P51, I had never thought of modeling anything here in Florida because most, if not all of it, was in standard gauge and I really had gotten the On30 bug. What to do? And then along came an article in one of the On30 Annuals (2018 I think, but not sure) talking about an alternate reality/history for a model railroad and I went full steam ahead (pun intended). So its all your fault . The Kissimmee Valley Extension of the FEC started in New Smyrna Beach and ended in Okeechobee. The plan was for this to be a mainly agricultural railroad with light passenger service. In my reality, around the time the line was abandoned in 1947, a group of the ranchers and farmers got together and purchased a portion of the right of way (from Holopaw to Okeechobee) and formed their own railroad to get their goods to market. Although trucks were making inroads into the freight-hauling business, road infrastructure was still lacking and unreliable.

The group got a good deal on the right of way except that all of the rolling stock had been re-assigned to the FEC mainline along the coast. As it turned out though, around that time many narrow gauge short lines were being abandoned and the ranchers and farmers group got a lot of equipment for very little money. The only thing they had to do was to shift one rail over a few inches, which is what they did. And the rest, as they say is history.

This is just a quick overview of my alternate reality but it all began with an article from you. Thank you very much.