Rails in Tampa

I managed to ride the Tampa Trolley from end to end. The northern terminus is in Ybor City section of Tampa, the famed cigar district. At the other end in downtown Tampa, you are a few minutes walk from the Tampa Bay Hotel, built by H.B. Plant, the Florida Rail and shipping magnate.

This hotel was the terminus of Plant's New York City to Tampa rail line. This was later to become a large part of the Atlantic Coast Line and later the Seaboard Coast Line.

The trains would pull right up to the back of the hotel. While the rail line is long gone (now the University of Tampa Campus) the circular patios are still there and under renovation.

The entire hotel building is now part of the University of Tampa and houses the H.B. Plant Museum. When he built the hotel, he furnished it from Europe; bringing 41 boxcars loaded with furnishings from France, Italy, and elsewhere. He bought a number of small railroads to develop the Plant System to bring tourists and dignitaries from New York City and points south to Tampa to enjoy his extravagant hotel.

The museum is full of artifacts and original furnishings of the hotel, including a model locomotive.

It looks to be O-gauge. There are other items as well.

It's a neat piece of railroad history. And, I got to ride the Streetcar to get there.

Here is a shot of the diamond, where the Streetcar crosses the Amtrak line into Tampa.

All in all, it was a terrific time.