Miniature Train @ the Central Florida Zoo

The Central Florida Zoo in Sanford, FL has a miniature train that loops around the wooded area surrounding the parking lot. It's a cramped ride for adults, but I always enjoy taking the ride around anyway. Here are some pictures from my last visit to the zoo in 2006:

Cross Seminole Trail Pedestrian Bridge (Over 17-92)

The Cross Seminole Trail will eventually travel from Sanford to Oviedo (and possibly beyond). On one of the newer sections of the trail, where it crosses 17-92 in the Spring Hammock Preserve, a very curvy pedestrian bridge was constructed. These pictures are from a recent trip that I took across the bridge.











This video starts in Big Tree Park and ends at Soldiers Creek Park. It was taken while parts of the trail were still unpaved, but the bridge was completed.

Trains in Maitland, FL

Cypress Garden's Old Garden Railroad

Cypress Gardens is an amusement park in Winter Garden, FL. The park originally opened in 1936 as a botanical garden, and expanded from there with water ski shows, various exhibits, animals, and eventually a few small rides. The park survived until 2003 when Cypress Gardens went bankrupt and closed for a while. Luckily, the park had generated enough interest to attract a buyer who rebuilt and reopened the park with some major changes. A few roller coasters along with various other rides were added. This seemed to have saved the park from closing, but some of the best parts of the old version of the park didn't make it into the updated version. One example of this was the boat ride that would float through the canals weaving through the park's botanical gardens. Another example was this great garden railroad...



Since the construction of this railroad uses lots of natural materials in it's structures, it leads me to believe this was built by a company called Applied Imagination. Many of their other model train layouts appear to be similar to the one Cypress Gardens had, such as this one in the New York Botanical Gardens.


If I remember correctly from when I took these pictures, the buildings in the garden railway are modeled after actual buildings in Florida. I believe this is supposed to be the University of Tampa with it's onion domes. Could the lighthouse be the St Augustine Lighthouse?

Mount Dora Doodlebug

The Mount Dora Doodlebug was a passenger train car that had a motor added to it. It ran for a while on the train tracks running through Mount Dora and Tavares, Florida. It was relatively short lived and stopped running when the scenic railroad company that owned it closed down.

These pictures are on a ride from the train station in Downtown Mt. Dora to the 441 railroad overpass...





For more, follow this link:
LINK: MOUNT DORA DOODLEBUG

Railroad Relic?

While biking on the Seminole Wekiva Trail and the Cross Seminole Trail through the Central Florida Area, I've been noticing several strange concrete markers with numbers on them. The marker pictured is located along the Seminole Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary. I find markers like this a bit intriguing, leaving me wondering what exactly they are marking. My guess is that they have something to do with the railroads that used to run along the sections of trail where the markers can be found.

Does anyone have any information about these, whether my railroad hunch is right, and what do the numbers mean?

Citrus From the Past...

Along the Seminole Wekiva Trail, somewhere in Sanford, Florida, I came across this little historical marker...



The sign said...

Citrus Packing House:
The Umatilla Fruit Company was located here besides the Sanford and Lake Eustis Railroad Tracks and served the citrus industry that flourished in the Paola/Sylvan Lake area.

The Seminole Wekiva Trail was built on top of abandoned railroad tracks. You occasionally get little glimpses of the past from signs like these, a random railroad tie on the side of the trail, or even old railroad trestles.

Right across from this sign on the opposite side of the trail, this gift for patrons of the trail was set up with free oranges, tangerines, and kumquats. Could this fruit be from some leftover trees from when the citrus industry in the area was centered around this spot?




The fruit was in front of this old tin-roofed house. Could this be an old building leftover from the citrus packing house as well?