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Florida East Coast Railway has been the speedway to America's playground for more than 110 years. FEC offered some of America's finest rail passenger service until 1968 and remains the freight lifeline of Florida's east coast. The railroad arrived on the shores of Biscayne Bay on April 15, 1896, and it reached Key West in January 1912. That feat etched both Henry Flagler's and the railroad's names in Florida and U.S. railroad history. FEC's operation is so precise and punctual, its roadbed and motive power so well maintained, that it is the benchmark for every other railroad in the country.
About the author
Seth H. Bramson is one of two people in the country who bears the official title of company historian with an American railroad. He fell in love with FEC just after his arrival in Miami in 1946, at the age of two. Bramson is America's senior collector of FEC Railway and Florida transportation memorabilia, and his collection of that material is the largest in the world. He is the author of Speedway to Sunshine, the official history of the railroad; the editor of the FEC's The Story of a Pioneer, which he rewrote for the 1996 centennial; the coauthor of The Plant System of Railroads, Steamships and Hotels; and the author of more than 60 articles on Florida local and transportation history. This is his third book with Arcadia Publishing.
