The FELLSMERE RR Section Foreman's House

The Fellsmere Farms Company constructed this building for the Fellsmere Railroad
(later Trans-Florida Central) in 1910. It is the oldest surviving building in Fellsmere
and for more than one hundred years has been on this location between the sites of
the depot and the power generating station.

The building was originally partitioned because until 1917 the Fellsmere Railroad was
prosperous enough to keep two section gangs and their foremen on the payroll. This
building became a private residence for much of the last fifty-five years and was
recently abandoned when the property and adjacent land was sold and slated to be
developed.

The City of Fellsmere and developer Oswald Sousa have worked carefully to save the
building and have it restored through a grant. It will be moved about six hndred feet to
the west and become part of the Rail Village that will rise on the site of the old
railroad yard. A five acre lake ringed by replica railroad buildings will be the center-
piece of the recreational area. Plans even call for an equestrian trail and the ancient
FRR/TFC railroad right-of-way will again carry traffic (foot and bicycle this time)
between the FEC Railway in Sebastian and the submerged lands of Broadmoor near
what is today's Blue Cypress Lake.

And that brings us to today's move. The sad looking little building is now atop Brownie
Company's moving dolly and as soon as the new site has been prepared, will begin its
journey into its future life.

Congrats to the City of Fellsmere. I am delighted that your vision of the future
includes such a fine view of your fabulous past.

Best regards, cabooseMikey

The FELLSMERE RR Section Foreman's House vid link:
https://youtu.be/HGO6FsDEbZc

"The Dinky"

Q: Need info on the "Dinky" 
What beginning and end years it was it in operation?




A: Aug 1, 1896 until Nov 30, 1952.



"The Dinky" is a generic term for about a dozen different cars and engines used by the
Fellsmere RR/Trans Florida Central and their predecessor narrow gauge railroad -
The Sebastian & Cincinnatus RR.

Fellsmere RR/Trans Florida Central had four steamers and their first two motor cars
in 1910 were built by the Sheffield Company. They were light but very ornate and are
actually motor cars rather than "The Dinky".

Under receivership in 1917 (caused by catastrophic flooding Jul 30 - Aug 1, 1916), a young
mechanic named Jess Dixon began building and rebuilding motor cars and trailers in an
effort to cut costs. Dixon was rapidly promoted to Superintendent. After
reorganization into Trans Florida Central in 1924, a series of Ford Model T trucks
(some very graceful looking, some rather plain) were adapted to the rails and were
ideal for connecting with FEC Railway at Sebastian to carry mail, express and a few
passengers. These are correctly called "The Dinky".

By the mid-1930s, steam service had completely ceased and "The Dinky" was used to haul
freight cars down to the junction one car at a time. A very powerful International
Harvester truck was converted into #39 and also a strange looking double-ender with
two engines and transmissions welded together called "The Beast" was home built. They
both hauled individual cars to the junction for interchange and also hauled sugar
cane cars from the fields to the sugar mill out on Lateral S with trainmen riding the
cars to provide manual braking power since "The Dinky" lacked automatic train brakes.

In 1947-48 seven new Whitcomb diesel engines (actually 'critters' rather than dinkys)
took over freight duties at the mill and junction, but No. 39 continued hauling mail and
the occasional passenger to Sebastian until loss of the mail contracts led TFC to abandonment on November 30, 1952.

The Whitcomb critters were allowed by ICC to haul Fellsmere Sugar Producers product only (no passengers or mail) to the junction for five seasons afterwards. Laborers rode on flat cars atop 100 pound sacks of refined sugar and carried the sacks on their shoulders across the FEC mainlines to the platform of the Sebastian depot located on the east side.

Court-ordered lifting and sale of the rails to satisfy creditors occurred in 1958 and a strong young man named Jerry Petersen began bulldozing the TFC right-of-way for a General Development Corp project called Sebastian Highlands.
Today, Jerry is a kindly grandfather type best known as proprietor of Poor Boys RR out west of Fort Pierce, FL and I am delighted to call him friend.

Several members of Fellsmere's OLD-TIMER CLUB including former Fellsmere Mayor
Mr. Joel Tyson recall riding the Dinky Line and helped me identify some of the old
photos.

So ...

"The Dinky Line" ran from Aug 1, 1896 until Nov 30, 1952 if you count all the motive
power on these rails not just the specifically converted trucks called "The Dinky".


Best regards,
cabooseMikey.

Earliest History

If you thought that our little story has something to do with the great man, Henry Morrison Flagler, you'd be absolutely correct.

 On Dec 27, 1890 Matthew R. Marks, Cecil G. Butt and Willis L. Palmer purchased 4 Townships of 89,600 acres for $.50/acre from Florida's Internal Improvement Fund. A site lying west of the westernmost tip of the Fleming Grant, this vast tract of marshland in the St John's River valley ten miles west of the coast was so raw that it was largely unsurveyed and submerged for at least part of the year. Their thought was that the coming of the railroad would double the value of their investment since men and equipment no longer would have to travel by barge to reach this region and draining the swamp would become practical.

Florida East Coast Railway's first revenue train reached Sebastian on 13 December 1893 as they expected, but a failed balloon payment in 1894 caused these three investors to search for a new owner.









Enter Anthony O. Russell of Hamilton County, Ohio
(Civil War Major, printer for US Printing Corp. and proprietor of Bicycle Playing Card Corp.)  He and partner John Wilmington on Apr 12, 1895 began acquiring 118,000 acres of partially submerged lands and the right-of-way to connect it to Sebastian. By 1896 he was ready to have constructed a narrow gauge railroad called Sebastian & Cincinnatus (S&C RR) {also known as Sebastian & Cincinnatus Farms RR}along Louisiana Ave and then 9.94 miles to the Cincinnatus Farms. It was to be a public service rather than an incorporated railroad and we know of no photos of it. Engineers carefully took a southwest course to avoid crossing a major legal obstacle, the diamond-shaped Fleming Grant, ancient from Spanish colonial days.

His sons, Willis W. and George G. continued after his death in 1900. Drainage work had been done by hand and flooding in 1907 caused Cincinnatus Farms and the Sebastian & Cincinnatus RR to become defunct.


John. J. and Lowe B. Heard conveyed title to E. Nelson and Anne Fell on March 9, 1910.

Fell owned 118,00 acres in Brevard and St Lucie Counties with 3000 of that being the lands lying on both sides of the S&C Farms RR. Fell offered this to the corporation in June of 1910 in his name and the names of Mr. Ordway and Mr. Maroney. Fell was by far the largest shareholder and investor of the corporation.

Sebastian's water tank

Bill, Great question about water. Attached is a screen cap of Indian River County plat from 1933 (apologize for poor quality) now hanging in the Sebastian Area Historical Society museum. In the upper left is a notation about 'north end of pump house' indicated by a small dark square. Across the tracks is the tank (circle). The concrete pads are still there today a mile south of the Sebastian River and about a half mile north of the Sebastian depot site (now vacant). The location surprisingly is in a hollow on top of the sand ridge that the hard curve is taking the railroad over on its northbound approach to the Roseland Trestle. I thought it would be at the river bank itself, but oldtimers tell me that there was a question about brackishness so they pumped clean water up through the sand dune. Fellsmere RailRoad (after 1923 Trans Florida Central) branched off at Sebastian depot and constructed its own water tower ten miles west in Fellsmere (as it never got to this water supply). That one was flow-well fed, no pump at first. Even more amazing, this location is just inside the eastern tip of the ancient Fleming Grant 115,000 acre tract from Spanish colonial days. Wow, what history here in a spot that looks like a desert from the train! Best regards, cabooseMikey.

FELLSMERE RR PRESENTATION 9-8-2012

FELLSMERE RR PRESENTATION

  The FECRS was well represented on Saturday afternoon Sep 8, 2012 at the Brevard County Library in Melbourne when cabooseMikey gave a power-point show to the South Brevard Historical Society on the Fellsmere Railroad/Trans-Florida Central. There were about 65 guests present.

  FECRS members Jerry Groothouse, Richard Benjamin, Jason Treichler,Tom Chaffee, Jeff Smith and cabooseMikey's favorite buddy, Mr. Jacob Smith (age 10), brought two large display cases full of wonderful railroad antiques and artifacts to display to the audience. There was even a long-spouted oil can similar to the one engineer Reynold Teed was using to oil-around FRR #100 in one of the slides.

  More than thirty photos, many of them 100 years old, from the Walter A. Siewert Collection were displayed power-point fashion to an appreciative audience. An hour simply flew by which was then followed by a question/answer session and Jerry's information-packed show-and-tell.

  Richard, Jason and Jeff were all on hand to answer many questions and tell about their involvement with collecting and the railroading hobby.

  My favorite helper, though, was everywhere seemingly at once with my little movie cam in hand to record as much of the presentation as possible. I have great hopes that he will follow us amateur historians simply because he sees how much fun we have.

  There are future presentations in the works and field trips being scheduled as the weather becomes a little friendlier. All are welcomed, so don't miss out on the Fellsmere Railroad when I holler "ALL ABOARD"!

cabooseMikey.