Eastern Railroad Discussion > Seminole Gulf Update

I had a chance yesterday to explore the Seminole Gulf's progress on Hurricane Ian repairs. They have a long way to go. I had a nice visit with the Road Foreman based in Arcadia. He was very kind and provided a lot of information. Work on repairs of the Caloosahatchee River bridge near Ft. Myers have not started yet. A contractor with barge cranes has been engaged however they are having difficulty with staffing. There are numerous washouts along the Peace River from Punta Gorda to north of Arcadia. (the Peace River watershed received over 30 inches of rain from Ian.

The railroad has three contractors repairing washouts. An additional bridge contractor from Ohio is rebuilding the Peace River bridge north of Arcadia. The railroad has literally hundreds of crossing devices to be repaired or replaced. There are approximately 80 freight cars stranded on the railroad, with most of them south of the Caloosahatchee. They are operating their popular murder mystery dinner train which is going north up to the river bridge before returning to Ft. Myers.The Seminole Gulf has yet to receive any Federal assistance although "they" say its coming.

PCBill

1. Materials stored at Highway 661 for the Peace River bridge rebuild.
2. The crane is operating a pile driver at the bridge (no road access)
3. Locomotive 593 and two others were flood victims - The railroad moved three locomotives to Arcadia so they wouldn't be isolated. All three had flood-damaged traction motors, which have just been replaced within the last week
more.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/22 08:03 by bmarti7.

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4. Wash out in the city of Arcadia
5. Other washouts south of Arcadia
6. Yet to be repaired - notice the wavy tracks
more.....

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7. More row to be repaired
8. Signal damage 1
9. Signal damage 2
more......

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10. Signal damage - note the overhead crossbar is laying in the ditch
11. The popular Murder Mystery Dinner train is still operating on a shorter route

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Thank you very much for the photos and update.

Eric Lanctot
St. Petersburg, FL

Appreciate the update, glad work is progressing. Any word on timeline for reconnecting to the outside world once more?

Good looking paint schemes on the locomotives.
A lot of damage—hope they can soon get some revenue runs going to ease the pain. Good coverage report
Brian Stevens

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for the detailed report. Here on the east coast of Florida, roofers, gutter guys, drywall people have vanished.

There's so much work around Fort Myers, and still up in the Panhandle.

Posted from Android

Roadbed Wrote:
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> Appreciate the update, glad work is progressing.
> Any word on timeline for reconnecting to the
> outside world once more?

No guesstimate. It will take months to rebuild the Caloosahatchee bridge. Also the pics don't show it very well, but there's lots of undercutting of the roadbed along the Peace River. The rip rap has to be hauled by dump trucks. Loooong process.

Good on- the- ground documentation.

FG's website has more photos and includes the plea for Federal aid, which I think is outrageous considering
all of the other expenditures by the FedGov on less important things both domestic and foreign...

 

Thanks for the excellent updates,  Bill.  Enjoy your 85 degrees versus that nice 5 degrees back up north.

PWM

Wow, lots of damage from Ian on the Seminole Gulf! Thanks for the updste Bill. Hope they get their federal funds soon. It was a cold 19 this morning in the back yard with more snow on the way.

Larry

SGLR's freight website is www.floridarail.com

Here's an overview of the damage from the site: https://www.floridarail.com/news/getting-back-on-track/

It's interesting that the article mentions the "Arcadia to North Naples" line. AFAIK there are no active customers south of Alico Road in South Fort Myers. In fact, the segment from Alico to North Naples is a candidate for conversion to a bike trail.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/22 14:19 by CPR_4000.

Wow!!  A  part  of  Florida  that  really lacks  passenger  rail.  Can  you  say  Orlando  to  Ft. Meyers/Naples!! A  traffic  chocked  mess.

cutboy1958 Wrote:
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> Can  you  say  Orlando  to  Ft. Meyers/Naples!! A  traffic  choked  mess.

IIRC, Amtrak Thruway buses serve Fort Myers and Naples. I saw one at a truck stop in FM a few years ago.

Back in the day, both the Seaboard and the Atlantic Coast Line had their own tracks to Fort Myers and Naples with competing passenger service. SCL combined parts of both lines and continued the service up to Amtrak using motorcar 4900, which eventually was scrapped by Naporano in NJ.

The Naples historical society has several rail related exhibits and rail cars in its restored train station museum.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/22 06:13 by Lackawanna484.

Looks like they are using composite ties for some of the repairs.   Do they have them installed elewhere?   

cjvrr Wrote:
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> Looks like they are using composite ties for some
> of the repairs.   Do they have them installed
> elewhere?   

Prior to the hurricane they were installing these ties in the Punta Gorda area.

PCBill