Southwest Florida

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I notice looking at old ACL/SAL timetables that the SAL had a line from Arcadia to Ft. Myers and Naples, and that ACL had a line from the Bradenton/Sarasota area connecting to the Ft. Myers line at Ft. Ogden. Does anybody have information on these specific lines. When were they abandoned?

-- Howard S. Roux (HSROUX@aol.com), November 24, 1999

Answers

The Society has a set of railroad valuation maps of the SAL line from Ft. Ogden to the Estero River, and the Punta Rassa Branch, though copies are probably not available yet. They have both paper and electronic copies. The electronic copies are in *.TIF format which can be viewed in most graphics and word processing programs, but to print requires a CADD program and engineering plotter to do them justice.

-- Gary Bechdol (gbechdol@rwhitehead.com), November 29, 1999.

The SAL's Fort Myers line was taken up in the late 1940's, I believe it was in 1947. The Seminole Gulf Rwy. operates over the old ACL line, which includes portions of the SAL line.

-- Bill Donahue (BillD53A@aol.com), November 25, 1999.

Gregg Turner has completed a book on the lines in southwest Florida - I understand it should be out early next year and I expect the Society will carry it. Various existing books have information on lines in this area. My book on ACL passenger service, for example (available from the Society), covers passenger trains on the ACL line to Ft. Myers/Naples. I don't know the abandonment dates.

-- Larry Goolsby (LGoolsby@aphsa.org), November 24, 1999.

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