Brooksville Subdivision

The Brooksville Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. Today, the line runs from the Clearwater Subdivision in Sulphur Springs, Florida north to a point just north of Brooksville, a distance of 49.1 miles. Historically, the Brooksville Subdivision continued north to Waldo, where it intercepted what is now CSX's S Line.[1]

Brooksville Subdivision
North end of CSX Brooksville Subdivision in 2010 as seen from Broad Street Bridge in Brooksville
Overview
LocaleTampa Bay region, Florida, USA
Operation
Opened1902
OwnerCSX Transportation
Technical
Line length49.1 mi (79.0 km)
Track gauge4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route diagram

fmr. Seaboard Air Line Railroad
to Archer
SR 789.2
Broco
SR 797.8
Brooksville
fmr. Florida Southern Railway (ACL)
to Pemberton Ferry
SR 806.8
Ayers
SR 817.0
Fivay
SR 827.0
Land O' Lakes
I-275
SR 838.3
Sulphur Springs
CSX

Currently, the Brooksville Subdivision notably serves a Florida Crushed Stone Company facility in Brooksville along with a Cemex facility.[2][3][4]

History

The line from Brooksville south to Fivay Junction (near the present-day intersection of US 41 and SR 52) was originally built by the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad in 1902. The Brooksville and Hudson Railroad was a logging railroad owned by the Aripeka Sawmills Inc. [5]

In 1907, the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad was bought by the Tampa Northern Railroad. The Tampa Northern then built track from Tampa to Fivay and rebuilt the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad from there to Brooksville.[5] The line was completed in 1908.[6] The Tampa Northern Railroad was bought by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1912.[6]

At its greatest extent, the Brooksville Subdivision extended as far north as Waldo. Track from Waldo to Archer was built in 1861 by the Florida Railroad (later the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad) which extended as far as Cedar Key. In 1890, track was built from Archer south to Early Bird. The Seaboard Air Line bought the FC&P network in 1900 and in 1911, the line was extended south of Early Bird to Inverness. In 1925, the Brooksville and Inverness Railway, a Seaboard subsidiary, was built connecting Inverness with the former Tampa Northern Railroad in Brooksville. This would create an additional route from northern Florida to the Tampa Bay region.[7] After track from Archer to Cedar Key was abandoned in 1932, the full line from Waldo to Sulpher Springs was designated as the Brooksville Subdivision.[1]

The Seaboard Air Line became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967 after merging with their former rival, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. In the combined network, the full line was largely redundant as the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad had a nearly parallel route as well as its own main line to Tampa. The Seaboard Coast Line abandoned the Brooksville Subdivision between Waldo and Brooksville in the 1970s. The line now ends near the Broco Quarry. However, the line's SR mileposts numbers remain as they did when the full line was intact.[3]

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.

See also

References

  1. Seaboard Air Line Railroad South Florida Division Timetable (1940)
  2. CSX Brooksville Sub
  3. CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
  4. Harmon, Danny. "Fire Closes the S-Line". YouTube. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  5. "Railroads". History of Pasco County. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  6. Prince, Richard (2000). Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives and History. Salt Lake City, UT: Wheelwright Lithographing Company. ISBN 0253336953. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  7. Turner, Gregg (2003). A Short History of Florida Railroads. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-2421-4.
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