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CSX Transportation's Carters Subdivision is a segment of CSX's A Line running from Poinciana southwest to Lakeland. The Carters Subdivision ends just west of Downtown Lakeland at Lakeland Junction, where it continues west as the Lakeland Subdivision and connects to the Vitis Subdivision. [1]
Another important junction on the line is Auburndale Interlocking, just west of Auburndale. Here, the line connects with the Auburndale Subdivision, CSX's only line to South Florida and the Miami area. Freight trains bound for Miami from the rest of the country generally come off the Vitis Subdivision and run the Carters Subdivision to reach Miami. The McDonald Connection track connects the Carters Subdivision from the south with the Auburndale Subdivision and the Can Yard Lead connects it in the north direction. [1]
Much of the freight service on the Carters Subdivision is to and from the Miami area and customers down the Auburndale Subdivision. Local freight also runs on the line with a number of customers located on the Park Spur just east of Lakeland. Local freight bound for Taft Yard and customers on the Central Florida Rail Corridor in the Orlando area also run the line. No through freight to northern Florida runs on the Central Florida Rail Corridor. [2]
The Carters Subdivision also hosts Amtrak's Silver Meteor and Silver Star trains daily. The Silver Star trains run the entire route to reach Tampa, while both trains run to Auburndale Interlocking to turn towards Miami.
In addition to the main line, there are also some notable spur lines along the Carters Subdivision. The CH Spur begins at the main line just east of Lakeland station and runs south through an industrial area along US 98 to Eaton Park. Park Spur begins at the main line just west of Carters and runs north to serve the McIntosh Power Plant. [3] Another spur also runs through Haines City.
The Carters Subdivision first began service in 1884 and was built as part of Henry B. Plant's South Florida Railroad, which extended from Sanford to Tampa. Crews building the line from each end met up and completed the line just east of Lakeland at a location called Carter's Kill, which the Carters Subdivision is named for. The South Florida Railroad was absorbed by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902, which became their main line.
The CH Spur was originally the south leg of South Florida Railroad's Pemberton Ferry Branch (the Vitis Subdivision was the north leg). The south leg would later be the northernmost segment of the Atlantic Coast Line's Lakeland–Fort Myers Line. The CH Spur was abandoned south of Eaton Park in the 1980s. The spur through Haines City was built by the Atlantic Coast Line in 1910 as the Haines City Branch, which at one point extended as far south as Everglades City.
The Atlantic Coast Line became part of CSX Transportation by 1986. [4] Prior to 2011, the Carters Subdivision's north end was at Auburndale Interlocking and the A Line north of Auburndale Interlocking was part of the Sanford Subdivision. After CSX sold the A Line north of Poinciana to the Florida Department of Transportation to create the Central Florida Rail Corridor, the Sanford Subdivision was truncated at Deland and the Carters Subdivision designation was extended up the A Line to Poinciana. [5]
U.S. Route 92 or U.S. Highway 92 is a 181-mile (291 km.) U.S. Route entirely in the U.S. state of Florida. The western terminus is at US 19 Alt. and SR 687 in downtown St. Petersburg. The eastern terminus is at SR A1A in Daytona Beach.
The South Florida Railroad was a railroad from Sanford, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, becoming part of the Plant System in 1893 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. It served as the southernmost segment of the Atlantic Coast Line's main line. The line remains in service today and is now part of the Central Florida Rail Corridor in the Orlando metro area. The rest of the line remains under the ownership of CSX Transportation as part of their A Line.
The Florida Midland Railroad Company, Inc. is one of several short line railroads operated by Regional Rail, LLC in Florida. The Florida Midland Railroad operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines including their former Lake Wales Subdivision, and their former Bartow Subdivision. It once had a third line from Wildwood to Leesburg that is now mostly abandoned. Florida Midland Railroad began operating the lines in 1987 and uses locomotives branded for the Florida Central Railroad, its sister railroad.
The South Central Florida Express, Inc. is a common carrier shortline railroad in southern Florida run by U.S. Sugar Corporation. Its trains operate from Sebring to Fort Pierce via Clewiston around the southern perimeter of Lake Okeechobee, and serves customers at 26 locations. With 171 miles (275 km) of track, the SCXF is the largest private agricultural railroad in the U.S.
The Silver Meteor is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) and one of the flagship trains of its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). The train was transferred to Amtrak when it took over intercity passenger rail service in 1971.
The Silver Star is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 1,522-mile (2,449 km) route between New York City and Miami via Washington, D.C., Richmond, Virginia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, and Tampa, Florida. The Silver Star and its sister train in the Silver Service brand, the Silver Meteor, are the descendants of numerous long-distance trains that operated between Florida and New York for most of the 20th century.
U.S. Highway 17 (US 17) in Florida is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs 317 miles (510 km) from the Punta Gorda, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area northeast to the Jacksonville metropolitan area.
SunRail is a commuter rail system in the Greater Orlando, Florida, area. Services began on May 1, 2014. The system comprises 17 stations along a former CSX Transportation line connecting Volusia County and Osceola County through Downtown Orlando. The SunRail system is financed by the state and federal governments and the counties it serves. SunRail is Florida's second commuter rail system after South Florida's Tri-Rail.
The Seaboard–All Florida Railway was a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that oversaw two major extensions of the system in the early 1920s to southern Florida on each coast during the land boom. One line extended the Seaboard's tracks on the east coast from West Palm Beach down to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, while the other extension on the west coast extended the tracks from Fort Ogden south to Fort Myers and Naples, with branches from Fort Myers to LaBelle and Punta Rassa. These two extensions were heavily championed by Seaboard president S. Davies Warfield, and were constructed by Foley Brothers railroad contractors. Both extensions also allowed the Seaboard to better compete with the Florida East Coast Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, who already served the lower east and west coasts of Florida respectively.
The Florida Western and Northern Railroad was a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that expanded their network in the 1920s by building a rail line from Coleman, Florida all the way to West Palm Beach via Auburndale and Sebring, a distance of 204 miles. The line would be extended to Miami by the Seaboard-All Florida Railway, another Seaboard Air Line subsidiary, shortly after with the full line from Coleman to Miami becoming the Seaboard Air Line's Miami Subdivision. The line is still in service today from Auburndale to West Palm Beach and is now operated by Seaboard successor CSX Transportation as their Auburndale Subdivision.
The Lakeland Subdivision is a CSX Transportation rail line in Florida. It runs along CSX's A Line from just west of Lakeland and heads west through Plant City to the community of Mango in Hillsborough County, just east of Tampa.
The Sanford Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. The line runs along CSX's A Line from St. Johns south through Palatka to DeLand. At its north end it continues south from the Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision on the A Line and at its south end it continues south as the Central Florida Rail Corridor.
The Tampa Terminal Subdivision is a group of railroad lines owned by CSX Transportation in and around Tampa, Florida. The Tampa Terminal Subdivision covers track around Yeoman and Uceta Yards and is located at the end of two of CSX's U.S. East Coast main lines to Richmond, Virginia, the A Line and the S Line.
CSX Transportation's Valrico Subdivision is a railroad line in Central Florida. It serves as CSX's main route through a region of Central Florida known as the Bone Valley, which contains the largest known deposits of phosphate in the United States.
The Wildwood Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. It runs along CSX's S Line from Baldwin south to Zephyrhills via Ocala and Wildwood for a total of 155.7 miles. The S Line is CSX's designation for the line that was the Seaboard Air Line Railroad main line from 1903 to 1967.
The Yeoman Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. It runs along CSX’s S Line from Zephyrhills south to just east of Tampa via Plant City for a total of 31.2 miles.
The Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad was a 13-mile railroad line running from Tampa, Florida northeast to Thonotosassa. The line began operation in 1893 and began at a junction with the South Florida Railroad in Tampa. The line had a station in Thonotosassa. The line was bought out by the Plant System in 1901 which was then sold to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Haines City Branch was a railroad line running from their main line in Haines City, Florida south through southern Central Florida. The line notably ran through Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, and Immokalee and would stretch as far south as Everglades City upon its completion in 1928. Everglades City would be the southernmost point the entire Atlantic Coast Line Railroad system would ever reach. The Haines City Branch was one of the Atlantic Coast Line's major additions to its Florida network, much of which was previously part of the Plant System.
The CSX A Line forms the backbone of the historic Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Main Line, the backbone of their network in the southeastern United States. The main line runs from Richmond, Virginia to Port Tampa just southwest of Tampa, Florida, a distance of nearly 900 miles. Along its route it passes through Petersburg, Rocky Mount, Florence, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Orlando. With the exception of a short 61-mile segment in Greater Orlando, the entire line is owned by CSX Transportation.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's DuPont—Lakeland Line was a historic rail line in southern Georgia and the northern west coast of Florida. On employee timetables, the line was actually divided into the DuPont—High Springs Line and the High Springs—Lakeland Line. The line was primarily used for freight, though some passenger services ran on parts of it in Florida. While parts of the line were built as early as 1863, the full line was not complete until 1913. Parts of the line in Florida are still active today.