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| Not many people know it, but the City of Disney Springs, Florida has a storied past as a railroad town back in early-to-mid part of the 20th century. This plaque, located along Disney Springs' Hill Street, commemorates the city's railroad heritage. |
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| Back in the day the Sunshine Rail Line passed through town; I think the famed train City of Miami passed through as well. We recently searched around the town to see what remnants of the former railroads could still be found. |
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| The train station for the city was located here at the top of Hill Street. Since trains no longer come through town, the former-station was sadly turned into a bathroom complex. |
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| The remnants of a former locomotive turntable can still be faintly found in the city's West End Plaza in front of what is now the STK restaurant. |
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| Presumably the trains arrived in town via its West Side on an elevated trestle. |
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| The tracks are long gone but some of the trestles remain standing. The City was supposed to turn this trestle top into a park for drinking and dining but we don't know whatever happened with that. |
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| What we don't understand is why the tracks might have turned here towards the lake. We would think that arriving trains would have proceeded directly over the No. 5 Bridge towards the station. Unfortunately, we could not locate any of the town's old-timers to ask. |
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| Trains would then have crossed the turntable as they pulled into the station just beyond it. As you can see, not a lot remains anymore of Disney Springs' railroad heritage but it remains nonetheless a pilgrimage site for railfans from across America (and Brazil). |
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