Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad

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 was bought out by the Plant System in 1901, who then extended it to meet the Pemberton Ferry branch of the South Florida Railroad (another Plant System railroad) near Vitis. This gave the Plant System an additional route into Tampa from northern Florida.^[1]

The Plant System was sold to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902, which became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967 and the CSX Corporation in 1980.^[2]

Today, all that remains of the Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad are two short segments in each end of the original line. US 301 runs along some of the line's abandoned right of way. At the south end, the line still runs from Tampa northeast to a point just south of Temple Terrace. This track is part if CSX's Tampa Terminal Subdivision and is more specifically known as Neve Wye^[3][4]. Currently, Neve Wye is notable due to its use by Amtrak to turn its Silver Star train around so it can be backed into Tampa Union Station.^[5] At the north end, the line is still in service from Zephyrhills to Vitis Junction. This segment is the southernmost segment of CSX's Wildwood Subdivision. This segment is unofficially considered to be part of the CSX S Line even though it is a short detour of an abandoned segment of the original S Line^[6]. The milepost numbers on the remaining segments of the line have remained consistent since the Atlantic Coast Line era but now have the prefix ARF.^[7]

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