The Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad was a 13-mile railroad line running from

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

northeast to

Thonotosassa Thonotosassa is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 15,238 at the 2020 census, up from 13,014 at the 2010 census. History The name "Thonotosassa" comes from the Seminole- Creek w ...

. The line began operation in 1893 and began at a junction with 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 ma ...

in Tampa. The line had a station in Thonotosassa. The line was bought out by 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 R ...

in 1901 which was then sold to the

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

in 1902. In the 1920s, the Atlantic Coast Line extended the Tampa and Thonotosassa line northeast through

Zephyrhills Zephyrhills is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. The population was counted at 17,194 in the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. Zephyrhills is also known as the headquarters of the Zephyrhil ...

to a point near Richland and Lumberton to meet their High Springs—Lakeland Line. This junction would become known as Vitis Junction. The Coast Line would designate the full line as the Vitis–Tampa Line (RF Line) and it gave the Atlantic Coast Line an additional route into Tampa from northern Florida. The extension crossed 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 ...

's main line at Zephyrhills. Around the same time, the Atlantic Coast Line also double-tracked their High Springs–Lakeland Line north of Vitis Junction to

Dunnellon Dunnellon is a city with the unique feature of sitting in 3 counties in Marion, Levy & Citrus counties in Florida, United States. The predominant part falls in the Marion county. The population was 1,928 at the 2020 census, up from 1,733 in 20 ...

to accommodate the additional traffic from the extension. By 1949, the RF line carried three round-trip freight trains daily and was also used daily by the Atlantic Coast Line's

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

passenger train to reach

Tampa Union Station Tampa Union Station (TUS) is a historic train station in Tampa, Florida. It was designed by Joseph F. Leitner and was opened on May 15, 1912, by the Tampa Union Station Company. Its original purpose was to combine passenger operations for the Atl ...

.Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Southern Division Timetable (1949)
/ref> The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged in 1967 becoming 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 lin ...

. The Seaboard Coast Line continued to operate the line as the southernmost part of their West Coast Subdivision (which also included the AR Line up to

High Springs High Springs is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in Alachua County and seventh-largest in North Central Florida. The population was 6,215 at the 2020 census. History The present-day area of High S ...

). By 1969, the line was no longer being used by passenger trains and only had one daily through freight train running on it. By this time, the line was largely redundant and was abandoned between Zephyrhills and a point near Temple Terrace in the early 1970s. The Seaboard Coast Line became

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

in 1986. Today, all that remains of the line are two short segments at each end. At the south end, the line still runs from Tampa northeast to a point just south of

Temple Terrace Temple Terrace is an incorporated city in northeastern Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, adjacent to Tampa. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 26,690. It is the third and smallest incorporated municipality in Hillsb ...

. This track is part of CSX's Tampa Terminal Subdivision and is more specifically known as Neve Spur. Currently, Neve Wye is notable due to its use by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

to turn its

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

train around so it can be backed into

. At the north end, the line's extension is still in service from

to Vitis Junction, which continues to be a busy junction for CSX. This segment is now the southernmost segment of CSX's

Wildwood Subdivision The Wildwood Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. It runs along CSX's S Line from Baldwin south to Zephyrhills via Ocala and Wildwood for a total of 155.7 miles. The S Line is CSX's designation for the line tha ...

. This segment is unofficially considered to be part of the CSX S Line even though it is a short detour of an abandoned segment of the original

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

.CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
/ref>

US 301 U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...

runs along some of the line's abandoned right of way.

Station listing

References

{{reflist Defunct Florida railroads Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Railway companies established in 1893