This book recounts one of the great celebrations in American railroad history. In 1927, just after the legendary Florida land boom petered out, the Seaboard Air Line Railway opened its much-touted extensions to Fort Myers and Naples on the lower west coast, and an even more ambitious project south of West Palm Beach to Miami. To inaugurate the additions, President S. Davies Warfield invited some 700 dignitaries from 18 states, pampering them aboard five (5!) separate sections of the famed Orange Blossom Special beginning on January 7th. The public receptions that the Warfield entourage received along both routes was astounding. After the celebratory runs, Warfield sent each invitee a souvenir: a leather slipcase containg two privately-printed booklets, one about the Seaboard and the territory it served, the other about the fabled journey just completed. Hardly seen by the public and today treasured by collectors, the two booklets form the basis of this new book together with - for the first time - an array of historic images. To order it, please go to the website of Author House Publishers in Bloomington, Indiana (authorhouse.com). Click on "Bookstore" and enter either my name or the book's title. Softcover, color cover, 178 b & w pages, 6 x 9, $17.75. A terrific, one-of-a-kind gift for any student of the Seaboard Railway, OBS devotees, or lover of Florida history!

-- Gregg Turner (GreggTurner@msn.com), November 21, 2004