RAILFAN GUIDES HOME RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
There are few good pages around to highlight the many railroad stations
and depots that used to exist. When I know of them, they will be
found under additional resources.
One of the better resources I have come across to this end is the
plethora of old post cards still around depicting many of these
structures, some better than others.
A good portion of the pictures on this page are postcards I
found on EBay. Some of them have been cleaned up and/or
repaired when I had the energy.
If you have the time, other good sources for pictures are:
Shorpy, Google,
and Bing images, and the Library
of Congress (you have to be very patient to find things here :-)
Since many of these stations are no longer around (railfans seem to prefer the
term "extant", I'm not one of them! :-), this page is mostly for historical reference.
What's the difference between a station and a depot? Most people will say "nuttin",
it's a matter of preference, although many will use depot for older buildings.
If they were available, and interesting, I included the back side of the postcards.
If you have a picture you would like to contribute, please see the bottom of the
page for how to find me, credit is always given to contributing photographers.
Not sure if this is really in Florida or not, according to the listing. A more modern picture owning to the more modern train order signal... At least
Crestview FL does have a railroad going through it, and it even has a Railroad Ave adjacent to the tracks.
From the first source:
A large mosaic, "The Great Masterpiece," faithfully reproducing da Vinci's famous "Last Supper" painting, had to be smuggled out of Europe under wraps in order to save
it from the advancing, art stealing, Nazis. It found a home in a peaceful garden just north of Lake Wales, off of US 27, where viewings were held for the contemplation
and inspiration of the faithful. But by the 1960's, inspiration just wasn't enough. Amusement was added, in the form of animal shows, a train ride, and sky ride.
The park's name was changed to Masterpiece Gardens to reflect the expansion, but it was still unsuccessful. Today the former attraction has become an Assemblies of
God church camp. The rides and animals are gone, and the mosaic has also finally been sold and removed.
Anyone know where the trains went to???
From the second source: The Great Masterpiece attraction was created around Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. In 1929, August Wagner Company of Berlin created a
300,000-piece mosaic of da Vinci's artwork. The artwork consists of 10 panels each weighing over 500 pounds. The mosaic was flown from Germany to New York and
eventually assembled in Lake Wales FL. The original owners donated the mosaic which now adorns the Gustafson Fine Arts Center at Bob Jones University in
Greenville SC.
Below: the L&N RR built this station (1907-1909) on the site of the former Pensacola &
Atlantic Railroad (which was built in 1882).
Closed in 1973, it is now a railroad museum.
An ex-ACL depot was used as the depot for the Trilby, San Antonio & Cypress RR.
This depot was San Antonio's third. It replaced a 1927 building which burned down in 1948. It is the last one remaining on the Orange Belt Railway which crossed Pasco
County in 1888 to connect St. Johns with the Gulf. This provided a long awaited link with northern markets. The Seaboard Coast Line had its last scheduled service
here in 1972. The tracks were removed in 1978, dooming the Trilby, San Antonio & Cypress, an excursion line, which then ran from this station as the Orange Belt
Railroad. Volunteers restored the depot for community use in 1993.
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while
trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.
For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented
I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while,
an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or
disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get
local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the
railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job
of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.
Screen captures are made with Snagit,
a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked
up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means
miscellaneous and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit
is always given! Please be NICE!!! Contact info is here
Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.
~ 1925
EBay seller: apopkapostcardshoppe
~1945
From the mid sixties, maybe?
EBay seller: you-found-me
EBay seller: tejas-postcards-sportscards
EBay seller: paperbunni
~1925
1960 (Photo in the public domain)
EBay seller: crowspostcards
EBay seller: crowspostcards
EBay seller: baby*boomers*boutique
EBay seller: magic-city
EBay seller: imbuzzy
EBay seller: crowspostcards
EBay seller: crowspostcards
EBay seller: coolpostcards
the listing said this shot was from about 1878
EBay seller: merry3mnbpostcards
EBay seller: pratercollectibles
EBay seller: postcardranch
EBay seller: crowspostcards
EBay seller: crowspostcards
~1925
EBay seller: foundation*antiques
EBay seller: starsinaction
EBay seller: hawk731
EBay seller: patchpeddler