Flagler's Train: The Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad | Documentary

I came to America on a boat from Cuba in May of 1980; it docked in Key West. My first car ride in this great nation was on the overseas highway from Key West to Miami. Thanks Henry.

My great great grandfather was the engineer on this job. My great grandma was there as a child and wrote a book about it at the age of 100. Its called "The Bridges Stand Tall" by Priscilla Pyfrom if anyone is interested.

I was in the Army and stationed at Homestead at the tail end of the Cuban Missile Crisis for a couple of years. Drove that route to Key West many times. The legend of a railroad intrigued me and I spent many hours and days exploring the backwaters down to Key Largo finding remnants of it. This is a great video and while it brings back many memories it also makes me realize how I miss that area. I know that today it is not all like it was and I would probably be disappointed at what I find. Today I'm about as far away as you can get up in the boonies of far NE Washington state and too old to go that far ever again. By the way evidence of that 1935 hurricane were still evident in the '60's. Blown down and blasted trees in the Everglades.

Around 1995 visitors to Pigeon Key were being shown a very short video clip with no sound. I had bought one of the first digital editing system on the market and looking for a project to learn it on, I offered to redo the video, lengthen it and add sound. Word of mouth and an ad in local media about an after hours photo capture session at the Marathon library produced a treasure trove of private pictures from family albums that had never before been seen by the public. I'm proud that my first project was a success.

I grew up in Key West in the 50’s through the 80’s.. This is probably one of the best documentary on Flagler’s Railroad I’ve seen..

Thank you South Florida PBS for this excellent program. Ever since I was a child, I'm 78 now and have always wondered about Mr. Flagler's railroad. Now I know. From Chicago much obliged. :face-red-heart-shape::face-purple-wide-eyes:

I haven't been everywhere, but I've to a lot of places in this increasingly small world and I have to say Key West is the most unique place I have ever been.

What Flagler and his board couldn't imagine was that the US Navy decided to switch to oil to power their ships in 1910, thus the coaling stations were no longer needed, including the Keys coal dock. Oil allowed naval ships to cruise longer distances at greater speeds for less cost, and tankers were designed to refuel ships while at sea. This decision began the long decline of coal as oil and natural gas displaced coal as a fuel in shipping, homes, and industry. Even the railroads stopped using coal in the 1950s when they converted to diesels! Eventually Florida would become more modern with an electrical grid that allowed electrification of homes and industry so that by 1940 everything that Flagler had envisioned became a reality.

And our legacy is that we gave away the Panama Canal, let our infrastructure rot, and don’t even know how to build anything except smart phones…

For those of you who enjoyed this documentary as I did, I would heartily recommend Les Sandiford's book, The Last Train To Paradise. It is an extremely entertaining but very scholarly treatment of Henry Flagler and his development of east Florida. Mr. Sandiford's description of the intensity of the hurricanes that came through the region during the construction of the over-sea railroad as well as the famous 1935 hurricane which is reputed to be the most powerful hurricane to ever make landfall in the US, are basically masterpieces of description. Mr. Sandiford's descriptions really bring it home.

Congratulations! This is by far the best documentary off all time about this great engineering event. You also did a great job telling about the individuals involved in its completion. I've visited Whitehall a couple of times and have always been interested in Mr Flagler. Well done!

This was an excellent documentary. I love PBS. Being a rail and transportation historian, I've been aware of the Flagler and Florida East Coast story for years. One of my favorite movies is Key Largo from 1948, which starred Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor. Mentioned in that film are many of the places in the Keys. They even mentioned that hurricane of 1935 when the train was washed off the tracks. The story was told by Lionel Barrymore.

I remember my dad coming home and dusting his jacket as he hung up his keys and took off his boots. Ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you this is all accurate recollection

I worked at The Breakers in the early 1980's as a culinarian. Awesome experience going to the beach after work in winter.

Riveting video. Brightline has just sent it's first passengers via high speed railway from Orlando to Miami. I'm central Florida born in 1965 and rode in my parents car to the Keys many times over the original overseas hwy. Even to this present time I drive to Key West every year and camp at Bahia Honda State Park. I love the Keys and have my reservations for next August. Thank you Mr. Flagler.

I will be visiting Key West in January. Until I watched this documentary I knew nothing about Flagler or his railway. It's a real shame that it failed to survive the Great Depression. A highway is no substitute for a railroad.

Flagler's Key West railroad was a gift to Florida. Without, who knows how long it would have taken to settle Florida.

I love the history of Flagler's Key West railroad and that you can still see part of it today. Living in Michigan I remember once driving on the Overseas Hwy while they were building the new one. Great documentary.

This is truly, one of the greatest accomplishments. Imagine not having the technology there is today, the architects were spot on. It’s incredible !! The only thing they couldn’t beat, was Mother Nature.

Seth Bramson was my professor of Florida history many years ago at FIU. Absolutely fascinating course (got an A). Glad to see he's doing well!