A WOOD-BURNER IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
Orange Blossom Cannonball
BY STEVE BARRY/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR H
EY, LOOK YONDER, coming down those railroad tracks. In this case it is not the Seaboard Coast
Line’s Orange Blossom Special. Rather, it’s Florida’s newest steam train, the Orange Blossom Cannonball of the Tavares, Eustis & Gulf. What really makes the Orange Blos- som Cannonball unique, however, is not its location (although it is the only steam operation in Florida). Rather, its what powers the locomotive. The bul- bous cabbage stack is not just for show.
This 1907 Baldwin-built 2-6-0 uses wood for fuel. Built for the Lufkin Land & Lumber Company in Texas, No. 2 was used in a variety of industrial set- tings before gaining fame on the Read- er Railroad in Arkansas.
Behind the locomotive are some old- timish-looking passenger coaches. These were actually built in 1915 for the Memphis, Dallas & Gulf. These cars were sent north in the summer of 2013 for the new Steam Into History operation in Hanover, Penn., while the
Reader built new cars for their start-up line in Arkansas. Bringing up the rear of the train is a drover’s caboose off the Cotton Belt, built in 1918 and pur- chased by the Reader in the 1950s. Col- lectively, the consist is known as “The Movie Train” for its frequent appear- ances in Hollywood films.
The TE&G is actually a subsidiary of the Reader Railroad and operates on the rails of the Florida Central between the new Tavares depot, located in Wooten Park along Lake Dora, and
OPPOSITE: Tavares, Eustis & Gulf 2-6-0 No. 2 rolls east near the intersection of Florida Route 19 and County Route 561 about halfway between Tavares and Ellsworth Junction. ABOVE: The Orange Blossom Cannonball rolls off the Eustis branch of the wye just north of the depot in Tavares. The locomotive is returning from taking on a fresh load of wood just a half mile up the line.
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