Downtown Orlando, Fl

[Paulman]

Thanks, Gary; your modeling is very inspiring. Great storm drains!

Sadly, that siding is the main line of the Northbound branch. It once bore U.S. presidents and Chicago gangsters, but it's rather sad these days. There is talk and political wrangling at present about upgrading it to link Eustis and Tavares into the nascent Orlando commuter rail service, but we'll see.

Okay, two more for tonight; your recent bridge project brought it to mind. This is the Dora Canal bridge just outside Tavares. Until this was built a century or so ago the entire region was serviced by barges working the area lakes linked by canals like this one. The railroad threw this bridge up (or its ancestor) virtually overnight, trapping a number of barges on the lake—as well as the HQ of one of the main barge shippers!


The bridge itself is nothing special, but check out the other side (I'm not on the RR bridge, but a regular one, see below—the RR bridge is straight ahead but blocked by the trees). This scene is so central Florida. I'd like to use it in my layout design if possible to separate the urban industrial settings nearer Orlando from the more rural ones like Tool World. I would aim to use trees much larger than the norm to create shade over the water. And spanish moss! Somehow.