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Mount Dora laments loss of tourist train — tracks could be converted to a rail-trail

Mount Dora laments loss of tourist train — tracks could be converted to a rail-trail

by DeVore Design, May 5, 2019

Susie Connor soaked up the old-timey vibe after arriving on a tourist train that dropped her off at a vintage depot within steps of the Lakeside Inn, a landmark built in 1883.

“This to me just screams what Florida used to be before Disney,” said Connor, a Lady Lake resident who explored the popular Lake County city last weekend with a group that included her husband, Mark.

But the days of a conductor yelling “All aboard!” in Mount Dora are numbered. The nearly 5-mile route between Tavares and Mount Dora is ending after about 1½ years — in the latest incarnation of a tourist train here — because keeping the tracks in shape for passenger service has become too pricey. Tracks laid more than 100 years ago would require a multimillion-dollar upgrade that Florida Central Railroad has no plans of funding.

On Saturday, the last train operated by the Tavares-based Orlando & Northwestern Railway will pull out of Mount Dora along a rail line that will be used to store train cars after the passenger service ends. The tracks eventually may be converted to a rail-trail.

“We are not a passenger operation,” said Pete Petree, vice president of operations for Pinsly Railroad Company, parent company of the Florida Central Railroad, which owns the tracks.

Petree said the railroad has allowed tourist trains to use the Tavares-to-Mount Dora tracks through the years “because we believe in our local communities,” but the tracks have degraded to the point where repairs are necessary.

“That is not our business, and it is not a profit-earning enterprise for us,” he said.

Officials with the Tavares-based Orlando & Northwestern Railway emphasized the train — the latest of several Lake County tourist trains that have operated on and off for more than two decades — isn’t shutting down.

Trips from Tavares north to Eustis along rails that were improved in 2014 will continue while local officials try to determine whether fixing the tracks between Tavares and Mount Dora is a viable option or whether a more practical — and better — alternative would be to support converting the rail line into a path for bicyclists and pedestrians.

“There’s come confusion that we’re ending the train, and we’re not,” conductor Tom Quinn said.

In addition to trips between Tavares, Eustis and Mount Dora, what is dubbed the Royal Palm Railway Experience offers excursions including a dinner train, a candlelight brunch and the “BBQ Limited.” Such excursions will continue.

During special events in downtown Mount Dora, the train shuttled people from the Mount Dora Plaza about two miles west of downtown on Old Highway 441. That helped with downtown parking, according to Mount Dora City Council member Crissy Stile.

Stile and other city officials are lamenting the imminent loss of the train, which has brought visitors interested in nostalgia to the artsy city popular for its boutiques and restaurants.

“They have little stickers that say ‘I rode the train to Mount Dora,’” said Stile, who owns Barrel of Books and Games downtown. “Is it gonna have an effect? Absolutely.”

The Mount Dora railway, featuring 1950s Amtrak coaches retrofitted with air-conditioning, began operations in November 2017 with the interactive Warner Bros.’ The Polar Express Train Ride.

That was a less than a year after the Orange Blossom Cannonball, an 1880s-era steam-powered train featured in numerous movies, folded up shop when the Florida Central Railroad didn’t renew a lease for the tracks.

Now, it’s happening again.

The demise of the Tavares-to-Mount Dora line is unfortunate, said Neil Bagaus, who is in charge of the train operation.

“Everybody wants to go to Mount Dora,” he said. “Mount Dora is the main part of our business.”

“It’s gonna be a struggle, there’s just no doubt about it,” he said. “I’ve already started making corrections to our payroll.”

He said he has laid off five of the six full-time employees — he’s the last full-timer. He sill has 24 part-time workers.

Tavares City Administrator John Drury, who was resolute about luring a new train provider after the Cannonball left, is just as determined that train service will remain in the city, even without Mount Dora as a destination.

“I think the train’s gonna be just fine,” he said.

The 4 ½-mile line to Eustis was earlier upgraded as part of the multimillion-dollar Central Florida project to replace old-style bolted rail with “continuous” welded rail to better accommodate freight travel.

With no freight being moved between Tavares and Mount Dora, that stretch didn’t qualify for the modern rails but did get some crossties replaced and extra ballast to increase drainage.

More repairs are needed if the train is to continue, to the tune of $2.5 million to $3 million, Petree said. Local government officials will have to determine whether it’s worth it to fund the repairs.

What becomes of the Tavares-to-Mount Dora line will become clearer after a $230,000 state-funded study of the long-term possibilities for the corridor is completed in May 2020, Drury said.

Options will include a rail-trail or installing a trail within the rail line’s road right of way, far enough away from where a train would run, Drury said.

The study will sharpen the focus on “what is the highest and best use of that track,” he said.

Mount Dora Mayor Nick Girone said he doesn’t “see the city becoming a subsidizer for a transportation system” but he is seeking residents’ feedback about whether the city should invest in fixing the tracks or if a rail-trail is a better alternative.

“It’s a mess,” Girone said, “but we’re trying to get this all sorted out and hopefully do what’s best for the city.”

For her part, Connor said she had a “lovely” time in Mount Dora, which included lunch at the Lakeside Inn. Connor, who is “38 and holding,” moved with her husband to Lake County from Wisconsin a year and a half ago.

“It’s a fun thing to do,” she said of the train. “It’s just sad that it’s going to be gone.”

jfallstrom@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5444