CSX Transportation's Brooksville Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line in the

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

region of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Today, the line runs from the

Clearwater Subdivision The Clearwater Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. The line begins just east of downtown Tampa in Gary and heads north through some of Tampa's suburban neighborhoods. In Sulphur Springs, ...

Sulphur Springs, Florida Sulphur Springs is a neighborhood and district located within the city limits of Tampa, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the neighborhood had a population of 6,308. In the late 19th century the mineral springs were a draw. In the 1940s the area was ...

north to a point just north of Brooksville, a distance of 49.1 miles. Historically, the Brooksville Subdivision was owned and operated by CSX predecessor, the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

. Under Seaboard ownership, the Brooksville Subdivision continued north as far as

Waldo Waldo may refer to: People * Waldo (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Waldo (surname), a list of people * Waldo (footballer) (1934-2019), full name Waldo Machado da Silva, Brazilian footballer Places Canada * Waldo, ...

, where it intercepted the Seaboard Air Line main line (which is now CSX's

S Line S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...

).Seaboard Air Line Railroad South Florida Division Timetable (1940) Currently, the Brooksville Subdivision notably serves a Florida Crushed Stone Company facility in Brooksville along with a

Cemex CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries ...

facility.CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
/ref>

History

CSX Brooksville Subdivision from Broad Street Bridge (South)

Sulphur Springs to Brooksville

The line from Brooksville south to Fivay Junction (near the present-day intersection of

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

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. In 1907, the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad was bought by the

Tampa Northern Railroad The Tampa Northern Railroad was a historic railroad line running from just east of downtown Tampa north to the city of Brooksville, Florida, Brooksville in Hernando County, Florida, Hernando County. The line continues to operate today and is under ...

. The Tampa Northern then built track from Tampa to Fivay and rebuilt the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad from there to Brooksville. The line was completed in 1908. The Tampa Northern Railroad was bought by the

in 1912.

Brooksville to Waldo

At its greatest extent, the Brooksville Subdivision extended as far north as

. Track from Waldo to Archer was built in 1861 by the

Florida Railroad The Florida Railroad was the first railroad to connect the east and west coasts of Florida, running from Fernandina to Cedar Key. The line later became part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and, where still in use, is operated by CSX Transport ...

(later the

Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad 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 Jacks ...

) which also continued from Archer to

Cedar Key Cedar Key is a city in Levy County, Florida, United States. The population was 702 at the 2010 census. The Cedar Keys are a cluster of islands near the mainland. Most of the developed area of the city has been on Way Key since the end of the 19th ...

at the time. 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. The extension from Early Bird to Inverness ran closely parallel the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

's High Springs–Lakeland Line. In 1925, the

Brooksville and Inverness Railway Brooksville is the name of several places in the United States: * Brooksville, Blount County, Alabama * Brooksville, Morgan County, Alabama * Brooksville, Florida **Brooksville Army Airfield, named after the Florida town * Brooksville, Georgia * B ...

, a Seaboard subsidiary, was built connecting Inverness with the former

in Brooksville. This would create an additional freight route from northern Florida to the

region as an alternative to the Seaboard main line. Around the same time, track from Inverness to Waldo was upgraded with heavier rail, and the Seaboard main line was double-tracked from Waldo north to Baldwin which further increased capacity. 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. By 1940, the Seaboard was running a daily through freight train round-trip on the line.

Later years

The Seaboard Air Line became the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate li ...

in 1967 after merging with their former rival, the

. In the combined network, the full line was largely redundant due to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's 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 (which nearly restored the

's original terminus ironically). The line now ends near the Broco Quarry just north of Brooksville. Despite the abandonment, the line's SR mileposts numbers remain as they did when the full line was intact. In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated unde ...

, creating the

CSX Corporation CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger. ...

. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation.

Historic Seaboard Air Line stations

References