A brief History of the Dolittle, Seemore, and Nap Railroad
The DS&N has a rich heritage dating back as far as the late 60's in Florida. At that time, the Flat River and Southern was it's name, and it was one of the first inch and a half scale railroads to operate as a commercial venture. It was one of the most renowned railroads in the area, and is mentioned prominently in the book on Large Scale Railroading by T.A. Hill and W. C. Koster which was published in the mid 70's. The FR&S ceased as a commercial venture in the early 70's, and all of the equipment except for a couple of pieces of rolling stock were sold.
The propane powered steam engine pauses in front of the road sign for the
FR&S. Note the engine house visible in the lower right corner of the
photo.
The FR&S operated for just under 3 years before it closed. Here we see
owner Ed Pruitt at the throttle.
Newspaper clippings from a North Palm Beach newspaper tell the tale. The
tunnel was 120 feet long.
Track plan for the original Flat River and Southern. The waterfall was 15
feet high, and grades exceeded 3% with curves as tight as 35'.
Today, this FR&S tool car is all that survives on the DS&N.
This caboose is the only piece of equipment to bare the current road name.
Presently the extra initial and round herald have not been repeated.
The current offspring of the Flat River and Southern, is our DS&N Railroad, replete with a nearly identical engine house, as the one used on the FR&S, with the exception of it being 10 feet longer. This style of engine house is still considered to be the epitome of engine house construction in this scale. The DS&N was started in the mid 80's, over a decade after the original FR&S vanished. The DS&N mainline was completed by the end of 2003. The remaining trackage will be completed in 2005. A major structure, the car shop and tunnel, was added in 2004. As with any model railroad, it will never (hopefully) be finished, as there will always be things to add.
