Bobby S wrote:I was just wondering about the routing of this train when it went to St. Pete from Tampa. Was there a through track at Tampa? I tried to follow Google Maps and it gets a bit confusing as there is a bridge that goes over the Bay right by the station. Or did it follow a different ROW? Also trains back in today at Tampa. Did they always do that? What stations were there on this route? Also was there more than one station? Did different Railroads access this route? Thanks for any help!
The line (CSX former SAL) still exists for local freight operations today. Get a Florida map and check out Oldsmar and Safety Harbor which are on the present route. This is the only ever direct (more or less) rail route between Tampa and Clearwater. The old ACL route came down from the north and went only to Clearwater and St. Peterburg ane Tampa was on a different route that ran through Orlando which is the route Amtrak uses to reach Tampa now. The problem with trying to run trains to Clearwater and St. Petersburg is the long roundabout route that has to go to the north to avoid a long crossing of old Tampa Bay. There are waterways all over Florida but there have never been any rail crossings over either Tampa Bay or Old Tampa Bay. The end result is that trying to run trains beyond Tampa today would involve a lot of extra costs, miles, crew costs, costs to fix up the line between Tampa and St. Pete. to allow passenger trains again and probably more that I did not cover so I personally think the bus is a good alternative in this case. It saves time and money for both Amtrak and its passengers.
Noel Weaver
