Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad


The Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad, advertised as the Orange Blossom Cannonball, was a tourist railroad company operating excursion trains on historic track owned by the Florida Central Railroad, from October 2011 to late January 2017. It had stops in three cities in the northern portion of Central Florida. The TE&G was a subsidiary of the Reader Railroad, based in Arkansas.

History

The TE&G ran within Lake County, Florida on track built in the late 19th century. The oldest segment of track on which the TE&G routinely operated, between Eustis and Tavares, was originally constructed by the St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railway Company between 1882 and 1883. The segment of track that the TE&G used most often, between Mount Dora and Tavares in Lake County, was originally constructed by the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway Company between 1886 and 1887.

Train services

The Orange Blossom Cannonball was a train service run by the TE&G using a wood-fired steam locomotive. The excursion was a 1-hour & 45-minute trip between Tavares and Mount Dora. The trip took 30 minutes each direction with a 45-minute stop in between at each town.
Special excursions were also offered, with the trains decorated according to theme. These included Trains of the Wild West, The Great Pumpkin Limited, and The Cannonball Christmas Express.

Locomotives

On January 6, 2017, the Tavares, Eustis & Gulf Railroad announced that they would be withdrawing from Lake County, Florida on January 31, 2017, with the last trains scheduled to run on January 29, 2017. No official details on the future of the company or of the rolling stock were provided.

Orlando & Northwestern Railway

In November 2017, the Orlando & Northwestern Railway, advertised as the Royal Palm Railway Experience, began operating excursion trains using historic diesel locomotives and former Amtrak passenger cars on the same routes used by the former TE&G. In April 2019, the Florida Central Railroad closed the line from Tavares to Mount Dora to passenger rail traffic and began using it for train car storage. The ONWX continues to operate excursion trains between Tavares and Eustis.