At one time, there was passenger service from Haines City, Florida south to Lake Wales and points south. How did the train turn around in Haines City? Was there a "wye".? I ask the same question of Lake Alfred, Florida. Wasn't there a mail train connection at Lake Alfred?

-- Dick Kearns (kearnsrh@aol.com), April 07, 2002

Answers

As described in my ACL passenger service book, in the post-WWII era at least, trains on these branches actually originated and terminated at Tampa or Lakeland, and turned at those terminals. They carried different numbers while running on the mainline. The Lake Alfred- Fort Myers trains, 275-276, and the Haines City-Clewiston trains, 175- 176, both connected with the Havana Special. For a few years (1948- 1956) 275-276 ran directly through to Jacksonville and turned there.

-- Larry Goolsby (LGoolsby@aphsa.org), April 08, 2002.

There was a wye at Lake Alfred as well.

-- Scott Young (syoung01@sprynet.com), April 08, 2002.

The current DeLorme FLORIDA Atlas & Gazetteer shows a "wye" at Haines City, but none at Lake Alfred. The distance from Haines City to Lake Alfred is about seven miles. Engines could have run light to Haines City to be turned if required, or to Lakeland, a little further away. Using the Sept. 1953 timetable as an example, the only passenger train south of Lake Alfred was #275-276, a connection with the West Coast Havana Special. This train had a through sleeper from New York to Ft.Myers. A year later, #275-276 ran all the way from Jacksonville to Ft.Myers. South of Haines City, the train was #175-176, also a West Coast Havana Special(#75-76) connector, which ran to Clewiston on Mon-Wed-Fri southbound and Tue-Thur-Sat northbound. They may have turned the engine on the Haines City-Clewiston train, but I bet they just flipped the seats on the coaches.

-- Tom Underwood (tlunder@attglobal.net), April 07, 2002.