Florida Railroading and Railfanning In "The Sunshine State"

Florida railroading is as sunny and bright as the Sunshine State itself. Yes, while Florida may be as flat as a board and the railroads which operate there have all but no trouble with grades and mountainous terrain, the state’s interesting diversity of operations make it worth the trip to see. Whether you are interested in commuter rail, high-speed freight railroading, or shortline/Regional operations, Florida offers all three and then some!

Florida railroading dates back to nearly the beginning of the industry itself. In 1834 the little mule-powered Tallahassee Railroad opened its 22-mile line connecting Tallahassee (the then capitol of the Florida territory, before it was actually a state) with St. Marks, a Gulf Coast port town. Not long after the Tallahassee Railroad opened, Florida’s railroad network began to grow rapidly and by 1880 boasted over 500 miles of track.

Florida railroading is often known and remembered for five railroads, one of which is still operating. These include the Southern Railway, Atlantic Coast Line (ACL), Frisco, Seaboard Air Line (SAL), and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) with the latter three having the most presence in the state.

For a more in-depth look at Florida’s rail mileage over the years please refer to the table below.

The Southern Railway's Florida railroading operations were limited only to the northeastern corner of state where it reached Jacksonville (although it did extend as far south as Palatka). Likewise, the Frisco only reached the extreme western corner of Florida by its north-south main line extending to Pensacola.

The ACL, SAL, and FEC, however, served most of the state. The ACL operated all over Florida reaching every major western and southern city in the state except Miami (which was handled by the FEC). After emerging from receivership in the early 1930s the ACL would live out the rest of its life upgrading its equipment and infrastructure. By 1955 the railroad had totally dieselized its motive power fleet, purchasing power from EMD, GE, and Alco. Also by the 1950s the railroad had upgraded its infrastructure substantially. By that time most of its main line was double-tracked between Florida and Virginia and it had put in place Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) and automatic block signaling to more efficiently handle train movements (especially on its signal-track segments, where CTC is used). The railroad had also become a high-speed highway and freights were flying up and down the coast averaging 50 mph.

The Atlantic Coast Line also had a thriving passenger business for years, once again due to its well-positioned north-south routing. Because the railroad served literally the entirety of Florida the ACL handled a number of trains coming from all different directions as travelers flocked to the state's sunny, tropical beaches. Because of its strategic position of handling so many Florida-bound trains, coupled with its own passenger fleet the railroad enjoyed the very rare privilege of the passenger business being profitable, even into the 1950s and 1960s when many railroads were bowing out of the market. The ACL was so successful that it even continued to build new stations and depots into the 1960s!

The Seaboard Air Line was essentially a smaller version of the ACL as both railroads competed in almost every major market with one another. 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).

While always the smallest railroad the Florida East Coast itself has defined Florida railroading. The FEC originally had its beginnings in 1895, on September 7th to be exact as that was the date when the Florida East Coast Railway was officially dedicated by its most prominent and original owner, Henry Flagler (who is known not only for his wealth, but also for a number of successful businesses, such as partnering with John Rockefeller of Standard Oil fame), who purchased the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Halifax River Railway and renamed it (because this railroad began the FEC “empire” for many years, until just recently when it moved to Jacksonville, the railroad’s headquarters were located in St. Augustine).

However, the railroad actually had its beginnings much earlier than that, as its predecessor railroads date all the way back to 1858 with the narrow-gauge St. John’s Railway, which operated, between Tocoi and St. Augustine, Florida. The rest of the FEC, however, was built entirely from new railroad, which stretched from Daytona Beach to Miami (which it reached a year after the railroad was officially incorporated in 1896) and continues to serve as part of the railroad’s very important Jacksonville-Miami main line.

Perhaps what the FEC is best recognized for is its ambitious plan to connect the Florida Keys with the state’s mainland. Construction of the project was completed in 1905 and finished in 1912 with Flagler’s ultimate goal of using the line as a link for traffic coming to and from the Panama Canal, whose construction had also begun in 1905. Hailed as an engineering masterpiece upon completion the line saw a mere 23 years of active service before being destroyed by the massive Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and the railroad never sought to rebuild the line (partly because its intended use never came to fruition). However, the line was so well built that much of the remaining pier infrastructure was used for Highway 1, which now connects the entire Key West island system to the state’s mainland.

Today, the railroad continues to serve and function over most of the same trackage it originally owned and built over 100 years ago. Along with CSX and Norfolk Southrn, the Florida East Coast provides much of the freight rail service to the state. The rest is provided by Florida’s many shortlines, which include Florida Central, Florida Midland, Florida Northern, Port of Manatee Railroad, Bay Line Railroad, and the Apalachicola Northern Railroad.

Freight railroading aside, Florida is also jumping on the commuter rail bandwagon. Most recognized is Tri-Rail, a 72-mile commuter railroad that serves Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach and currently dispatches 40 trains a day. The railroad also connects with another commuter system, the Miami-Dade Transit Authority’s Metrorail system which is a 22-mile system serving Miami.

Amtrak also has a significant presence in Florida. It's Silver Meteor and Silver Star trains terminate in Miami and Auto Train serves Sanford.

Passenger and freight rail aside Florida railroading includes a host of museums and tourist lines. These include the Central Florida Railroad Museum, Flagler Museum, Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum, Gold Coast Railroad Museum, Largo Central Railroad, Railroad Museum of South Florida's Train Village, Seminole Gulf Railway, Southwest Florida Museum of History, Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway Society, and Winter Garden Heritage Museum.

All in all, Florida railroading offers plenty in the way of variety for either the railfan or vacationer simply looking for something interesting to see and do. Besides just the beaches, sunshine, shopping, and entertainment the Sunshine State is worth the trip to see its railroads.