The Florida East Coast Railway is a
Class II railroad operating in the
U.S. state 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, a ...
, currently owned by
Grupo México.
Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...
principal
Henry Flagler. He originally visited Florida with his first wife, Mary; they sought assistance with the health issues she faced. A key strategist who worked closely with
John D. Rockefeller building the Standard Oil Trust, Flagler noted both great potential and a lack of services during his stay at
St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...
. He subsequently began what amounted to his second career, developing resorts, industries, and communities all along Florida's shores abutting the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
.
The FEC is possibly best known for
building the railroad to Key West, completed in 1912. When the FEC's line from the mainland to Key West was heavily damaged by the
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the State of Florida purchased the remaining right-of-way and bridges south of
Dade County, and they were rebuilt into road bridges for vehicle traffic and became known as the
Overseas Highway. However, a greater and lasting Flagler legacy was the developments along Florida's eastern coast.
During the Great Depression, control was purchased by heirs of the
du Pont family. After 30 years of fragile financial condition, the FEC, under leadership of a new president,
Ed Ball, took on the
labor unions. Ball claimed the company could not afford the same costs as larger Class 1 railroads and needed to invest saved funds in its infrastructure, the condition of which was fast becoming a safety issue. The company—using replacement workers—and some of its employees engaged from 1963 until 1977 in one of the longest and more violent labor conflicts of the 20th century. Ultimately, federal authorities had to intervene to stop the violence, which included bombings, shootings and vandalism.
However, the courts ruled in the FEC's favor with regard to the right to employ
strikebreaker
A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the st ...
s. During this time Ball invested heavily in numerous steps to improve the railroad's physical plant, and installed various forms of automation. The FEC was the first US railroad to operate two-man train crews, eliminate
cabooses, and end all of its passenger services (which were unprofitable) by 1968.
Today the company's primary rail revenues come from its
intermodal and rock trains. In January 2018, passenger rail service
Brightline began using FEC tracks for its route from
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
to
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
with a stop at
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
.
The FEC was historically a
Class I railroad owned by
Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) from 2000 to 2016, FOXX Holdings between 1983 and 2000, and the
St. Joseph Paper Company prior to 1983.
History
Henry Flagler: developing Florida's east coast
The Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) was developed by
Henry Morrison Flagler, an American
tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer and
John D. Rockefeller's partner in
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...
. Formed at
Cleveland, Ohio, as
Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler in 1867, Standard Oil moved its headquarters in 1877 to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. Flagler and his family relocated there as well. He was joined by
Henry H. Rogers, another leader of Standard Oil who also became involved in the development of America's railroads, including those on nearby
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
, the
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...
, and later in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
, where he eventually built the remarkable
Virginian Railway to transport
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...
to
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
.
Flagler's non-Standard Oil interests went in a different direction, however, when in 1878, on the advice of his physician, he traveled to
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
, for the winter with his first wife, Mary, who was quite ill. Two years after she died in 1881, he married Mary's former caregiver, Ida Alice Shourds. After their wedding, the couple traveled to
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...
, in 1883. Flagler found the city charming, but the hotel facilities and transportation systems inadequate. He recognized Florida's potential to attract out-of-state visitors. Though Flagler remained on the Board of Directors of Standard Oil, he gave up his day-to-day involvement in the firm in order to pursue his Florida interests.
When Flagler returned to Florida, in 1885 he began building a grand St. Augustine hotel, the
Ponce de Leon Hotel. Flagler realized that the key to developing Florida was a solid transportation system. At the time, St. Augustine was served by the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway (JStA&HR), a
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...
railway that began service in 1883 between South Jacksonville and St. Augustine. While the JStA&HR was used to transport building materials for the hotel's construction, Flagler found it was poorly constructed and its passenger services would be inadequate for patrons to reach his hotel. Flagler joined the board of the JStA&HR on December 10, 1885 before fully purchasing the line three weeks later. Flagler then rehabilitated the line to his standards, purchased new rolling stock, and converting the track to standard gauge.
He built a modern depot facility as well as schools, hospitals and churches, systematically revitalizing the largely abandoned historic city.
The Ponce de Leon Hotel opened on January 10, 1888. By April of that year, Flagler acquired a second hotel in St. Augustine, the
Casa Monica Hotel, which he renamed Cordova. He then built a third hotel, the
Hotel Alcazar, which opened in 1898.
With the success of his three St. Augustine hotels, Flagler incorporated the Jacksonville Bridge Company to build a bridge across the
St. Johns River and connect the JStA&HR to the rest of Jacksonville's railroads. Passengers needed to ferried across the
St. Johns River in Jacksonville to access the line at the time, which was a time-consuming process. Construction began in 1889 and the bridge opened on January 5, 1890, allowing a direct connection for private railcars and Pullman coaches to reach St. Augustine.
By 1888, Flagler was interested in expanding his network beyond St. Augustine. He acquired three additional railroad that year to expand further south. He acquired the St. Johns Railway, which ran from St. Augustine west to the
St. Johns River at Tocoi Landing. The St. Johns Railway first opened in 1858 and Flagler purchased the line from New York millionaire William Astor. Flagler also acquired another railroad from Astor, the St. Augustine and Palatka Railway which ran from Tocoi Junction (about half way between St. Augustine and Tocoi Landing) on the St. Johns Railway and ran southwest to East Palatka. Finally, Flagler acquired the St. Johns and Halifax River Railroad which opened in the early 1880s from East Palatka southeast to
Ormond Beach and
Daytona. It was extended west into Palatka after the completion of a bridge over the St. Johns River in 1888. In addition to expanding the network, the acquired railroads gave Flagler two additional accesses to the St. Johns River at Tocoi Landing and East Palatka, as well as additional connections to other railroads in Palatka. Continuing to develop hotel facilities to entice northern tourists to visit Florida, Flagler bought and expanded the
Ormond Hotel in
Ormond Beach.
Flagler created the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway Company in 1892 as a holding company for his railroad newtork.
Expanding further south
Beginning in 1892, when landowners south of Daytona petitioned him to extend the railroad south, Flagler began laying new railroad tracks; no longer did he follow his traditional practice of purchasing existing railroads and merging them into his growing rail system. Under Florida's generous land-grant laws passed in 1893, could be claimed from the state for every mile (1.6 km) built. Flagler would eventually claim in excess of for building his railroad, and land development and trading would become one of his most profitable endeavors. Flagler obtained a charter from the state of Florida authorizing him to build a railroad along the
Indian River to
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
, and as the railroad progressed southward, cities such as
New Smyrna and
Titusville began to develop along the tracks.
The railroad reached
Fort Pierce January 29, 1894.
By March 22 of the same year, the railroad system reached what is today known as
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. Flagler constructed the
Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach overlooking the
Lake Worth Lagoon. He also built the
Breakers Hotel
The Breakers Palm Beach is a historic, Renaissance Revival style luxury hotel with 538 rooms. It is located at 1 South County Road in Palm Beach, Florida.
Early history
First known as The Palm Beach Inn, the original hotel was opened on January ...
on the ocean side of Palm Beach, and ''
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament ...
'', his private 55-room, 60,000 square foot (5,600 m²) winter home. The development of these three structures, coupled with railroad access to them, established Palm Beach as a winter resort for the wealthy members of America's
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and We ...
.
Palm Beach was to be the terminus of the Flagler railroad, but during 1894 and 1895,
severe freezes hit all of
Central Florida
Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the ...
, whereas the Miami area remained unaffected, causing Flagler to rethink his original decision not to move the railroad south of Palm Beach. The fable that
Julia Tuttle, one of two main landowners in the Miami area along with the Brickell family, sent
orange blossoms to Flagler to prove to him that Miami, unlike the rest of the state, was unaffected by the
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above- freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...
, is untrue. The truth is that she wired him to advise him that "the region around the shores of Biscayne Bay is untouched by the freezes." He sent his two lieutenants, James E. Ingraham and
Joseph R. Parrott
Joseph Robinson Parrott (October 30, 1858 – October 13, 1913) was President of the Florida East Coast Railway. He died in Maine on October 13, 1913. He graduated from Yale University in 1883, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He was a cl ...
—now famous in Florida history—to investigate; they brought boxes of truck (produce) and citrus back to Flagler, who then wired Tuttle, asking, "Madam, what is it that you propose?" To convince Flagler to continue the railroad to Miami, both Tuttle and
William Brickell offered half of their holdings north and south of the Miami River to him. Tuttle added for shops and yards if Flagler would extend his railroad to the shores of Biscayne Bay and build one of his great hotels. An agreement was made and contracts were signed. On September 7, 1895, the name of Flagler's system was officially changed from the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway Company to the Florida East Coast Railway Company and incorporated. The Florida East Coast Railway reached
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
on March 3, 1896. On April 15, 1896, track reached
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...
, the site of present-day downtown Miami. At the time, it was a small settlement of less than 50 inhabitants. When the town incorporated, on July 28, 1896, its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for the city's development by naming it Flagler. He declined the honor, persuading them to retain its old Indian name, "Miami." The area was actually previously known as
Fort Dallas after the fort built there in 1836 during the
Second Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans and Black Indians. It was part of a seri ...
. To further develop the area surrounding the Miami railroad station, Flagler dredged a channel, built streets and
The Royal Palm Hotel, instituted the first water and power systems, and financed the town's first newspaper, the ''Metropolis''.
In 1903, Flagler extended the main line an additional 12 miles from Downtown Miami southwest to access much of the unsettled lowlands near
Cutler Ridge which he felt could generate agricultural traffic. This proved successful and the following year, the line was extended to
Homestead.
Labor issues
Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, the fledgling rail empire extensively employed convict labor from largely African-American convicts. While most Southern states employed a form of
convict lease
Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor which was practiced historically in the Southern United States, the laborers being mainly African-American men; it was ended during the 20th century. (Convict labor in general continues; f ...
at the time, renting prisoner's labor to various businesses, Florida's version of convict lease was considered "especially violent" compared to the others.
According to historian Joe Knetsch, reformers and muckrakers exaggerated charges of peonage regarding construction of the Florida East Coast Railway in 1893 to 1909. Flager and his lawyers defeated all legal challenges and neither the company or its employees were ever convicted in court. However there were many reports harsh working conditions and forced indebtedness to the company, and malfeasance by labor agents who hired men for the railway. Knetsch concludes that "Flagler in fact provided health care for his employees and was a far better employer than the press alleged."
Key West extension
Once the railroad reached Homestead in 1904, Flagler then sought perhaps his greatest challenge: the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city of almost 20,000 inhabitants located beyond the end of the Florida
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...
. He became particularly interested in linking Key West to the mainland after the construction of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...
was announced by the United States in 1905. As the closest deep-water port in the United States to the canal, Key West was positioned to take advantage of significant new trade with the west that would be enabled by the opening of the canalthis, in addition to the city's existing involvement with
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n and
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
n trade. Key West was a major coaling station for ship traffic between South America and New York. Flagler thought it would be profitable for coal to be brought by railroad to Key West for coaling those ships. Though, by the time the extension was finished, the range of ships had been extended to such a degree that they no longer stopped in Key West for coal.
The construction of the Overseas Railroad required many engineering innovations as well as vast amounts of labor and monetary resources. Many considered the Key West extension a folly as it was one of the most daring infrastructure ever built exclusively with private funds. At one time during construction, four thousand men were employed. During the seven years of construction, three
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depe ...
s threatened to halt the project. This included the
1906 Florida Keys hurricane
The 1906 Florida Keys hurricane was a powerful and deadly hurricane that had a major impact on Cuba and southern Florida. The fifth hurricane and third major hurricane of the season, the storm formed from a system near Barbados on October 4. By ...
, which killed 135 of Flagler's workers.
The Key West extension cost of $50 million and the lives of hundreds of workmen. Workers toiled under conditions sufficiently cruel and harsh that the US Justice Department prosecuted the FECR under a federal slave-kidnapping law.
Journalists also chronicled conditions of
debt peonage wherein immigrant labor was threatened with prohibitive transportation fees to leave Key West after seeing the unsafe and disease-ridden conditions, essentially forcing them to stay.
Despite the hardships, the final link of the Florida East Coast Railway to
Trumbo Point in Key West was completed in 1912. The first train, a construction engineers' train, arrived in Key West on January 21, 1912. The next day, which is considered the first day of service on the new route, a proud Henry Flagler rode the first passenger train into Key West, marking the completion of the railroad's oversea connection to Key West and the linkage by railway of the entire east coast of Florida. The completed extension was widely known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Upon his arrival in Key West, Flagler stated "Now I can die in peace" with pride in his achievement. Flagler died 16 months later in May of 1913.
FEC through the years
Effect of the Florida land boom and Great Depression
The Florida East Coast Railway benefitted greatly from the
Florida land boom of the 1920s, which led to increased traffic. By 1923, the FEC was running five daily passenger trains roundtrip between Jacksonville and Miami. Two of these trains, the ''Havana Special'' and the ''Key West Express'' continued to Key West. The following year, the number of passenger trains between Jacksonville and Miami increased to eight with two continuing to Key West. In response to the land boom, the FEC made investments to their network to increase capacity. Within the decade, FEC built Bowden Yard in Jacksonville and the Miller Shops in St. Augustine.
In 1923, the FEC built the Miami Belt Line, a freight route that ran from Little River through Hialeah that reconnected with the main line in Larkin (near
Kendall), bypassing downtown Miami. A yard was also built in Hialeah.
In 1925, the Moultrie Cutoff was built to shorten the distance between St. Augustine and
Bunnell (just north of
Ormond Beach) on the main line by bypassing its turn towards Palatka.
The
main line was also expanded to
double track from Jacksonville to Miami in 1926, along with the installation of
automatic block signaling.
Many of the bridges were rebuilt when the main line was expanded to double track, including the original bridge over the
St. Johns River in Jacksonville which was replaced by the current
Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge. By the end of 1926, the number of passenger trains from Jacksonville to Miami increased to 12, with some continuing to Key West.
Due to the prosperity of
South Florida
South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...
during the land boom, 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 ...
brought competition to the region by building a line from
Central Florida
Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the ...
to West Palm Beach (built by the Seaboard's
Florida Western and Northern Railroad subsidiary) in 1925. This line was extended by their
Seaboard-All Florida Railway subsidiary to Miami and Homestead on a route nearly parallel to the FEC two years later.
The
Stock Market Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
and
Great Depression were harsh on the FEC. The railroad declared bankruptcy and was in receivership by September 1931, 18 years after Flagler's death. Bus service began to be substituted for trains on the branches in 1932. Streamliners plied the rails between 1939 and 1963, including ''
The East Coast Champion'' (from New York), ''
The Florida Special'' (from New York), ''
City of Miami'' (from Chicago), ''
Dixie Flagler'' (from Chicago) and ''
South Wind'' (from Chicago), all of which were jointly operated with 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 Coas ...
.
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935
The Key West extension was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. An FEC rescue train which, with the exception of steam locomotive 447, was overturned by the
storm surge at
Islamorada. of track were washed away by the hurricane, two miles of which ended up washing ashore on the mainland at
Cape Sable. The FEC's
Long Key Fishing Camp was also destroyed in the storm. Traffic was immediately embargoed south of
Florida City after the storm while the Florida East Coast Railway decided whether or not to restore the line.
The Florida East Coast Railway quickly determined that it was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections. The roadbed and remaining bridges south of Florida City were then sold to the state of Florida, which built the
Overseas Highway to Key West, using much of the remaining railway infrastructure. A rebuilt Overseas Highway (
U.S. Route 1), taking an alignment that closely follows the Overseas Railroad's original routing, continues to provide the only highway link to Key West, ending near the southernmost point in the continental United States. The remaining
Long Key Viaduct,
Seven Mile Bridge, and
Bahia Honda Rail Bridge that once carried the Key West extension still stand and are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Change in ownership
In the early 1960s,
Edward Ball, who controlled the
Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust, bought a majority ownership of FEC, buying its bonds on the open market, allowing the FEC to emerge from bankruptcy following protracted litigation with a group of the company's other bondholders, led by
S.A. Lynch
Stephen Andrew Lynch (September 3, 1882October 4, 1969), known more commonly as S.A. Lynch, was an early motion picture industry pioneer.
Personal life
Lynch grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, the son of Stephen Scott Lynch, a Civil War veter ...
and associated with the
Atlantic Coast Line which had proposed an alternate plan of reorganization. That same year, a labor contract negotiation turned sour. Ball was determined to save the railroad from the bankruptcy that had continued for more than a decade. Ball was certain that if the company didn't become profitable, the equipment and track would deteriorate to the point where some lines would become unsafe or unusable and require partial abandonment. Later, in 1962, the expanded
Cuban embargo
The United States embargo against Cuba prevents American businesses, and businesses organized under U.S. law or majority-owned by American citizens, from conducting trade with Cuban interests. It is the most enduring trade embargo in modern his ...
added to the woes.
Labor conflict
Having gained total control of the FEC by 1960, Ball sought to make the railroad profitable again by holding down wages and eliminating
featherbedding. Despite the recommendation of a
National Mediation Board convened by
President Kennedy in 1962, Ball refused to grant FEC workers a 10-cents-an-hour raise, accepted by 192 other railroads, claiming that the FEC could not afford to raise wages. This led to a prolonged
work stoppage by non-operating unions, beginning January 23, 1963, and whose
picket lines
Picketing is a form of protest in which people (called pickets or picketers) congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in (" crossing the pick ...
were honored by the operating unions (the train crews).
Because the strike was by the non-operating unions, a federal judge ordered the railroad to continue observing their work rules, while the railroad was free to change the work rules for the operating unions, who were technically not on strike and thus had no standing in the federal court regarding the strike.
Ball's use of replacement workers to keep the railroad running during the strike led to violence by strikers that included shootings and bombings; a number of freight trains were derailed or blown up.
Eventually, federal intervention helped quell the violence, and the railroad's right to operate during the strike with replacement workers was affirmed by the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
. As the strike continued, the FEC took numerous steps to improve its physical plant, installed various forms of automation, and drastically cut labor costs. Most of the nation's other railroads did not match these achievements for several years; some still had not as of 2010.
The strike continued until March 1, 1974, after a court-ordered settlement between the railroad and the unions. According to historian Burton Altman:
After the settlement, workers were earning at least one dollar an hour less than their counterparts on other railroads. Wages were well below the industry’s scale and the work force had been cut in half. When the strike began, 1,600 walked out. In time, 900 went back to work on the company’s terms; others found employment elsewhere. Only about 100 stayed out until the end, and many of them could not return to work because they could no longer pass the required physical examinations or were too old to work. The end of the strike also ended their meager benefits that had enabled members to survive.
After Ball's death in 1981, Raymond Wyckoff took the helm of the company on May 30, 1984.
Strike's impacts on passenger service
From the beginning of the strike, the long-distance named passenger trains rerouted over an
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 Coas ...
route through the central interior of the peninsula south from Jacksonville to
Auburndale, and 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 ...
route south from Auburndale completed the trip to West Palm Beach and Miami. The strike and the resulting interior rerouting marked the end of long-distance coastal service between Jacksonville and West Palm Beach. Any resumed service later, in 1965, was strictly intrastate trains operated by the FEC.
Passenger service became a political issue in Florida during the early years of the labor strike, which essentially lasted 14 years, from 1963 to 1977. At the insistence of the City of Miami—which had long fought to get rid of the tracks in the downtown section just north of the county courthouse—Miami's wooden-constructed downtown passenger terminal was demolished by November 1963.
Although a new station was planned at NE 36th Street and NE 2nd Avenue,
it was never built.
Further, while
freight train
Rail freight transport is the use of rail transport, railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of Railroad car#Freight cars, freight cars (US) or goods wagon ...
s were operated with non-union and supervisory crews, passenger runs were not reinstated until August 2, 1965, after the City of Miami sued and the Florida courts ruled that the FEC corporate charter required both coach and first class passenger services to be offered. In response, FEC sold "parlor car seating" for first class accommodations in the rear lounge section of a
tavern-lounge-observation car. Train service operated daily, except Sunday. This new state-mandated passenger service consisted of a single
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whe ...
and two streamlined passenger cars, which, in addition to the operating crew, were staffed by a passenger service agent and a coach attendant, who were "non-operating". The mini-streamliner operated all of the way across three previously observed crew districts (Jacksonville to New Smyrna Beach to Fort Pierce to Miami). Following the letter of the law, the passenger service was bare bones. The trains carried no
baggage, remains, mail or express and honored no inter-line tickets or passes.
The only food service was a box lunch (at Cocoa-Rockledge in 1966). On-board beverage service was limited to soft drinks and coffee. Without a station in Miami, the 1950s-era station in North Miami became the southern terminus. This stripped-down service operated six days a week until it was finally discontinued on July 31, 1968.
FEC in the 21st century
Routing
The Florida East Coast Railway has operated from its relocated headquarters in Jacksonville since it sold the original General Office Building in St. Augustine to
Flagler College in late 2006. Its trains run over nearly the same route developed by Henry Flagler, with the addition of the Moultrie Cutoff (St. Augustine to
Bunnell), which was built in 1925 to shorten the main line south of St. Augustine.
Leadership
In March 2005, Robert Anestis stepped down as CEO of
Florida East Coast Industries after a four-year stint, allowing Adolfo Henriquez to assume that position, with John D. McPherson, a long-time railroad man, continuing as president of the railway itself. By this time, the railroad had long since made peace with its workers.
In late 2007, in a move surprising to many employees and railroad industry observers alike, the FEC was purchased for over US$3 billion (including non-rail assets) by
Fortress Investment Group, the principal investors who also control
short line railroad operator
RailAmerica
RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada.
In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it ...
. John Giles was named chairman, and David Rohal was named president. Both men were also principals with major responsibilities at RailAmerica as well, although the ownership of FEC and RailAmerica were not linked corporately, and the spinoff of RailAmerica as a publicly traded company did not include FEC.
In May 2010, James Hertwig was named as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company effective July 1, 2010. Hertwig had recently retired from
CSX, most recently having served as president of CSX Intermodal, one of CSX's major operating units.
James Hertwig retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company effective December 31, 2017, and was replaced by Nathan Asplund as the railway was purchased by
Grupo México and now manages it along with its other transport interests.
Operations
The FEC operations today are dominated by "intermodal" trains and unit rock (limestone) trains. Passenger service was discontinued in 1968 after labor unrest.
The company's major income-earning sources are its rock trains, transporting primarily limestone, and intermodal trains. FEC freight trains operate on precise schedules. Trains are not held for missed connections or late loadings. Most of the trains are paired so that they leave simultaneously from their starting points and meet halfway through the run and swap crews, so they are back home at the end of their runs. The FEC pioneered operation with 2 man crews with no crew districts, which they were able to start doing after the 1963 strike. The entire railroad adopted
positive train control
Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains ...
(PTC) after a fatal 1987 collision caused by a crew not obeying signaling. (PTC is a safety feature long-sought by federal safety officials for all railroads).
FEC has what is called by some a "prime" railroad right-of-way. The heavy weight of the rock trains required very good trackage and bridges. The railroad has mostly 136 pound-per-yard (66 kg/m) continuous-welded rail attached to concrete ties, which sits on a high quality granite roadbed. The entire railroad is controlled by centralized traffic control with constant radio communication. Because the railroad has only minor grades, it takes very little horsepower to pull very long trains at speed. trains are a normal FEC operating standard.
Passenger service
The FEC was already in the freight-only business when
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
was created and assumed passenger operations of nearly all U.S. railroads' passenger services in 1971. Periodically, there has been speculation that the southern end of the FEC line might be used for a
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are co ...
service to complement the existing
Tri-Rail line (which follows former CSX tracks to the west). There has also been some discussion about Amtrak or the State of Florida using FEC lines for a more direct route between Jacksonville and Miami.
In March 2012 FEC Industries (not FEC Railway) proposed a privately owned and operated service between Miami and Orlando along its route, to be named ''All Aboard Florida.'' New high speed trackage would be built between
Brevard County (the oceanside county east of Orlando) and
Orlando International Airport. In addition to the new track, the main line is once again being expanded to
double track from Brevard County to Miami (some of the bridges still have adequate width from the previous double track). In 2014 the very first beginnings of All Aboard Florida commenced with studies and actual construction of the first phase, and construction began in November 2014. In 2015, AAF announced they will operate the service under the name ''Brightline,'' since 2018 operated by
Brightline, after a few delays, service on an initial stretch between
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
and
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, and shortly after their Miami Terminus
MiamiCentral started in January 2018, with new stations in
Boca Raton and Aventura being launched in 2022, and a new railway extension to Orlando International Airport opening in 2023, and a future rail expansion to Tampa still in the planning stage, as of Fall 2022.
Rock trains
A lifeblood of the FEC is its transportation of high-grade
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
, which is used in the formulation for concrete and other construction purposes. The limestone is quarried near Miami in the "Lake Belt" area of Dade County and
Broward County just west of
Hialeah. The rock trains come out of the FEC yard at
Medley
Medley or Medleys may refer to:
Sports
*Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles
* Medley relay races at track meets
Music
*Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together
People
*Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...
in
Miami-Dade County and the southern end of the FEC service area. Shipments currently are principally for materials dealers Titan and
Rinker Rinker may refer to one of the following individuals:
* Al Rinker (1907–1982), singer
* Laurie Rinker (born 1962), golfer
* Lee Rinker (born 1960), golfer
* Travis Rinker (born 1968), association football (soccer) player
See also
* Mom Rinker's ...
.
Rinker has since been sold and is now part of the multi-national
Cemex. Rock train traffic dropped dramatically in 2008 with the elimination of all but one dedicated rock train. Other rock loads are now added onto other regular trains. Up until mid 2017, only one rock train remained, which is called the "unit train" and operates between Miami and City Point. Since then, rock traffic has rebounded, and the railroad has since added a second unit rock train which handles Ft. Pierce bound rock.
Intermodal services
The
intermodal traffic includes interchanged shipments with CSX and Norfolk Southern, participation in EMP container service operated by UP and Norfolk Southern,
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown t ...
(UPS) piggyback trailers, trailers going to the
Wal-Mart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarte ...
distribution center at
Fort Pierce, and
intermodal shipping container traffic through the ports of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
,
Port Everglades (adjacent to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and the principal source of imports), Port of Palm Beach/Lake Worth Inlet, and
Port Canaveral.
Additionally FEC offers "Hurricane Service" offering trucking companies the opportunity of having their trailers piggybacked out of Jacksonville to save the expensive cost of back-hauling empty trailers.
Starting in 2012 the FEC began an aggressive project to reopen direct rail service to the ports of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
, and
Port Everglades. This is in anticipation of the expansion of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...
and the expected increase of intermodal traffic. In 2013 the drawbridge at the
Port of Miami was repaired and reactivated and trains began to roll. In 2014 a new container shuttle was put into operation between Hialeah Yard and the
Port of Miami. Also in 2014, the new rail lines into
Port Everglades were opened, allowing direct access for FEC trains into the port. Further, a new transfer facility in Hialeah Yard will add additional intermodal transfer between trains, trucks, and planes. This facility opened in 2015. Additional capacity improvements are planned at other ports as well as the FEC's mainline.
Other freight
The FEC also hauls normal "manifest" freight to and from points along its right of way. These cars are hauled on whatever train is going that way, so intermodal and rock trains routinely have some manifest cars in their consists.
Additionally, the FEC currently transports
Tropicana Products "
Juice Train
"Juice Train" (or "Orange Juice Train") is the popular name for unit trains of Tropicana fresh orange juice operated by railroads in the United States.
History
Tropicana Products was founded in 1947 in Bradenton, Florida, by Anthony T. Ros ...
" cars to and from one of the company's processing facilities located on the "K" Line. The Juice Train concept was developed by Tropicana founder
Anthony T. Rossi in conjunction with
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 ...
(a CSX predecessor) beginning in 1970.
Motive power
The FEC completed its "second generation" dieselization with the purchase of 49 GP40s and GP40-2s and 11 GP38-2s, ranging in the 400's. Most of these locomotives were extensively rebuilt, with others being retired. In 2002, the FEC acquired 20 ex-UP SD40-2s, which were numbered in the 700s. These ex-UP locomotives remained in their original colors with FEC markings; however, as of 2014 seven of them had been repainted into the "retro" Champion scheme. As of 2015 most of these were leased to
CSXT.
In 2006 the FEC leased four SD70M-2's numbered in the 100 series (100-103), in a blue and yellow livery known by fans as the "Classic" or the "Alaskan" schemes. In 2009 when RailAmerica came into the picture, they added four more SD70M-2's (104-107) in the red, pearl, and blue scheme, which was the standard RailAmerica scheme. That brought the total SD70M-2 count to eight.
Seeking further power improvements, in 2009, the FEC leased three CITX SD70M-2's, making the count now of 11 of the big EMD's. These locomotives were numbered 140, 141 and 142; all were blue and white striped units. All of the SD70M-2's served on the railway until the end of 2014, when they were replaced with new power. The fleet GP38-2s were used principally for yard and road switching as well as the occasional local. The others were used as available in road service. Some test runs were made to observe the effect on fuel consumption of dynamic braking and combinations of new and old power.
In 2014 the railway purchased 24
GE ES44C4s, its first General Electric and AC powered locomotives. All of the GE's were delivered by the end of 2014, with the first arriving on November 21, 2014. In 2015 the railway began to experiment with LNG fuel that will help with costs and efficiency. With the arrival of the GE's the majority of the FEC's SD40-2's and a number of the SD70M-2's were temporarily leased to CSXT. As of year end 2017, all SD70M-2's had been returned to their respective leasing companies. Most of the SD40-2's remained on the FEC with the exception of leases to other companies.
=LNG fuel
=
FEC is the only US railroad actively using
liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the v ...
, a much cleaner fuel than diesel, to power its 24 dual fuel
GE ES44C4 locomotives. The locomotives are used in pairs with an LNG fuel tender between them.
Statistics
In 2005 FEC owned and operated:
* of mainline track between Jacksonville and Miami, Florida
* of branch, switching, and other secondary track
* of yard track
Flagler Development owned and operated:
* 64 buildings
* 7.4 million rentable square feet
Motive Fleet
Awards and recognition
On May 16, 2006, FEC was the recipient of the Gold
E. H. Harriman Award
The E.H. Harriman Award was an annual award presented to American railroad companies in recognition for outstanding safety achievements.
History
The award was founded in 1913 by Mary Averell Harriman, wife of the late Edward H. Harriman. After h ...
for safety in Group C (line-haul railroad companies with fewer than 4 million employee hours per year).
Corporate history
The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway Company was incorporated under the general incorporation laws 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, a ...
to own and operate a railroad from Jacksonville in
Duval county, through the counties of
Duval,
St. Johns,
Putnam Putnam may refer to:
People
* Putnam (surname)
Places Canada
* Putnam, Ontario, community in Thames Centre
United States
* Putnam, Alabama
* Putnam, Connecticut, a New England town
** Putnam (CDP), Connecticut, the main village in the town
...
,
Volusia,
Brevard,
Orange,
Osceola
Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a Scotsman, James McQ ...
, Dade,
Polk
Polk may refer to:
People
* James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States
* Polk (name), other people with the name
Places
*Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois
* Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Polk, Missouri ...
and
Hillsborough
Hillsborough may refer to:
Australia
*Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie
Canada
*Hillsborough, New Brunswick
*Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick
* Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County
*Hillsborough (electoral d ...
.
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, a ...
state law chapter 4260, approved May 31, 1893,
granted land to the railroad. At that time, it was already in operation from Jacksonville to
Rockledge, the part south of Daytona having been constructed by them. The company had just filed a certificate changing and extending its lines on and across the
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of ...
to Key West in
Monroe County.
The name was changed to the Florida East Coast Railway Company on September 7, 1895.
Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) incorporated in 1983
and was made the holding company for the Railway and the Commercial Realty/Flagler Development Company in 1984. The other subsidiaries are Orlando-based carrier, "EPIK Communication" and the logistics firm, "International Transit".
FECI began operating independently of the
St. Joe Company on October 9, 2000
when St. Joe shareholders were given FECI stock.
On May 8, 2007, Florida East Coast Railway Company's parent, Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), announced that FECI would be purchased with private equity funds managed by
Fortress Investment Group in a transaction valued at $3.5 billion.
Fortress Investment acquired Florida East Coast Railway from Florida East Coast Industries in March 2008.
On July 7, 2017,
Grupo México Transportes, subsidiary of
Grupo México, completed the acquisition of Florida East Coast Railway. Though,
Fortress Investment Group still owns
Brightline.
Lines
Main line
At its greatest extent, Florida East Coast Railway's Main Line ran from Jacksonville via Miami to Key West, a distance of over 500 miles.
[Florida Railroad Commission Annual Report (1913)](_blank)
/ref> Today, the Main Line continues to run from Jacksonville to Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
.
Prior to 1925, the main line deviated from its current route between St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...
and Bunnell. From St. Augustine, it ran southwest to East Palatka on the St. Johns River before turning back southeast to Bunnell. In 1925, the Moultrie Cutoff was built to reroute the main line on to a more direct route from St. Augustine to Bunnell, bypassing the inland swing to East Palatka. The original main line remained in service after the Moultrie Cutoff was complete, but it was downgraded to branch status (Palatka Branch) and is now mostly abandoned. The milepost numbers on the main line still reflect the original route, causing the mileposts to abruptly jump from 67 to 86.4 in Bunnell today.
In 1926, the main line was double-tracked between Jacksonville and Miami in response to the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Bridges were rebuilt and Automatic Block Signals were also installed at the same time.
The Key West Extension was destroyed by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and was not rebuilt with Florida City subsequently becoming the new southern terminus. The Overseas Highway (US 1) largely runs along the former Key West Extension right of way today.
In 1972, four years after the discontinuation of FEC's passenger services, work began to restore the main line to single track with passing sidings every 10 miles and Centralized traffic control
Centralized traffic control (CTC) is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America. CTC consolidates train routing decisions that were previously carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system con ...
. Also in 1972, FEC abandoned the main line from Miami south to Kendall, which included the demolition of the swing bridge over the Miami River in downtown Miami. The FEC sold the right of way of this abandoned segment to Miami-Dade Transit in 1979, who then built the southern half of Miami's Metrorail on the former right of way. Main line track from Kendall to Florida City remained in service at this time since it could still be accessed through the Little River Branch. By 1989, the remaining main line track from Kendall to Florida City (which had been the southern terminus since the abandonment of the Key West Extension in 1935) was abandoned. Today, the South Miami Dade Busway and South Dade Rail Trail
The South Dade Rail Trail (SDRT) is a rail trail, run by Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation, that follows the old Florida East Coast Railway rail corridor for 20.5 miles, from Miami to Homestead in South Florida, traversing a diversity of urba ...
run on the former right of way from Kendall to Florida City.
With the reintroduction of passenger service on the FEC via Brightline in the 2010s, the southern half of the main line is once again being expanded to double track. Track from Miami to West Palm Beach was complete in late 2017. Work is currently underway to expand the line to double track from West Palm Beach to Titusville as part of Brightline's second phase. Many bridges are also being rebuilt along this segment as part of the project, despite the fact that many of the older bridges still have adequate width from the previous double track.
Kissimmee Valley Line
The Kissimmee Valley Line, also known as the Okeechobee Branch, ran from just south of New Smyrna Beach through the Kissimmee Valley roughly paralleling the main line. Branching off the Main Line at Edgewater, it headed southwest to Maytown, where it crossed the Enterprise Branch. From Maytown, it turned south and headed through largely rural agricultural land to Okeechobee, a small town on the north side of Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwa ...
. South of Holopaw, the line roughly parallels US 441.[FEC Kissimmee Valley Extension Map Kissimmee Valley Line Map](_blank)
/ref>
Construction began at Maytown on February 25, 1911, and was completed to Okeechobee in 1915. The line was extended north from Maytown to Edgewater (just south of New Smyrna Beach) in 1916 to have its own connection to the Main Line.
By 1923, the branch was extended from Okeechobee southeast and around the eastern side of Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwa ...
to Belle Glade. The Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to elimina ...
had authorized the FEC to extend the line as far as Hialeah to connect with the South Florida network, but it was never built south of Belle Glade. The line was instead extended from Belle Glade west to South Bay and Lake Harbor on the south side of the lake at the Miami Canal in 1929. Here, it connected with 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 Coas ...
's Haines City Branch.
In 1947, the Kissimmee Valley Line was abandoned from Maytown to Marcy since it ended up not generating the agricultural traffic it had hoped to. At the same time, the remaining line south of Marcy to Lake Harbor was connected to the Main Line at Fort Pierce and is now part of the Lake Harbor Branch.
Lake Harbor Branch
The Lake Harbor Branch (K Branch) runs from Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County to Lake Harbor in Palm Beach County. It basically serves the sugar farms in Palm Beach and Hendry Counties. It branches off the main line in Fort Pierce and heads southwest to Marcy, where it turns south along Lake Okeechobee. At Lake Harbor, it connects to the South Central Florida Express
South Central Florida Express, Inc. (originally known as the South Central Florida Railroad ) is a common carrier shortline railroad in southern Florida run by U.S. Sugar Corporation. Its trains operate from Sebring to Fort Pierce via Clewist ...
's main line (a former CSX branch). South Central Florida Express began leasing the line from FEC in 1998 and now fully operates the line from milepost K 15 south. FEC serves local customers on the line from milepost K 15 north, with South Central Florida Express having trackage rights from there into Fort Pierce Yard on the main line. They also have a car haulage arrangement with FEC to Jacksonville to interchange with CSX and Norfolk Southern.
The Lake Harbor Branch was originally built in the 1920s and was southernmost segment of the Kissimmee Valley Line until 1947, when the Glades Cutoff from Marcy to Fort Pierce was built and the rest of the Kissimmee Valley Line to the north was abandoned.
Little River Branch (Miami Belt Line)
The Little River Branch connects to the main line near Little River and heads south west toward Hialeah, where it turns south towards Hialeah Yard and Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
. The line sees significant freight traffic since Hialeah Yard has been FEC's main yard for the Miami area since the closure of Buena Vista Yard on the main line. The branch currently ends just south of the airport at Oleander Junction, where it connects with CSX's Homestead Subdivision
The Homestead Subdivision is a CSX railroad line in South Florida. Running from a junction with the Tri-Rail, South Florida Rail Corridor in Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah near Miami International Airport south to Homestead, Florida, Homestead, the li ...
and the South Florida Rail Corridor. An industrial spur also runs northwest from the line near Medley
Medley or Medleys may refer to:
Sports
*Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles
* Medley relay races at track meets
Music
*Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together
People
*Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...
. The line was realigned in the 1980s to accommodate the extension of Runway 9/27 at Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
.
Built in 1923, the Little River Branch (also known as the Miami Belt Line) was historically a freight bypass around downtown Miami when the FEC main line continued south to Homestead and Florida City. The branch continued south past its current terminus at the airport and reconnected with the main line at Larkin, just north of Kendall. The line was double-tracked north of Hialeah Yard in 1925. When construction of the line was authorized by the Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to elimina ...
in 1923, the line from Little River to Hialeah was intended to be part of the extension of the Kissimmee Valley Line with track south to Larkin authorized as a branch line. The southern extension of the Kissimmee Valley Line was never built.
The branch was abandoned south of Oleander Junction in 2002. This abandoned segment is currently planned to become the Ludlam Trail linear park.
Palm Beach Branch
The Palm Beach branch was built to serve Flagler’s hotels on Palm Beach island. When first built in 1895, the Palm Beach Branch ran from the main line east through West Palm Beach between Banyan Boulevard and Second Street (known then as Althea Street). It crossed the Lake Worth Lagoon and on to Palm Beach Island just south of Flagler's Royal Poinciana Hotel. The branch had passenger stations at both the Royal Poinciana and The Breakers, Flagler's other hotel on Palm Beach Island. The original branch was essentially the end of the FEC before the main line was extended south to Miami in 1896.
In 1902, Flagler's built his estate Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament ...
for his wife Mary. Whitehall was across the branch's tracks from the Royal Poinciana Hotel. The estate's proximity to the branch prompted Mary to complain about the noise and smoke coming from trains at Whitehall. In response, Flagler promptly had the branch removed and relocated with a new trestle over Lake Worth Lagoon four blocks north. The branch then connected to the hotels on their north side and the bridge also included a pedestrian walkway for hotel patrons. The branch would remain service until 1935 when it was abandoned, a year after the closure of the Royal Poinciana Hotel.
After its removal, the former trestle became a toll bridge, which was replaced by the Flagler Memorial Bridge in 1938 (which carried State Road A1A until 2017 when a new bridge replaced the 1938 span). Much of the former right of way of this branch is still owned by the Town of Palm Beach.
Palatka Branch
The Palatka Branch (P Branch) ran from Moultrie Junction (just outside of St. Augustine) southwest to East Palatka before turning back southeast and reconnecting with the main line at Bunnell. There was also a spur with a bridge across the St. Johns River into Palatka, where there was a junction with the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway and the Florida Southern Railway (which would both become part of 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 Coas ...
's network).
The Palatka Branch was built by predecessors St. Johns Railway, the St. Augustine and Palatka Railway, and the St. Johns and Halifax River Railroad which all became the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was the Florida East Coast Railway's main line until the construction of the Moultrie Cutoff in 1925. After the completion of the Moultrie Cutoff between St. Augustine and Bunnell, the original main line though East Palatka remained in service and became the Palatka Branch.
The connection to Palatka and the bridge over the St. Johns River was removed in 1950, and track from East Palatka to Bunnell was abandoned in 1972. In 1983, track was abandoned from East Palatka to Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...
. The rest of the branch from Hastings was later abandoned in 1988 and all rail was removed to a point just west of I-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...
near Vermont Heights. In 2001, rail service resumed up to this point and track was rehabilitated when new industries were located there. A daily local serves the eastern end of the line today known as the Wilber Wright Industrial Lead. Some of the right-of-way is now the Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail.
Enterprise Branch
The former Enterprise Branch (E Branch) was built in 1885 by the Atlantic Coast, St. Johns and Indian River Railroad and leased to the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad (JT&KW), one of the Plant System railroads. Initially, the westernmost five miles (8 km) served as a connection from the JT&KW main line at Benson Junction (known then as Enterprise Junction) to Enterprise, a port for steamboat traffic down the St. Johns River. Later, the line was extended southeast from Enterprise through Osteen, Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropol ...
, and Mims to Titusville. In Titusville, it connected to the St. Johns and Halifax River Railway, which would become the Florida East Coast Railway main line. The Enterprise Branch would also cross the Kissimmee Valley Line at Maytown, which was built in 1911.
A steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...
pulled the first train over the line onto the wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (moorings), berths ...
on the Indian River at Titusville on the afternoon of December 30, 1885, and greatly accelerated the transportation of passengers, produce, seafood, and supplies to and from central Florida
Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the ...
. While Titusville thrived thanks to this new transportation connection, Enterprise lost stature as a steamboat port, since Henry Plant's railroad paralleled the St. Johns River and greatly reduced travel times to Jacksonville.
During the winter of 1894–95, a widespread freeze hit twice, decimating the citrus crop and ruining that part of Florida's economy. This allowed Henry Flagler to acquire the line at a discount to piece together what became the Florida East Coast Railway.
The track of the E Branch was removed from Benson Junction to Aurantia in 1972, ending directly under the Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...
overpass. The crossing gates and signals between Titusville and Aurantia were removed before the summer 2004 hurricanes
The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season was a very deadly, destructive, and extremely active Atlantic hurricane season, with over 3,200 deaths and more than $61 billion (2004 USD, $95.77 billion 2022 USD) in damage. More than half of the 16& ...
and track was later removed by a steel salvage company. By 2008, all remaining track of the E Branch had been removed.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection took ownership of the rail bed on December 31, 2007. East Central Regional Rail Trail and the Florida Coast to Coast Trail now run along the former right of way.
Cape Canaveral Branch
In 1963, FEC built a branch from the main line from just north of Titusville east to Cape Canaveral. The branch included a causeway and drawbridge over the Indian River and ran to a point known as Wilson's Corner. The branch was built to serve the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida.
Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the stat ...
and what would become Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...
.
FEC built two yards along the branch: Jay Jay Yard at the junction with the FEC main line, and Wilson Yard at Wilson's Corner. The US Army Corps of Engineers
, colors =
, anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day)
, battles =
, battles_label = Wars
, website =
, commander1 = ...
then built the NASA Railroad beyond Wilson's Corner with a line to the Vehicle Assembly Building
The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and th ...
and another line to the launch pads. The FEC would use the branch to deliver equipment to NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
for the Apollo program.
In 1984, FEC sold its portion of the branch to the NASA Railroad. The NASA Railroad has since been used to deliver segments of the Solid rocket booster
A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and space shuttle, have used SRBs to giv ...
s for the Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
and the Artemis program
The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Age ...
.
Ormond Beach Branch
The Ormond Beach Branch was a short branch that ran from the main line in Ormond Beach. It ran east from the main line over the Halifax River to the Ormond Hotel, which opened in 1888. Flagler acquired the Ormond Hotel in 1888 and expanded it to 600 rooms. The Ormond Beach Branch was built by the Ormond Bridge Company as a branch of the St. Johns and Halifax River Railroad (the original builder of the main line from East Palatka to Daytona) in 1887. The branch would also run past The Casements, which would be the winter home of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...
and Flagler's former business partner. The Ormond Beach Branch was abandoned in 1932.
Fellsmere Branch
The former Fellsmere Branch ran from the main line at Sebastian
Sebastian may refer to:
People
* Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films and television
* ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film
* ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film
...
west to Fellsmere. It was originally built by the Sebastian & Cincinnatus Railroad in 1896. In 1909, it was run by the Fellsmere Farms Company. In 1924, the line was taken over by the Trans-Florida Central Railroad. It was abandoned in 1952.
Orange City Branch
The former Orange City Branch (also known as the Atlantic and Western Branch) ran from New Smyrna Beach west to Orange City and Blue Spring on the St. Johns River. The branch was built by the Blue Spring, Orange City and Atlantic Railroad. In 1888, it became the Atlantic and Western Railroad. It later became part of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway, which changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was in use until 1930.
Tocoi Branch
The railroad from Tocoi to Tocoi Junction (just west of St. Augustine), was built by the St. Johns Railway, an FEC predecessor (the original main line from Tocoi Junction to St. Augustine was also part of this line). The St. Johns Railway was built in 1858, making it the first FEC predecessor to be constructed. The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway took it over by 1894, and changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The Tocoi Branch was abandoned in April of 1896, a year after the network was named the Florida East Coast Railway. This made the Tocoi Branch the first track to be abandoned by FEC. The right of way was later used for SR 95, which became State Road 214 at some time after the 1945 Florida State Road renumbering, and is now County Road 214.
Flagler Beach Branch
The railroad from Flagler Beach
Flagler Beach is a city in Flagler County in the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 4,484 at the 2010 census.
Flagler Beach is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL metropolitan statistical area. It is named for oil ...
to Dorena, north of Bunnell, was built by the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in 1953. The line connected to the Lehigh Portland Cement Company Plant located near Flagler Beach. The line was abandoned in 1963, after a deadly strike erupted in that year that closed the massive plant. The site of the old plant was where some of the monorail
A monorail (from " mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accura ...
beams were assembled for Walt Disney World Monorail System
The Walt Disney World Monorail System is a public transit monorail system in operation at the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Walt Disney World Resort currently operates twel ...
in the early 1970s. The route is now part of the rails to trails system. The plant has been demolished outside of one smokestack that will become a "lighthouse" for a new development. Some remains of the yard can be found in the woods near the eastern end of the Lehigh Greenway Rail Trail, which runs along the former right of way.
San Mateo Branch
The former San Mateo Branch ran from the main line just southeast of East Palatka south to San Mateo. It was built as a branch of the St. Johns and Halifax River Railroad (who built the original main line from East Palatka to Daytona) in 1892. The San Mateo Branch was abandoned in 1942.
Mayport Branch
This was originally built by the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad, a narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...
line from Jacksonville to Pablo Beach (now Jacksonville Beach). In late 1899 it was bought by Henry Flagler, who had the line converted to and extended it north along the coast to Mayport. The new branch opened in March 1900 and was abandoned in October 1932.
Family tree
* Florida East Coast Railway – formed September 13, 1895, as a renaming of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad; still exists
* Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad – formed October 6, 1892, as a renaming of the FC&G; renamed the Florida East Coast Railway September 13, 1895
** Florida Coast and Gulf Railway – formed May 28, 1892; renamed the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad October 6, 1892
** Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México.
Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pr ...
– formed February 28, 1881, as a renaming of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad; merged with the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad October 31, 1892
*** Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad – formed March 1879; renamed the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway February 28, 1881
** St. Augustine and Palatka Railway – formed September 1, 1885; merged with the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad 1893
Historic stations
;Main Line
;Kissimmee Valley Line
;Lake Harbor Branch
;Little River Branch
;Enterprise Branch
See also
* Grupo México
* Boca Express Train Museum
*Notable passenger trains operated over FEC rails: (sponsoring railroads and destinations)
**''Champion
A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, ...
''-east coast section ( Atlantic Coast Line, New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
)
**'' City of Miami'' (Illinois Central
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also ...
, Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
)
**'' Dixie Flagler'' ( Louisville & Nashville, Chicago & St. Louis)
**'' Dixie Flyer'' (Louisville & Nashville, Chicago & St. Louis)
**''Ponce de Leon
Ponce may refer to:
* Ponce (surname)
*
* Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico
** Ponce High School
** Ponce massacre, 1937
* USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy
* Manuel Ponce, a Mexican composer active in the 20th century
* Britis ...
'' ( Southern Railway, Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
)
**'' Royal Palm'' (Southern Railway, Cincinnati)
**'' South Wind'' (Louisville & Nashville, Chicago)
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
Rand McNally Map – 1917, showing Western Kissimmee Valley Branch
''Biscayne Times'': "Waiting for the Train". (Jan. 2009)
External links
* ttp://www.thejoekorner.com/brochures/fec-timetable/index.html Florida East Coast Railway April 25, 1960 timetable
Florida East Coast Railway Website
* http://www.sethbramsonbooks.com (Includes three books on FEC, many local histories and history of the Plant System)
Flagler Museum – History of the Florida East Coast Railway
Florida East Coast Railway Society
At Issue: The Railroad War
- 30-minute news report by National Educational Television on the FEC railroad strike, including interviews with Ed Ball and strike leaders; first aired on March 16, 1964.
* account of the Florida East Coast Railway Key West Extension
Railroad Bells
a
A History of Central Florida Podcast
Virtual Exhibit: Great Days of Rail Travel, Bienes Museum of the Modern Book, Broward County Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Florida East Coast Railway
Regional railroads in the United States
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Florida railroads
Transportation in Brevard County, Florida
Companies based in Jacksonville, Florida
Railway companies established in 1885
Alfred I. du Pont
1885 establishments in Florida
2007 mergers and acquisitions
Standard gauge railways in the United States