The Wandering Disciple

A daytime excursion train from Seminole-Gulf Railway sits at the station preparing for a ride through Fort Myers. Guests aboard this daytime sightseeing tour got to ride the rails through Fort Myers, the Caloosahatchee River, North Fort Myers and back.  Seminole Gulf Railway is a rail company based in Southwest Florida. Primarily a cargo line, the railway hosts passenger excursions like the popular murder mystery dinner shows that take place during the evenings.  Taken: March 29, 2008 at Seminole Gulf Railways (Fort Myers, FL)

These train cars are a flashback to an era of travel gone by.  Before airplanes crossed the country, rail was the primary means of luxury travel across the country.  While train travel is not quite as popular, there are still routes for travel and routes for heritage.  One of those heritage routes is the RiverRail Excursion on Seminole-Gulf Railway in Fort Myers.  The scenic journey takes riders on a journey along the Caloosahatchee River in vintage rail cars. (Photo: March 29, 2008)

Locomotive #580 of the Seminole Gulf Railway sits at the depot in Fort Myers. The #580 is a EMD GP9 locamotive used to pull cars along the routes of the Seminole Gulf Railway which stretch from Arcadia to Naples. (Photo: March 29, 2008)

A look down the tracks from the locomotive of the Seminole-Gulf Excursion Train. The daytime excursion takes riders on a trip through Fort Myers and across the Caloosahatchee River. At night, the train doubles as a dinner murder mystery excursion. (Photo: March 29, 2008)

A locomotive from the Seminole Gulf Railway sits at the station in Fort Myers before embarking on a daytime excursion train ride along Fort Myers.  While they no longer offer the daytime trip, Seminole Gulf Railway still provides a Murder Mystery Dinner train ride on select nights.  (Photo: March 29, 2008)

Hop aboard the Seminole-Gulf Railway for a trip along the rails in Lee County. The daytime excursion take you a rail journey for over an hour including a bridge crossing of the Caloosahatchee River. In addition to the daytime excursion and dinner trains, the Seminole-Gulf Railway is still in operation for cargo traffic throughout Southwest Florida. (Photo: March 29, 2008)

For the past twenty years, the Seminole-Gulf Railways have transported passanger on leisure trips up and down Southwest Florida. Over a half million passangers have climbed aboard their trains and embarked on day excursions, murder mystery dinner trains and many more special events. The railway has been in operation since 1987 when they purchased a section of freight tracks from CSX. In 1991, they expanded their opertions to include dinner trains and eventually sightseeing trains. Today guests hop aboard four vintage railcars to embark on a journey through the area as they are transported back to the time when rail travel was the life of luxury. (Photo: March 29, 2008)

Fort Myers, Florida: Hope aboard the train and be transported back to the day when the rails were luxury transportation. Seminole Gulf Railway in Fort Myers is a functioning short line railroad that operates passenger excursions and dinner trains along with its freight fleet. Since 1991, the railway has operated passenger excursions out of their Colonial Station. Most nights of the week, they depart on a murder mystery dinner train. Riders take to the rails on four vintage railcars from the 1930’s to 1950’s. They have entertained over a half million rides in their history. They also operate a daytime excursion that takes riders on an hour and a half journey through Lee County passing through towns that flourished from the rails. The main function of the Seminole Gulf Railway is its freight service. Operating since 1987, the railroad took over tracks that were once operated by Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad. They operate two lines, one from North Na...