Uceta Yard Uceta Yard is a rail and construction yard founded in 2003 by Dominican citizen Jose Uceta Vicini in a non-residential section within the Tampa city limits. The ZIP code that serves the community is 33619. History Ellenton to serve agricultural growers. Known as the "Ellenton Belt Line", the now abandoned loop branched off the main line near Rubonia and ran in a roughly rectangular trajectory through Ellenton before returning to the main line in Palmetto. A short spur to Terra Ceia, which is now abandoned, also existed near this area. South of Palmetto, the tracks crossed a trestle across the Manatee River and entered Bradenton. Bradenton's passenger depot (which still stands today and serves as a medical clinic) was built just south of the river. The tracks then turned southeast for a short distance and crossed the SAL's track before turning south again and into Sarasota near Fruitville. In 1928, a spur to the Payne Terminal at Hog Creek was built just north of the Sarasota passenger depot (which was located at Main Street and School Avenue). The Seaboard Air Line attempted to block the ACL from accessing the terminal since it had three spur tracks there that the ACL would have to cross. Since these spurs were on city property, the city authorized their removal to so the ACL to build their spur to the terminal.

Extension to Fort Ogden

With optimism for the company's petition to the Interstate Commerce Commission, in 1925 surveyors were plotting a line beyond Sarasota to connect with Florida's east coast. By 1927, the line was extended southeast from Sarasota to Fort Ogden in Desoto County. From the Sarasota depot, the line turned east through Fruitville, briefly running directly beside the Seaboard line before that line turned south towards Venice. Once out of Sarasota, the line turned southeast passing through Utopia before crossing the Myakka River and continuing through Honore and Sidell. It 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 Boca Grande Subdivision at Platt. The line then crossed Peace River just before merging with the ACL's Lakeland–Fort Myers Line at Southfort (just south of Fort Ogden). Today, Desoto County Road 761 runs along the former right of way from the Peace River to Fort Ogden. Freight stations were built at Belspur, Palmersville, Honore, and Sidell. The extension included a spur to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Sarasota headquarters near Fruitville. The extension also served Palmer Farms and their packinghouse at Belspur. Adrian Honore, brother of local socialite

Bertha Honore Palmer Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. Early life Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wit ...

, also owned significant amounts of land along the line east of Sarasota. While freight was the primary intent of the Fort Ogden extension, it ended up having the additional benefit of providing a direct route for passenger trains traveling from Tampa and Sarasota further down the coast to Fort Myers and Naples. The extension would initially serve a pair of passenger trains from

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 ...

to Fort Myers and Naples that included through Pullman coaches from the Dixie Limited and the Palmetto. Most of the Fort Ogden extension was removed by 1949 since it did not generate the freight traffic the Atlantic Coast Line had hoped for. The line was truncated at Belspur just east of Fruitville.

Later years

Manatee River Lift Bridge Bradenton Florida 2019-2572

By 1949, the line had daily service from

to Sarasota by the Atlantic Coast Line's West Coast Champion as well as a daily local passenger train. Two freight trains also ran to Sarasota six days a week.Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Southern Division Timetable (1949)
/ref> In 1956, the swing span on the Manatee River trestle was replaced with the current bascule span. The bascule span was installed about 200 feet north of where the swing span was located and the Army Corps of Engineers realigned the navigation channel to pass through the new bascule. In 1967, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad merged with the Seaboard Air Line to form 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 ...

(SCL). Connections were established between the Tampa Southern and the Seaboard route in a number of locations. Former Tampa Southern track from Bradenton to Matoaka was removed and the parallel east-west track through Fruitville was consolidated on to the former SAL track. The Tampa Southern track from Fruitville to Belspur would remain as a spur until the late 1970s.Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Jacksonville Division and Tampa Division Timetable (1977)
/ref> The merger also resulted in the removal of the SAL's swing bridge over the Manatee River (which was located a short distance upstream of both the Tampa Southern's bascule bridge and the Desoto Bridge). The city of Bradenton unsuccessfully attempted to have the Seaboard Coast Line remove the Tampa Southern bridge instead since it went right through downtown Bradenton's waterfront. The Tampa Southern route (as well as the remaining SAL route south from Bradenton to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

) was then designated as the

Palmetto Subdivision The Palmetto Subdivision is a CSX Transportation rail line in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. It runs from East Tampa and roughly parallels U.S. Route 41 in Florida, U.S. Route 41 south through Ruskin, Florida, Ruskin to Palmetto, Florida, Palm ...

by the Seaboard Coast Line after the merger. It became the main route for all trains between Palmetto and Tampa since it provided a more direct route to the Tampa yards. The

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, a ...

continued to run the line and continued south to Venice after the merger. All passenger service ended in 1971 after all of the Seaboard Coast Line's passenger operations were taken over by

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 ...

. The line would later become the route of

Tropicana Tropicana may refer to: Companies *Tropicana Entertainment, a former casino company that owned several Tropicana-branded casinos *Tropicana Products, a Chicago-based food company known for orange juice Hotels and nightclubs *Tropicana Casino & Re ...

's Juice Train, which was originally operated on the former Seaboard Air Line tracks to bypass Tampa. The juice train continues to run the line today. At the north end, the line was connected with the S Line (the former SAL main line) into Yeoman Yard, the Seaboard Air Line's classification yard that subsequently became the Seaboard Coast Line's main yard. Uceta Yard, the Atlantic Coast Line's main yard, has since become an

intermodal terminal Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more mode of transport, modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths (and offset the weaknesses) of va ...

and car storage facility. The connection with the A Line (the former ACL main line) was severed after the cessation of passenger service. In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the

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

, creating the

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

. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation. The Seaboard Air Line's original route between Durant and

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

was then removed in 1986, leaving the Tampa Southern route as the only thru route.

Current operations

Most of the remaining Tampa Southern Railroad trackage from Tampa to Bradenton comprises CSX's Palmetto Subdivision, with the northernmost five miles being part of the Tampa Terminal Subdivision. A control point on the line between State Road 60 and Yeoman Yard is named "TS," a reference to the Tampa Southern. The line today serves

The Mosaic Company The Mosaic Company is a Fortune 500 company based in Tampa, Florida which mines phosphate, potash, and collects urea for fertilizer, through various international distribution networks, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It is the largest U.S. producer ...

's Riverview plant near the

Alafia River The Alafia River is long, with a watershed of in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, flowing into Tampa Bay. The watershed contains ten named lakes and ponds, and 29 named rivers, streams and canals. During the rainy season, excess ...

TECO Energy TECO Energy Inc. is an energy-related holding company based in Tampa, Florida, and a subsidiary of Emera Incorporated. TECO Energy has several subsidiaries: Tampa Electric Company, which provides electricity to the Tampa Bay Area and parts of C ...

's Big Bend Power Station in southern Hillsoborough County, and

Port Manatee SeaPort Manatee is a county-owned deepwater seaport located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico at the entrance to Tampa Bay in northern Manatee County, Florida. It is one of Florida's largest deepwater seaports and also regarded as the closest U.S. ...

in northern

Manatee County Manatee County is a county in the Central Florida portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county s ...

. It also continues to serve the

Juice Plant in Bradenton, with Tropicana's Juice Train continuing to be the most consistent service on the line today. The main Tampa Southern Railroad tracks end near the Tropicana Plant in Bradenton. Although, the Palmetto Subdivision continues south from here a short distance to Oneco along the former Seaboard line. In Oneco, it connects with

Seminole Gulf Railway The Seminole Gulf Railway is a short line freight and passenger excursion railroad headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines in Southwest Florida. The company's Fort Myers Division, whic ...

, who operates the remaining Seaboard tracks south through Sarasota. Seminole Gulf also operates a discontinuous segment of the Tampa Southern Railroad just east of Downtown Sarasota. It is part of their track from Sarasota to Matoaka. US 301 now runs on the roughly five-mile abandoned segment between of the Tampa Southern between Bradenton and Matoaka.

Historic Stations

Notes

References

{{Reflist CSX Transportation lines Defunct Florida railroads Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Railway companies established in 1917 Railway companies disestablished in 1967 1917 establishments in Florida 1967 disestablishments in Florida