Mt Dora Florida Railroad

I have always enjoyed railroading but have actually been on few trains. Just North of Orlando, FL is the small community of Mt. Dora which is home to a small community railroad. The locomotive shown at the beginning no longer operates, however the small trolley still chugs along. I took my video camera along as I took a short trip on the trolley that originated in Mt Dora, Florida.
Taped: March 17, 2002

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Kerry
• Decker
• Mt
• Dora
• florida
• trolley
• imovie

[KKD1247]

Thanks for the historical update!

[woofboy111]

I remember the Dora Doodlebug. I rode it when they first opened up. I saw it sitting on the side of the tracks when I rode the Santa Express Train last Christmas...

[KKD1247]

Yes...its a shame.

[eze241]

M201 is currently stored in montgomerty AL, out of service in 2004,shipped out in '06 I think, We always had alot of mechanical problems with the drive train. this is actually the later version of the trip, origially we went over the hwy 441 bridge to milepost 7 about 2.5 miles on the other side of town. believe it or not I was the engineer in this video.....back in the good ole days....

[RDG484]

Correction: This car was P&W No. 163 not 164 like I mentioned earlier.

[RDG484]

Conclusion: The P&W was a hi-platform, third rail line that was originally conceived to be part of a transcontinental railroad that would run from Philadelphia to the west coast along with the Western Maryland, Wabash, Missouri Pacific, Rio Grande, and the Western Pacific. The grade crossing-free line only got 11 miles out of town until a branch was built to connect with the Lehigh Valley Liberty Bell Route who ran their electric train service over the P&W until 1951.

The end.

[RDG484]

...elevated cars, which in turn were replaced with new Light Rail equipment in 1991. No 164, one of the "Strafford" cars, was sold to Mt. Dora RR and became No. 64 which was it's original number. No. 165 also became a gas car but runs in El Reno, OK. Nos. 161 and 168 run with trolley poles in New York State. No. 64's rebuilding made it resemble a Brill "Edwards" motor car. The 2 wide window partitions on each side identify where the third doors were originally located.

[RDG484]

...in favor of more frequent single-car operation. the line's name even changed to SEPTA's "Route 100 Norristown Hi-Speed TROLLEY." The MU connections on the Strafford cars, like the Mt. Dora car were severed, and all cars were run with one man. Amazingly the Liners continued in service for 7 more years until they were finally pulled from service and retired to museums. The Bullets and Straffords continued to run until 1988, when they were finally retired in favor of secondhand Chicago.....

[RDG484]

Part 3: In 1970, the P&W RR became the only railroad anywhere in the world that was converted from a railroad into a trolley operation without any interruption to service when it was taken over by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Since there was no more interchange freight there was no more need for any FRA control so by isolating the line from the outside world rules could be changed to virtually halve operating costs. Multi-car trains were immediately discontinued....

[RDG484]

Part 2 (I need more than 500 characters):

..doors sealed and their headlights relocated to make them more aerodynamic, while their motors were rebuilt increasing their horsepower from 75 to 100, which increased their top speed from 45 to 70 MPH. This was done so they could keep up with their newer brethren the world's very first "Bullet" trains in 1931, also built by Brill. They were later augmented in 1964 by the famous "Electroliners" which were renamed "Liberty Liners."

[RDG484]

Beautiful video!! A little history on the coach: It was built by the Brill Co. in 1927 as an electric multiple-unit passenger car for the Philadelphia & Western RR where it ran in high-speed commuter service until the 1990's. As built these cars had high-mounted headlights, bulkhead doors so passengers could go from car to car and also had a third off-center door on both sides for passenger egress at their high-level platforms. A few years after they were delivered they had their bulkhead..

[roslundb]

Great video! Thanks