The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway was a railroad and steamboat network in Florida, USA at the end of the 19th century. Most of its lines became part of the Plant System in 1899 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The line remains in service today with a vast majority of it now being CSX Transportation's Sanford Subdivision.
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 Atlantic and Gulf Railroad was chartered in February 1856 by act of the Georgia General Assembly. It was also known as the Main Trunk Railroad. It traversed south Georgia from Screven to Bainbridge, Georgia. Construction began in early January 1859. Its construction was halted by the American Civil War. Construction began again after the end of the war and the line was completed to Bainbridge, Georgia by late December 1867. The route never reached all the way to the Gulf of Mexico as it had originally had intended. The company went bankrupt in 1877 and was bought in 1879 by Henry B. Plant and became incorporated into his Plant System. Its main line is currently operated by CSX Transportation. Throughout its history, the Atlantic and Gulf was closely associated with the Savannah and Albany Railroad Company and its successor the Savannah, Albany, and Gulf Railroad.
Most CSX railroad lines are given lettered prefixes before milepost numbers. These prefixes are one to three letters long with the first letter usually refer to the former company. For instance, prefixes beginning with "S" were part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Some of these company prefixes include the following:
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 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 Fitzgerald Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. State of Georgia. The line runs from Manchester to Waycross for a total of 201.6 miles. At its north end it continues south from the Manchester Subdivision and at its south end it wyes off to the Thomasville Subdivision and the Jesup Subdivision.
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 Bainbridge Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Georgia. The line runs from Bainbridge south to Attapulgus for a total of 13.3 miles. At its north end it continues south from the Georgia Southwestern Railroad and connects with CSX's Dothan Subdivision and at its south end it connects to the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad's Bainbridge Subdivision, which continues south to Tallahassee, Florida.
The Brunswick Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in southwestern 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 Deerhaven Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. The line runs from Burnett's Lake to Gainesville for a total of 12.8 miles (20.6 km). At its north end it continues south from the Brooker Subdivision and at its south end the track comes to an end.
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.
The Jacksonville Division is a railroad division operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The Jacksonville Division has 36 subdivisions.
The PD Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida and Alabama. The line runs from Pensacola, Florida, north to Flomaton, Alabama, for a total of 41.0 miles (66.0 km). At its south end it connects to the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad and at its north end it continues north as the M&M Subdivision.
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 Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad is a Class III railroad owned and operated by RailUSA in the Florida Panhandle. The line consists of 373 miles of track running from Baldwin, Florida west through Tallahassee to Pensacola. The line also has a short branch from Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia. The line connects to CSX lines in Baldwin, Pensacola, and Attapulgus.
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 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 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.
