Folkston Cutoff | |||
---|---|---|---|
Overview | |||
Status | Still operating | ||
Owner | Plant System (1901-1902) Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (1902-1967) Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (1967-1986) CSX Transportation (1986-present) | ||
Termini | |||
Technical | |||
Line length | 54.3 mi (87.4 km) | ||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
Electrification | No | ||
Signalling | Centralized traffic control | ||
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The Folkston Cutoff is a railroad line in southern Georgia. It runs from Jesup southwest to Folkston, a distance of 54 miles. It was built in 1901 by the Plant System to allow trains from the northeast to Florida to bypass their busy terminal in Waycross.
In 1881, the Plant System (founded by Henry B. Plant) built its second line into Florida, the Waycross Short Line. This line ran from the Plant system's main line (the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway) at Waycross southeast to Jacksonville, Florida, which was becoming a major rail junction and shipping port. [1]
By 1893, the Plant system's competitor, the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P) (which later became the Seaboard Air Line Railroad) completed a line running directly from Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville. This gave the FC&P an advantage since their route was 36 miles shorter between those locations than the Plant system's route through Waycross. Plant System officials were distraught over the completion of this line as they thought building a line through the marshes closer to the coast was not feasible. [2]
In 1901, two years after Henry Plant's death, the Plant System built the Folkston Cutoff to shorten the distance between Savannah and Jacksonville. The Folkston Cutoff would shorten it by about 16 miles and would bypass the Plant System's busy terminal in Waycross. [3] It crossed the Brunswick and Western Railroad in Nahunta, another Plant System line. The Folkston Cutoff would be one of the last additions to the Plant System before it was sold to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. [4]
The Atlantic Coast Line recognized the importance of the Folkston Cutoff and made it part of their main line (which in its entirety ran from Richmond, Virginia to Tampa, Florida). The Atlantic Coast Line would fully expand its main line to double track in 1925 along with the installation of automatic block signaling. [1] Though much of the Folkston Cutoff has been restored to a single track. The Atlantic Coast Line became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967 after merging with their former rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (who operated their competing route to the east). In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System, creating the CSX Corporation. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation.
The Folkston Cutoff remains in service today and it is now part of CSX's A Line (the designation for the former Atlantic Coast Line main line). This segment is designated as the Nahunta Subdivision and it remains an important route for trains running from the northeast to Florida. All of Amtrak's Florida service uses the Folkston Cutoff.
In Folkson, the Folkston Railfan Platform was built in 2001 by the city for viewing trains. This was built since most of CSX's traffic to Florida passes through Folkston, some of which runs on the Folkston Cutoff. [5]
Milepost [6] [3] | City/Location | Station [7] | Connections and notes |
---|---|---|---|
A 548.2 | Jesup | Jesup | junction with Savannah, Florida and Western Railway (ACL) |
A 553.0 | Leake | ||
A 558.3 | Broadhurst | ||
A 563.5 | O'Neal | ||
A 567.7 | Hortense | Hortense | Junction with Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad (AB&A/ACL) |
A 573.2 | Raybon | ||
A 576.9 | Nahunta | Nahunta | junction with Brunswick and Western Railroad (SF&W/ACL) |
A 582.0 | Shea | ||
A 588.5 | Winokur | ||
A 592.0 | Newell | ||
A 598.4 | Burch | ||
A 602.5 | Folkston | Folkston | junction with Waycross and Florida Railroad (SF&W/ACL) |
The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was the final name of a system of railroads throughout Florida, becoming part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900. The system, including some of the first railroads in Florida, stretched from Jacksonville west through Tallahassee and south to Tampa. Much of the FC&P network is still in service under the ownership of CSX Transportation.
The Plant System named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, running across southern Georgia. The Plant Investment Company was formed in 1882 to lease and buy other railroads and expand the system. Other major lines incorporated into the system include the Savannah and Charleston Railroad and the Brunswick and Western Railroad.
The Brunswick and Western Railroad is a historic railroad in southern Georgia that at its greatest extent ran from Brunswick near the coast to Albany. Segments of the line still exist today. The Brunswick and Florida Railroad ran from Brunswick west to Glenmore, where it would connect with the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad.
The Charleston and Savannah Railway was a 19th-century American railroad serving the coastal states of South Carolina and Georgia and running through part of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Its name varied slightly over time:
The Dothan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Georgia and Alabama. The line runs from Thomasville, Georgia, to Montgomery, Alabama, for a distance of 211.1 miles (339.7 km).
The Callahan Subdivision is a CSX Transportation railroad subdivision within the Jacksonville Division on the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The sub extends northward 20 miles from Baldwin, Florida, where the Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision's S Line and Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad meet just north of Baldwin Yard, a classification yard. According to Jacksonville Division Timetable Number 4 published in 2005, the sub runs from milepost SM 0.18 to milepost SM 20.0, where it joins the Nahunta Subdivision, a former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, in Callahan, Florida. The line serves as a bypass to Jacksonville.
The Jesup Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Georgia. The line runs from Jesup to Folkston where the Folkston Funnel railfan area is. The total length is 72.7 miles. At its north it continues south from the Nahunta Subdivision and at its south end it continues south as the Nahunta Subdivision.
The Brunswick Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in southeast Georgia. The line runs from Waycross, Georgia, to Brunswick, Georgia on the southeastern coast, a distance of nearly 50 miles. At its northwest end it connects to the Jesup Subdivision in Waycross just east of Rice Yard.
The Kingsland Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Northeast Florida. The line begins in Jacksonville at a junction with the A Line near Moncrief Yard. From there, it heads east and then turns north near Panama Park. From Panama Park, the Kingsland Subdivision heads north to Yulee on a discontinuous piece of CSX's S Line. In Yulee, the line connects with the First Coast Railroad, which operates north to Seals, Georgia, on tracks that were previously part of the Kingsland Subdivision prior to 2005.
The Nahunta Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida and Georgia. The line runs along CSX's A Line from Ogeechee, Georgia, to Dinsmore, Florida, for a total of 129.2 miles (207.9 km). At its north end it continues south from the Savannah Subdivision and at its south end it continues south as the Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision A-Line. The line is double-tracked from Folkston, Georgia south. All of Amtrak's Florida service also traverses the line.
The Savannah Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Georgia. Through the middle of Savannah, the Savannah Subdivision splits into an east route and a west route. The East Route runs from Savannah, Georgia, to Ogeechee, Georgia, for a total of 15.6 miles (25.1 km). At its north end it continues south from the Charleston Subdivision and the Columbia Subdivision both of the Florence Division and at its south end it continues south as the Nahunta Subdivision. The West Route is located in Savannah, Georgia, and is 9.7 miles (15.6 km) in length. At its north end it branches off of the Savannah Subdivision East Route and at its south end it comes back into the Savannah Subdivision East Route.
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 Charleston Subdivision is a railroad territory owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia. The line from Florence, South Carolina, to Savannah, Georgia, for a total of 195.8 miles. At its north end it continues south from the South End Subdivision and at its south end it continues south as the Savannah Subdivision of the Jacksonville Division.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Perry Cutoff was a historic rail line in northern Florida running from Monticello southeast to Perry. The line was notable for the fact that it provided a significant shortcut for rail traffic running between the Midwest and the Tampa Bay area by providing a more direct route and a bypass for the busy rail hub in Jacksonville. It was completed in 1928 to reduce travel times for its passenger trains to the west coast, or Gulf Coast, of Florida during the Florida land boom of the 1920s.
The Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad was a historic railroad in Florida chartered by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant. It was built as an extension of Plant's Live Oak and Rowlands Bluff Railroad. Together, the two lines ran from Live Oak, Florida to Gainesville via High Springs. The lines were completed in 1884.
The Waycross Short Line was the unofficial name of a railroad line built by Henry B. Plant that ran from Waycross, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida on the St. Johns River. The line through Georgia was chartered by Plant as the Waycross and Florida Railroad and the Florida segment was chartered as the East Florida Railway. The line crossed the Georgia/Florida border just south of Folkston, Georgia at the St. Marys River.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad’s Main Line was the backbone of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's network in the southeastern United States. The main line ran from Richmond, Virginia to Port Tampa just southwest of Tampa, Florida, a distance of nearly 900 miles. Along its route it passed 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 still owned by the Atlantic Coast Line's successor, CSX Transportation, and is still in service as their A Line.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's DuPont—Lakeland Line was a historic rail line in southern Georgia and the northern west coast of Florida. It began at the Atlantic Coast Line's Waycross—Thomasville Line and proceeded south into Florida and passing through Live Oak, High Springs, Newberry, Williston, Dunnellon, Inverness, and Dade City before coming to an end just south of their Lakeland Yard at Lakeland Junction, where it connected with the Atlantic Coast Line's main line. On employee timetables, the line was actually divided into the DuPont—High Springs Line and the High Springs—Lakeland Line which were centered around the company's busy High Springs Yard. 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.
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad’s Main Line was the backbone of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's network in the southeastern United States. The main line ran from Richmond, Virginia to Tampa, Florida, a distance of over 800 miles. Along its route it passed through Petersburg, Raleigh, Columbia, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Ocala, Florida. While some segments of the line have been abandoned as of 2022, most of the line is still in service and is owned by the Seaboard Air Line's successor, CSX Transportation as their S Line.