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The Florida Central Railroad

The Florida Central Railroad (FCEN), based in Plymouth, Florida, is a division of the Pinsly Railroad Company and has been in operation since 1986 when it took over ex-CSX trackage in the Sunshine State. The railroad currently operates over 60 miles of track and serves over 65 customers in central Florida, including Orlando. The FCEN has two sister roads which also operate in Florida, the Florida Midland and Florida Northern.

Between the three railroads they operate well over 100 miles of ex-CSX trackage and serve some 100+ customers along their particular areas of operation. Traffic includes everything from food and chemicals to lumber and fly ash.

The Pinsly Railroad Company, based out of Massachusetts, itself has been in the railroading business for nearly 70 years focusing on short line operations, which it continues to do even today.

The Florida Central Railroad operates over trackage originally owned by the Seaboard Air Line (SAL). To give a brief history of the SAL, the railroad was derived over the years from several smaller lines which merged together or were later included under the Seaboard banner. The railroad itself has its beginnings dating back originally to the Portsmouth & Roanoke Rail Road, which was chartered in 1832 to connect Portsmouth, Virginia with Wheldon, Virginia, a town that sat along the banks of the Roanoke River (and was reorganized as the Seaboard & Roanoke in 1846). The other original components of the Seaboard included the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad (connecting Raleigh and Gaston, NC) and the Raleigh & Augusta Air-Line Railroad (connecting Raleigh and Hamlet, NC which would control both former lines by the 1870s).

The Seaboard’s transition into a major southeastern competitor began after it fell into receivership following the Great Depression (it emerged following WWII as the Seaboard Air Line Railroad). The railroad began to aggressively upgrade its system and reduce expenses by purchasing new locomotives (including new diesel-electrics) and equipment, and adding Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) to its single-track main lines.

By the 1960s the railroad was a premier southern Class I system and fiercely competed with the Atlantic Coast Line for both passengers and traffic (its “Air Line” named referred to the shortest distance and fastest delivery between two points). By its latter years the Seaboard had a quite diverse freight traffic base which included agriculture, aggregates, cement, perishables, and iron ore. The railroad likewise was one of the first to champion the trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) concept in 1950 (it also holds the distinction of being one of the relatively few railroads to name its premier freight trains).

Currently the Florida Central Railroad has a locomotive fleet consisting entirely of EMDs (of note, the locomotives operate among all three railroads and are lettered for their respective railroad). The below roster of the railroad is courtesy of The Diesel Shop:

The Florida Central Railroad Locomotive Roster

#47-50, #53, #56 - EMD CF7

#55, #57 - EMD GP7u

#63-65 - EMD CF7

For more reading on shortlines like the Florida Central Railroad consider the book American Shortline Railway Guide from author Ed Lewis. The book has gone through several updated editions to keep up with the ever-changing world of the shortline industry. Today, the publication highlights almost 600 shortlines across the country with general background information about each (such as roster information, rail line history, radio frequencies, etc.). If you have any interest in shortlines you will very likely enjoy this book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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