The Florida Midland Railroad Company, Inc. is one of several short line railroads operated by

Regional Rail, LLC Regional Rail, LLC is a company operating short-line railroads in Delaware, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. It operates 6 railroads: East Penn Railroad, Florida Central Railroad, Florida Midland Railroad, Florida Northern Railroad, Middlet ...

in Florida (along with the Florida Central Railroad and the Florida Northern Railroad). The Florida Midland Railroad operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines including their former Lake Wales Subdivision (running from West Lake Wales to Frostproof), and their former Bartow Subdivision (from Winter Haven to a point just northwest of Bartow). It once had a third line from Wildwood to Leesburg that is now mostly abandoned. Florida Midland Railroad began operating the lines in 1987 and uses locomotives branded for the Florida Central Railroad, its sister railroad. In November 2019, former owner

Pinsly Railroad Company Pinsly Railroad Company, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, is a short line railroad holding company. It is one of the oldest such companies in the United States, and has owned railroads continuously since its founding in 1938. Pinsly's sole rail ...

sold the Florida Midland, along with the Florida Central Railroad and Florida Northern Railroad, to 3i RR Holdings GP, LLC and subsidiaries (d.b.a. "

").

Lake Wales Line

The line from West Lake Wales to Frostproof, which extends a distance of about 18 miles, branches off of CSX's

Auburndale Subdivision Auburndale may refer to: * Auburndale, Alberta * Auburndale, Nova Scotia * Auburndale, Florida * Auburndale, Louisville, Kentucky, a neighborhood * Auburndale, Massachusetts **Auburndale station (MBTA) * Auburndale, Wisconsin * Auburndale (town), W ...

in West Lake Wales.Florida Midland Railroad Company–Acquisition and Operation Exemption
/ref> It proceeds east to Lake Wales along a former

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 ...

(SAL) line. In Lake Wales, the line turns north and connects with the north-south segment of the line, which is a former

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 ...

(ACL) line. From here, the line continues south for the remaining 14 miles to Frostproof. Since the junction between the two segments in Lake Wales is oriented north, a run-around track just before the junction is used to move locomotives to the opposite end of the trains. Trains are then backed onto the north-south segment so they can proceed south with the locomotive on the front. The line notably serves citrus fields and a Lowe's distribution center at the terminus in Frostproof. The interchange between CSX and the Florida Midland takes place on a small yard track in West Lake Wales. The Florida Midland Railroad also has trackage rights on a small section of CSX's

to facilitate the interchange.CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
/ref>

History

The east-west segment of the line was built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1916, which was part of a line that originally extended from Bartow and continued west to Alcoma, Hesperides, and Walinwa. The north-south segment of the line from Lake Wales south to Frostproof was built earlier in 1912 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It is a discontinuous segment of track that was once the Atlantic Coast Line's

Haines City Branch The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Haines City Branch was a railroad line running from their main line in Haines City, Florida south through southern Central Florida. The line notably ran through Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, and Immokalee an ...

, which historically extended as far south as Everglades City. The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged in 1967 into 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 ...

, which led to consolidation of the two networks and the abandonment of redundant trackage in the 1970s, reducing the line to its current length. Seaboard Coast Line became CSX in 1980, six years before Florida Midland Railroad began operating over the line.

Winter Haven Line

The Florida Midland Railroad also operates a separate 6-mile line in Winter Haven. It branches off CSX's

just south of Winter Haven Amtrak station (about 10 miles north of where the Lake Wales Line branches off the same line). From Winter Haven, it runs southwest to Gordonville (just northeast of Bartow) where it ends. The line notably serves a 24-acre transload facility in

Eagle Lake Eagle Lake may refer to: Cities, towns, townships etc. Canada * Eagle Lake, Haliburton County, Ontario * Eagle Lake, Parry Sound District, Ontario * Eagle Lake 27, Ontario (Indian reserve) * Eagle Lake, Kenora District, Ontario United States * ...

, as well as Bartow Municipal Airport. The Florida Midland Railroad has trackage rights on the

to Winter Haven siding to facilitate the interchange between the two companies.

History

The Winter Haven line was originally built in 1884 by the

South Florida Railroad The South Florida Railroad was a railroad from Sanford, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, becoming part of the Plant System in 1893 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. It served as the southernmost segment of the Atlantic Coast Line's m ...

(later part of the

Plant System The Plant System named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western ...

and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad). It historically extended from the South Florida Railroad mainline (the current CSX A Line) in Lake Alfred and extended into Bartow. It was abandoned north of Winter Haven to Lake Alfred in the early 1970s and was connected to the current Auburndale Subdivision (a former Seaboard track). The line was severed from Bartow in the 1980s and it now terminates near Gordonville.

Former Leesburg Line

The Florida Midland Railroad once operated a third line from Wildwood to Leesburg. Most of the Leesburg line was once the westernmost segment of the Orlando Division of 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 ...

(later part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad). The easternmost two miles however were originally part of the

Florida Southern Railway The Florida Southern Railway (later known as the Florida Southern Railroad) was a railroad that operated in Florida in the late 1800s. It was one of Florida's three notable narrow gauge railway when it was built along with the South Florida Rail ...

(later part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad). In 2000, the company petitioned the Surface Transportation Board to abandon the entire Leesburg Branch, which was granted on November 15, 2000.Surface Transportation Board Decision Document
/ref> All that remains of the line is a short turning wye in Wildwood.

References

External links

Florida Midland Railroad Company, Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Midland Railroad Current Florida railroads Spin-offs of CSX Transportation