Rail Freak
Engineer
Has there ever been Amtrak Thruway Service to the Keys?
RF
RF
The Florida Keys
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cpamtfan
OBS Chief
Yes, it ran until around 2005-2006 I belive than it was cancelled.
cpamtfan-Peter
cpamtfan-Peter
Rail Freak
Engineer
Thanx,
There must be some Demand, & a Supply Source, I would think. (cab, limo, bus, etc.?)
RF
See this page.
tourlink99
Train Attendant
Freak, Drive down to Ft Myers and take the ferry. Its a nice ride and not too expensive.
Cho Cho Charlie
Engineer
cpamtfan
OBS Chief
You just need a good little jump to get over that :lol: .
cpamtfan-Peter
Just had a look at that, maybe heading down that way in September, cheers for the link.
Rail Freak
Engineer
I don't drive, so I'll take the Amtrak Thruway to Ft. Myers!?!?!?!!! (JUST KIDDING)
Is that the big speed boat???
RF
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The bridge gap you see in that picture is on the south/west end of Bahia Honda State Park. It is the OLD rail/road bridge, and is something to behold. The original road from the mainland down to Key West was Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad. It was destroyed by a hurricane early in the 20th century, and a road was built using the rail supports. It was a NARROW road!. That original road is still there in most places, but cannot be driven on any more, as it is literally falling apart. in a lot of places, sections of it connected to individual Keys are available to walk on to for fishing.
Concerning that particular bridge and gap:
looking from the Bahia Honda end of the old bridge, across the gap - the road was actually built on the TOP of the railroad bridge - the inside was too narrow for two lanes of traffic: http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/endofbridge.jpg
A plaque on the bridge about the history of it:http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/plaque.jpg
A view from one of the Bahia Honda Park beaches toward the bridge gap: http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/fmthebeach.jpg
A view of the bridge gap from across the Bahia Honda Park: http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/campsitebeach2.jpg
--from our Keys trip on July of '07. It is spectacularly beautiful down there. Our motel was a Coleman tent :lol: .
Concerning that particular bridge and gap:
looking from the Bahia Honda end of the old bridge, across the gap - the road was actually built on the TOP of the railroad bridge - the inside was too narrow for two lanes of traffic: http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/endofbridge.jpg
A plaque on the bridge about the history of it:http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/plaque.jpg
A view from one of the Bahia Honda Park beaches toward the bridge gap: http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/fmthebeach.jpg
A view of the bridge gap from across the Bahia Honda Park: http://www.westminstercasspc.org/keys707/campsitebeach2.jpg
--from our Keys trip on July of '07. It is spectacularly beautiful down there. Our motel was a Coleman tent :lol: .
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The Florida East Coast's Florida City-KeyWest overseas railroad was destroyed by a hurricane Labor Day weekend 1935. A locamotive and heavy weight passenger train that was dispatched to Key West too late was blown off the tracks in the middle Keys. Because it was the depression and FEC was having financial problems, they could not afford to rebuild the rail line so the US government took over and built a highway on the rail right of way. There is now a more modern highway that parallels the original road. The drive from Florida City to Key West is one of the most beautiful in thw world.
I would just add this to the above. At that time, in 1935, hurricanes were not yet named. Thus it will be forever known as the "Labor Day Hurricane."
Not surprising that they were not being named yet, i.e. no TV, just radio. So few of the means we have today to even know that, perhaps, sometimes, several hurricanes were happening at the same time. Thus the need,later, for distinguishing them by names.
I am no weather expert but I would not be surprised if there were not some storms which the general public never even found out about, the further back you go. I remember there was a seriously disastrous hurricane in Galveston early 1900.s. But no name for it, just the Galveston Hurricane. Of course warning of them was not nearly as advanced as it is today.
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