Florida's Great Ocean Railway

by Dan Gallagher

From 1905 to 1916, thousands of laborers and engineers engaged in an amazing construction project—building a railroad line from Miami to Key West. Every mile of the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway brought new surprises for the construction team. Although they were able to put the line in place for passenger service by 1912, it took four more years to complete the Extension and make Key West the southernmost rail-steamer connection in the U.S. Building the Key West Extension was a triumph of logistics—making sure the right materials were at the right location at the right time. Considering the remoteness of the Florida Keys, the sparse and unreliable communication links available, and the massive amounts of materials that had to be moved with steam power, the completed F.E.C. Key West Extension stands as a monument to those who planned its most minute details. Much of this book tells their story with nearly 250 old photographs, many taken by the engineers who built