- In 1911 The Narrow Gauge Railway Co.
operated by Teddy Collins and Sons, known as the Narrow Gauge Starfire
Co., originally from the Oak Hill area of Pennsylvania, was contracted
in May of 1910 by the operations board for the then fledging Florida East
Coast Railway and Navigation Co. to begin dredging in the Miami byway area
for an intended spur link from their interchange 'Y' at mile post 289.
-
- In so doing, since the Florida East Coast
Railway was standard gauge (4' 8 1/2" as per modern AAR standards)
the large road engines and the lighter switchers, were much too heavy to
operate on the required light rails (30 lbs. per yard) that construction
trains running on the sand based ground in an around the area were using,
resorted to contracting a narrow gauge railroad builder and operator to
perform the works.
-
- Teddy Collins was the outfit. The man
himself was a lumberman who fell back on railway construction work to offset
the downturn in lumbering that was vexing the nation in the 1906-13 time
frame. He got the contract to construct the following:
-
- 1. A 6 mile long elevated standard gauge
RR bed from the FECRwy.
- junction in western Miami, then curve
through downtown Miami proper,
- crossing the waterway-mud area in question,
then terminating with a
- branch that would come to the ocean side
stead.
-
- 2. A twin turntable pier structure for
a low slung Howe-Truss center
- span bridge. (the 'Circle' in question).
-
- 3. Laid course to be with 100 per yard
rail.
-
-
- In 1913 Collins finished construction
but the excavation of the waterway nearly broke him. The remnants of native
American artifacts in the area is a result of the deep muck removal of
material on the site in the attempt to form a more stable road bed. The
attempt in this area failed. The FECRwy. abandoned the 6 mile spur in favor
of Teamsters moving freight from the FECRwy. railhead to downtown locations.
The circle in question was the standard design base at the time of building
a Howe-Truss, center bearing bridge traverse.
-
- Thought I would let you know.
-
- References:
-
- 'The Railroad in the Sun'. The FECRwy.Co.'
- Howell North Books, 1962
- John T. Labbe
-
- 'Lumbering and Logging in Pennsylvania'
- Veron Goe and John Kasler
- 1970-(out of print--collectors edition)
-
- 'The Locomotives that Baldwin built'
- Coronado Press, 1969
- Elgin Meeks
-
- 'Rails Through Dixie'
- Peach Tree Press, 1975
- John Vilden and Ennice Kregg
-
- 'The Climax Locomotive. A Geared Wonder'
- Narrow Gauge Pictorial
- Dann James Historical Publishers, 1980
- (Pg. 133. Pict. of locomotive used in
the dredging work. Locomotive
- CN # 190,. Climax Locomotive Works, Corry
Penny.)
-
- 'Mikado: The Locomotives of Florida'
- (a trieste to the 2-8-2 Wheel Arrangement
For Fast Freight on Light Ground.'
- Locomotive Historical Quarterly.
- DoT Document number 388.55.A (1989)
-
- And lastly, there are far more compelling
'circles' of note that are real, not railroad excavations, at the sound
end of the Kennedy Space Center along the Banana River. Wonder why no one
is talking about that. Perhaps a little too close to 'Space' based subject
matter?
-
- sincerely,
-
- Robert A.M. Stephens
- NASA Documentation Program
- Stillwater Mills
- Contractor-Aerospace
- KSC-PIB/shuttle
- 406-745-3818
- sti3818@montana.com
- http://198.116.116.10/gallery/arts/samples.html
- http://cdfnet.com/RAMSES/
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