Boca Grande drying bin #1, located on the eastern side of the island. The below image is taken from an eastern vantage point within the harbor looking west at the southern end of the elevator (Images courtesy of Florida Memory, Florida State Archives)
Boca Grande, Florida was the southern terminus of the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway and a vital link in developing the export phosphate markets for Florida. CH&N is a relatively modern railroad and became part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1925 when the desire to secure phosphate shipments from American Agricultural Chemical Company (Agrico) in Pierce, Florida deep in the heart of what is now known as the "Bone Valley". The railway was built to access the deep water port of Charlotte Harbor via Boca Grande Pass.
A phosphate elevator was constructed at the southern end of Gasparilla Island which allowed for automated loading of deep drafting ships. The phosphate was delivered to the elevator via the length of Boca Grande island and connected with points north and east via two miles of bent pile trestle.
Other improvements to the area include large oil storage tanks and off loading where Belcher Oil, of Miami, Florida, and later Florida Power and Light, would use to store fuel.
My inspiration for modeling these historic and unique operations came from my love to fish. I've fished in Boca Grande for many years, and never once have lost an interest in how this fisherman's playground came to be through the railroad. My family has been in railroading for many generations, when my then great-grandfather retired from Seaboard Air Line Railroad as a road foreman of engineers.
I hope to create a prototypical, historically accurate piece of Florida's phosphate operation set in the 1960s after the Seaboard Coast Line merger in 1967 in HO scale. This blog will serve as a vehicle to share information, modeling projects, and historic images for those who have an interest in Boca Grande's unique history.
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