Hey guys,

Anyone know what is the condition or present circumstances of the Palatka-Lake City roadbed? Is it railbanked, rails-to-trailsed, abandoned?

Thanks, Roy Bower Miami

-- Roy P. Bower (RoyPBower@juno.com), March 31, 2002

Answers

Roy:

The last time that I inspected the abandoned B Line from Lake City to Palatka was about a month ago. All the trestles remain intact. The and the majority of the roadbed appears to be overtaken by small long leaf pines and erosion. Along FL Route 100 where most it parallels the B Line, you can see the roadbed okay except in heavy spots near Lake Butler. When you get below Lake Butler into Slipper Swamp, you loose the abandoned line and you cannot see much of the trestles. I did not get a chance to inspect the abandoned line through Hampton however.

-- Mark S. Mosely (MOSEGSF@aol.com), April 01, 2002.

As of autumn 2001 the GS&F railbed NW of hampton was full of pine growth. However, one could see the railbeds of the main line as well as the siding as it forked off the SAL line and crossed County Road 18 heading SE toward Palatka. They had also just resurfaced US 301, thus erasing any signs of the GS&F crossing west of Hampton. The railbed on either side of US 301 also was nearly indistinguishable because of heavy tree growth. However if one wants to see how a community grew around two railways, drive through Lake Butler, FL. As of last fall, one could still see both the GS&F and ACL railbeds as they run through Lake Butler. The raised beds snake through back yards and over small creeks and past several wooden buildings. There are still asphalt patches visible in most of the small, narrow streets that crossed over these two lines at grade. With all those railroad crossings, I believe Lake butler was a fairly noisey town before they took up both tracks. Also, there still was a large clearing where these two lines crossed at about 40 degree angles in the city of town. The GS&F was built I believe near 1890. The ACL line was originally built in the late 1890s as the Jacksonville & Southwestern, a line owned by the Cummer family to connect their logging interests in Newberry to their mills in Jacksonville. Hope this helps.

-- John Hendricks (MarilynF150@aol.com), July 11, 2002.