I was just notified of a bridge fire near palatka on the Ex-ACL line from jax -> orlando. Not sure exactly where, but heard it was pretty bad and all traffic except locals on that line have been rerouted over the baldwin sub. I am assuming amtrak trains to orlando and points south will have to be routed to near tampa now that the coleman -> orlando line is not there anymore (or is it?) at any rate this raises alot of questions. first, all traffic in or out of the state is gonna have to go over ex-SAL tampa-baldwin mainline? or will csx route some freight over the twisted mess of what is now the starke - tampa branch?? that whole line is single track with most if not all sidings removed by CSX in the mid 80's also not sure about track weight restrictions? 4 axle only?? nor sure about that. Any current CSX employees care to specualte? I was in newberry today and saw a csx signal crew working on a couple crossing signals? Could this be foreshadowing more traffic over that line, at least temporarilly??? Also anyone who lives by there and notices an increase in traffic let me know!!! thanks, -Troy

-- troy nolen (kirkwood@gdn.net), January 23, 2001

Answers

Troy, Actually the fire was very minor and put out within 15 minutes. minor damage to the bridge. I think traffic was delayed about two hours at most.

-- John Buckley (johnbuckley@juno.com), January 25, 2001.

hmm, you would have thought that they would have left at least the SAL line to Dunellon so that they would have a through route from tampa to points north "just in case"

-- troy nolen (kirkwood@gdn.net), January 24, 2001.

I wish you were right... Old SAL north of Brooksville has been gone for about 25 years! One of the first to go in the ACL / SAL merger...All old SAL trackage from Brooksville to Williston to Archer to Gainesville is history and has been for some time... So sad..

Steve Manuel Brooksville

-- Steve Manuel (wwjb@innet.com), January 24, 2001.

Yea, i know all ACL lies south of dunellon are gone, but I am pretty sure the ex-SAL line that was the brooksville->williston->Archer- >Gainesville line is still intact and joins the ACL at Dunellon and remains through brooksville all the way to tampa... so the line in one form is indeed intact from starke --> tampa, albeit not the way it once was... yes CSX goofed bigtime when it pulled out all that trackage...

-- troy nolen (kirkwood@gdn.net), January 24, 2001.

Doubt there will be any increase in the Newberry area...The old ACL west coast main line is nothing more than a branch to the Florida Power Plant at Crystal River...All track south of Dunnellon is gone. (In all directions)..The line to Wilcox (Florida West Coast) is all but gone. Line ends at Trenton, I can't imagine than is any traffic there to speak of. Maybe a car load of grain a week! IMHO, CSX pulled up too much track too quickly! (Perry Cut-Off & The West Coast Main Line through High Springs are examples)

Steve Manuel

-- Steve Manuel (wwjb@innet.com), January 24, 2001.