Their site seems to have disappeared. I know for years they ran under the name of "Inland Lakes Railway," but now they (and their equipment) seem to have disappeared.

For those not-in-the-know, this was a tourist railroad based near Orlando, Florida.

I believe they also operated under the name "The Orlando and Mount Dora Railroad"

They are owned and opperated by Rail Entertainment USA. Click here to go to their webpage. ---> http://www.rail-road.com/More/AboutUs.php

Actually the truth.... can make for a long story!
Inland lakes was but one of several names. There were about eight owners over a ten year period.....all with pretty much the same management, even mostly the same employees.....and most of those owners/management, unfortunately, thought they could make it with little or no investment in it. The average owner had about $100-150K in it and seemed to think they could instantly pull boat loads of cash out of it.......
Sad, considering the operation was near orlando and disney, they should have been able to easily see over 100K passengers/year.......
Anyway, the current situation is......The newest owner apparently failed to pay anything for the operation, owes extensive back rent, etc....... basically he has no business at all.
The equipment is all up for sale.... check Barnhardt for the dinner train and one locomotive.
Theres much more to the story, but it would take too long to detail it all here.......
Supposedly there are several parties interested in it, but, with the economy.......?

Thanks for the info. I knew about the most recent takeover, but heard the operation was defunct before they even turned a wheel.

This is truly an unfortunate story -- I have relatives in the area near the railroad, and would visit several times a year, making sure to stop by and take a ride. Always hoped to retire to this area and keep some involvement in the rail community; who knows, maybe bring a bit of steam expertise... Now that's grandiose thinking!

Hope something comes out of it!

That's too bad. Seems like they had a good operation going. They were running trains down to Orlando for the pro basketball gems as the track was only a few blocks away. Got to ride a excursion once when down on vacation. seemed like the whole operation had promise.

Hopefully the equipment will go some where good. Does the line have any freight traffic?

The funny thing is they did have an operational steam locomotive for a few years. One of those "here today, gone later today" deals.

The main issues more than anything else was that there was basically no advertising, and Mount Dora might as well be in Alabama---you have to know where it is to find it. Charming little town, but well off the beaten path. You might have been able to make a go of it running from Orlando to Mount Dora to let the passengers off for shopping and lunch. Running out of Mount Dora to Orlando (or other destinations) as they liked to do didn't work out so well.

Kevin,
You're right, there was basically no advertising......they never had the money or would invest it. They tried a couple times to do a commercial on local tv but never could/would keep it going consistently.
as to the steam loco, it was Reader #4, a 2-6-2. It arrived after filming "o brother where art thou", in '00. Heres a picture of #4 from mid-2000, early in its stay in Mt Dora.
Note the removed dome cover, I think this was the first bolier wash day......
Funny that you mentioned a trip from Orlando to Mt. Dora......While they operated as "Orlando and Mt. Dora", between Dec '01 and Feb '03, they had just such a trip. For a short time they ran #4 with a lounge/club car named Calumet club (currently at SLRG in Colorado), several ex-Long Island 2900 coaches and an ex-NYC Combine. As long as they advertised, they were seeing 300-400 passengers during the winter season........only ran one year though....they seemed to lose interest, among other things.....The owners packed up in Feb '03 and soon after started SLRG....

Soon there will be a Orlando Star Clipper Dinner train operating a little north(?) of Orlando.

Florida Central owns the branch to Mt. Dora, but the line no longer has any freight customers past Tavares on the Mt. Dora branch. There is a wye in Tavares, with the Mt. Dora line leading off to the northeast, while the other end continues up to Eustis where the railroad delivers to a drywall company. The whole area is really neat to see in Florida winding through orange groves and past fields of produce and cypress trees. Considering how close it is to Orlando, I don't believe the scenery will continue to remain as agricultural in another 20 years.

The Magic Express trains were really great to ride. Leaving from Eustis in the afternoon and then riding along 441 to downtown Orlando and along the busier portion of the Florida Central. Trains would have to stop at Plymouth so the engineer could sign the trains out of the north block and request permission from whatever freight crew was operating to enter the south. The north block had mostly jointed rail and was fun to feel a ride on while the south was all welded and the scenery changed as the railroad got closer to downtown. I know most would argue that seeing abandoned freight houses and traffic backed up along Orange Blossom Trail doesn't sound exciting, but when you don't have to sit in that traffic and watch the faces on all those drivers as we cruise right into downtown, it provided some great entertainment.

I just learned that the cars of Florida Rail Adventure just passed through New York a few days ago. A neighbor mentioned he saw them stopped at a grade crossing just west of the New Baltimore, NY Thruway rest stop. I saw his photos, but neglected to ask him which direction they were going!!! A bad oversight, I know. I will find out more and repost.

The current name is The Orange Blossom Cannonball and is running out of Tavares, Florida. One of the Reader steam engined, a 2-6-0 is the motive power. The train runs on Weekends and is currently running Santa Specials.

Check this web site:

http://www.orangeblossomcannonball.com/

See you in Florida.

Warren

I believe your information is a few years inaccurate, and that's just the beginning.

dave

The four cars from this operation that were listed with Barnhardt are now on their way to the Saratoga & North Creek - a dome, coach, diner and power car.