Nostalgia & History > Palatka Union Station in Palatka, FL

The Palatka Union Station was served by the FEC, SCL, ACL, GS&F(SOU) and the Ocala Northern. Today only the CSX (ex ACL) line is still in place. But do to the start up of Sunrail in Orlando The line through town only see's 2 mixed frights and 6 Amtrak trains a day.
Today the station is home to the Palatka Railroad Preservation Society ( www.railsofpalatka.org ) and is used by Amtrak, and a local Bus company

In the photo
The GS&F went beside the ACL.
The FEC via trackage rights over the SCL crossed from left to right.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/14 22:00 by Dewman45.

---

Nice. Classic.

Always wondered about the tracks there - thanks for the info

Yes GS&F did have it's own station it was on the riverfront. The station was removed in the 60's. it is a park today and where the station was they are building a retensonpound.

Sorry I inadvertently deleted a post which the previous post replied to:

There was the ACL through-line, the southern terminus of the Southern/GS&F, the eastern terminus of the ACL Rochelle Branch, the eastern terminus of the Ocklawaha Valley a/k/a Ocala Northern, and the western terminus of the FEC branch. The FEC bridge over the St Johns River from East Palatka was removed around 1950.

Interesting writeup of the 1922 abandonment of the Ocklawaha Valley, sometimes spelled without the "c", at http://web.archive.org/web/20030804145235/http://www.webspawner.com/users/ovrailroad/. However, this article indicates that the GS&F had its own station that was used by the O.V. My 1948 Official Guide confirms that the GS&F station was separate ("1 mile apart") from the Union Station.

What did Palatka have to offer that attracted service by so many railroads?

I suspect a major factor was navigability of the St Johns River at that time.