Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

Here are the old Beneva Road cantilever signals on the Seminole Gulf Sarasota line.....

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... ,,0,-10.21

The one on the right, I believe, was hit in an accident and removed a few months ago.

Now here is a view, which leads me to believe there is a NEW cantilever to take its place! (Along with the old one on the other side of the road)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 2&t=k&z=20

Notice the placement of the "X" on the shadow compared to the older signal.....

Now, here's the kicker....Seminole Gulf, has not served this part of Sarasota in almost a decade. Based on track improvements down the line (just compare some of the crossings southward from the new satellite view to street view to tell the difference -- it is not as overgrown anymore! You can also see railroad equipment in the aerial view) I think SGLR may be bringing back freight service, however sporadic, back this way! After all, if there are no plans to serve that area, why buy a new cantilever?

Here are some videos of SGLR service on the northern part of the Sarasota line:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvFAA_Wy1w0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8cz663nOag

I've never seen any railroad that had signals/maintainers that great but tracks and a railroad that bad except SGLR
would love to buy out that operation and fix it up got some good line segment really its not that bad of a railroad, they just need more money.

Yeah SGLR is kind of a podunk operation....I guess they can't justify maintaining the Sarasota line seeing how little service it gets (next to none -- maybe once weekly with a 3/4 car train). Of course the lack of service could be changing if the warehouse down the line starts accepting rail shipments again. The Ft. Myers line isn't in too bad of shape, and that gets considerably more traffic.

There are nice signals throughout the line, and they're likely all in decent shape due to the lack of use. No wear and tear.