Passenger train service from Gainesville to Micanopy, 1910

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Would like to know RR line between Micanopy and Gainesville around 1910. Schedule of possible.

-- Ralph Parker (maypark@earthlink.net), January 21, 2003

Answers

Regarding the Evinston depot (built 1884), it was moved to the Richardson farm in 1956 after passenger service ended. The tracks were taken up in 1982, per a nearby historical sign. When I asked about in back in July 1996, locals in the nearby general store told me it burned down aprox 6 to 8 years earlier. The building which sports the depot's surviving nameboard is an old storage house.

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), January 30, 2003.

Well Evinston WAS there some years ago.A friend of mine showed me a picture of what I suppose was the depot,at least that what the sign said on the building.

-- Joseph Oates (jlosal@mindspring.com), January 29, 2003.

Correction According to the attached citation, the rails between Micanopy Junction and Lowell were lifted in 1982. I remember that the Micanopy branch itself remained intact until around 1985.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~flalachu/evinston.htm

This link takes you to a narrative history of Evinston, just south of Micanopy Junction, with a description of the role the railroad played in the life of this rural Florida community. Too bad the Evinston depot was lost. In this same vicinity, the depot from Reddick was relocated for use as antique store to a site on US 441 between Evinston and McIntosh.

The McIntosh depot, ca. 1895, is intact and preserved.

-- Jeff Gerlach (jgerlach@trainsofthought.com), January 29, 2003.


Two additions to the ACL Micanopy branch story. The first is that, just east of town, the Micanopy branch sported a long "branch" of its own. I believe it was referred to as the "Tacoma track." The spur headed northwest, making a broad arc around Lake Wauberg, and intesected the JG&G, at a sharp angle, at the settlement of Tacoma, continuing south a short distance. I don't know what its purpose was, nor how long it lasted, but I saw the line on early 20th century maps.

Also, even though the Micanopy branch may have been officially "abandoned" in the 1940s, regular rail service was provided to the Franklin Crate Co. plant in Micanopy, almost at the west end of the branch, until the early 1980s. The line included a signaled grade crossing over busy US 441. The Micanopy turn, south of Rochelle, was served on an irregular basis by the nightly Baldwin yard to Edgar (Georgia Pacific plant) nightly run, through Lake Butler, Burnetts Lake, and Gainesville. Around 1985, the SCL built a connecting track between the SAL main and the ACL branch at Hawthorne, and all ACL tracks south of Gainesville were lifted.

The tracks from Micanopy Junction south to Lowell were taken out of service sometime in the 1970s, and those tracks lifted around 1980.

-- Jeff Gerlach (jgerlach@trainsofthought.com), January 28, 2003.


...ok, I'm back... The ACL predecessor Florida Southern constructed the 3 3/10 mile spur from the FS's Rochelle-Ocala branch into Micanopy proper and operated a run refered to as the "short train". Later, coaches and express cars were added, and stations were built at both ends of the spur,in town and out on the mainline (at what became Micanopy Jct.) After 1895, another spur was added from the Micanopy depot over to a transfer point near the JG&G depot. The then- ACL depot is said to have burned in 1917; a future improved depot is mentioned but was apparently never built. The book states traffic on the short run fell off and "regular freight service" ended in 1945. Passenger service over the line is described has having been negligible.

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), January 22, 2003.


Adding to Tom's answer, a book I have on Micanopy's history contains a Sept. 1930 employee schedule for the Jax. Gainesville and Gulf (later SAL). Briefly, the service by this time was down to a single daily except Sunday run between Gainesville and Fairfield. Southbound Train #5 left Gainesville at 11:00AM reaching Micanopy at 12:15PM and Fairfield at 1:15. Northbound Train #6 left Fairfield at 2:30PM, calling at Micanopy at 3:30 and reached Gainesville at 4:30. On Tues. Thurs. and Sat. these same trains operated beyond Fairfield to Emathla as Train #3 southbound, reaching Emathla at 1:45, then turning to become northbound #4 leaving at 2:00, arriving back at Fairfield at 2:30. The JG&G (SAL) depot in Micanopy still stands in a residential area near a ballpark on private land. The book states the SAL abandoned this route in 1943 and took up the rails. More to follow...

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), January 22, 2003.

There were two railroad lines from Gainesville to Micanopy. ACL predecessor Florida Southern, which reached Micanopy in 1883, and the SAL predecessor Jacksonville, Gainesville & Gulf, which was actually opened by the the Gainesville, Rocky Point & Micanopy in 1884. The ACL line ran from Gainesville to Rochelle, made a right turn and headed toward Ocala. At Micanopy Junction a branch took off west for Micanopy and Tacoma. The SAL's line ran directly south from Gainesville to Micanopy. The closest schedule I have for the pre-SAL line in 1910 is a 1906 listing which shows two roundtrips, one daily, one except Sunday. The except Sunday train ran north from Fairfield to Gainesville, turned around and went back to Fairfield, laying over in Gainesville from 11:10am to 4:10pm. The other train made the roundtrip south from Gainesville, leaving at noon, spending a half hour in Fairfield (2-2:30pm) and arriving back in Gainesville at 5pm. In 1910, this railroad was the Tampa & Jacksonville. It was sold to the Jacksonville, Gainesville & Gulf in 1927, and acquired by the SAL the same year. Passenger service was continued by the SAL beyond the acquisition. On the ACL branch, passenger service was abandoned sometime between 1935 and 1937, and the branch was abandoned circa 1949. Micanopy Junction station was renamed Micanopy by the ACL in the 1960's.

-- Tom Underwood (tlunder@attglobal.net), January 22, 2003.

Ralph, the Jacksonville, Gainesville & Gulf Railway also served the town of Micanopy, with a station being located in the town. I don't know if the JG&G Rwy provided passenger train service or not around 1910.

Aaron Dowling (aarondowling@cfl.rr.com)

-- Aaron Dowling (aarondowling@cfl.rr.com), January 22, 2003.


that would be the atlantic coast line...

-- troy nolen (tnolen12@tampabay.rr.com), January 21, 2003.

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