November/December 1999 Issue

Mystery Train
Dining and solving murders on the Seminole Gulf Railway

“You like trains,” I tell my reluctant 11-year-old daughter. “You like plays. And you like to eat. It’ll be an adventure,” I say while driving to Ft. Myers. We’re heading to Colonial Station for a four-hour evening of mystery aboard Seminole Gulf Railway’s Dinner Train Theater.
   The little coral-colored station puts me in a train-traveling mood and makes me wish for more American trains. The station’s gift shop is full of bumper stickers (“Old Railfans Never Die—They Just Lose Track”), T-shirts, postcards, and videos about trains. There are books on railroading for children and adults, and magazines such as Rail News, Trains, Model Railroader, and Finescale Railroader.
   It’s a little past 6 p.m., and several people are boarding. The train has an engine at one end, a flashy blue with bright yellow and orange stripes, and another engine at the other end. Passengers sit in reconditioned 1930-40s vintage railcars, named Sanibel, Captiva, Gasparilla, and Marco, which is a half-dining/half-kitchen car.
   Seminole Gulf’s congenial passenger service manager, Carl Appelberg, says hello as we board our assigned car, the Sanibel. Almost all of its 64 seats are full. The other cars remain empty on this Thursday night.
   The Dinner Train Theater is part of the Seminole Gulf Railway system, which owns and operates almost 100 miles of track, from Arcadia to North Naples. A separate 34-mile line of Seminole Gulf extends from Oneco (Bradenton), to Sarasota, to Venice on original Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line tracks. After purchasing the two lines from CSX Transportation, Seminole Gulf began freight operations in 1987. It is the only freight railroad in Southwest Florida, hauling much of the region’s building materials, newsprint, beer, liquid propane gasoline, pulpwood, logs, stone, and other commodities.
   The railway began its dinner train and passenger excursions in 1991. Since its first production, Murder on the Seminole Express, it has premiered 12 original murder mystery productions and hosted more than 120,000 patrons.
   Seminole Gulf also runs three-hour Sunday twilight excursions, leaving at 5:30 p.m., featuring a five-course dinner and the sunset as its evening show. In addition, the train line offers 20-mile sightseeing excursions to the Caloosahatchee Trestle and 30-mile trips to Bayshore, just north of the Caloosahatchee.
   The train features special excursions for the holidays. It offers Thanksgiving Day dinner at two seatings—12:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.—serving a traditional New England feast. During the month of December it offers combination rail/boat trips, providing a tour of holiday lighting displays from the water and a meal on the train. It also offers a special holiday presentation as part of its Dinner Train Theater and has scheduled a New Year’s Eve celebration on the train.
   Seminole Gulf Railway joins a long timeline of Southwest Florida railroading history, dating back more than 100 years. Florida Southern Railroad operated the first train from Arcadia into Punta Gorda in 1886 on 3-foot narrow-gauge track. A few years later it was widened to standard gauge of 4 feet, 81/2 inches. The Atlantic Coast Line extended the track to Ft. Myers, and the first locomotive crossed the Caloosahatchee River in 1904. A joint venture built track to Bonita Springs in 1924, Naples in 1927, and an extension to Marco Island later that year.

Murder on the Menu
As we prepare to leave the station for our evening’s entertainment, we decide on refreshments. The train has a full cash bar, and the menu lists three specials: Little Red Caboose, a frozen strawberry margarita; Seminole Smile, an alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) strawberry-banana daiquiri; and Choo-Choo Shuffle, a frozen drink of Kahlua, vodka, vanilla ice cream, and piña colada. A quick glance at other tables shows that passengers don’t need any prodding to try the specials.
   Carlos, a friendly server, takes our order and mentions that during the evening, servers try to stay out of the actors’ way. We have a choice of salad or fruit cup, and boneless breast of chicken, poached Atlantic salmon, or roast prime rib of beef. Carlos explains that the menu stays the same year-round, except for the soup and dessert.
   We munch on cheese and crackers, grapes, and cantaloupe. Everyone boards and we pull out of the station at 6:20 p.m. Tim Gunderman, an actor with the train’s troupe, Misfit Productions Inc., walks to the middle of the car to introduce himself. The play tonight is Bloodline, “a Robert H. Fay Production of an original murder mystery.”
   Gunderman says we’ll journey almost as far as Punta Gorda, with a stop on the Caloosahatchee to watch the sunset.
   Our Bloodline playbill states: “It’s Uncle Monty’s 102nd birthday, and each year the Kingston clan gathers for his party aboard the Seminole Gulf Railway, as a tribute to the source of his millions. Watch as greedy Kingstons try to get their paws on Uncle Monty’s money. You must decide who the family villain really is.”
   We’re told to take notes and fill out answer sheets by the end of the eight 5-minute scenes. The winner will be announced after the resolution. The troupe has an easy night, with passengers in just one car. In season when the train is heavily booked, cast members perform each scene four times—once in each car.
   The first scene starts with two of the play’s four cast members. We’re near the middle of the car and they talk loudly, but when they’re at either end of the car, it’s not as easy to hear them. We furiously write down some basic clues.
   The train is not too wobbly and moves at an enjoyable pace. By 6:40 we’re going past Terry Park. Our car is nicely decorated in pale blue wallpaper with a pink flowered pattern, ceiling fans, and flowered hatboxes in the luggage racks.
   Shortly before 7 p.m., we cross the Caloosahatchee River. It’s raining out and doesn’t look like much of a sunset. The train stops.
   Delicious corn chowder and hot rolls arrive. “Everything is prepared on board,” notes a server named Missy.
   Two actors come through, dressed as party revelers. All of a sudden, the sunset is prettier. At 7:30, the train starts moving again, and our salads (or fruit cups) arrive.
   The scenery varies wildly, from timeless river views to trailer parks and then horses grazing peacefully near the tracks.
   A few minutes before 8 p.m., we stop near Interstate 75 and our entrees arrive. It’s dark by 8:15, but lights from the top of the train shine mysteriously onto the greenish-blackish Florida countryside. At 8:30, the other engine goes to work, pulling us back home. Lightning flashes across the sky, adding to the mysterious mood.
   At the end of the eighth scene, we fill out our answer sheets. Actor Howard Dobinsky reminds everyone that the villain “is not any of the servers, passengers, O.J., or Monica Lewinsky, who has done enough.”
   While eating our just-right-not-too-sweet chocolate cup with Seminole orange cream mousse, we groan at the resolution. We’re losers at our table. A woman near the end of the car is the winner, and Gunderman gives her a Seminole Gulf coffee mug full of candy. At least I think that’s what he says is in the mug. It’s hard to hear with everyone else—the losers—talking and laughing loudly as we pull into the station about 9:40.
   For information on Seminole Gulf Railway’s holiday/winter schedule, call 941/275-8487 or 800/SEM-GULF (800/736-4853). Its Web site is www.semgulf.com. Trains depart from Colonial Station in Ft. Myers, located off the intersection of Colonial Boulevard and Metro Parkway, behind the former Amtel Mall. The station is about two miles east of U.S. Route 41, and three miles west of Interstate 75, Exit 22.

By Libby Grimm