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52-618: From Jacksonville west to Lake City, the Florida Central and Western Railroad was first built by the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad (not to be confused with the Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad , the current operator of the line). The Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad (FA&GC) was chartered on January 24, 1851 by Abel Seymour Baldwin (the namesake of Baldwin, Florida ) and construction began at Lake City in 1857. During

104-484: A bale of cotton was 75 cents. The condition of the railroad remained poor throughout the almost 20 years that the original owners of the Tallahassee Railroad operated the line. A traveler who was a passenger on the railroad in 1855 was unhappy with his journey. He noted that rails and ties were sometimes missing, and that the iron straps on the rails were sometimes fastened only in the middle, so that both ends of

156-674: A branch from Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia . The FG&A began operation on June 1, 2019, after RailUSA acquired the line from CSX Transportation . The FG&A connects with CSX at Baldwin, Pensacola, and Attapulgus; with the AN Railway at Chattahoochee ; and with the Bay Line Railroad at Cottondale . The Jacksonville-Pensacola line was the route of the Gulf Wind streamliner from 1949 to 1971. After two decades of freight-only service, passenger service resumed in 1993 when

208-451: A day. The freight trains were pulled by six horses or mules at a speed of 2.5 miles per hour (4.0 km/h). Most of the freight carried from Tallahassee to the seaports was cotton, about 14,000 bales of cotton (a bale weighed 400 to 500 pounds (180 to 230 kg)) out of 8,000 short tons (7,300 t) carried in 1838. About 5,000 short tons (4,500 t) of goods were carried from the seaports to Tallahassee that year. The freight charge for

260-600: A fraudulent transaction, purchased the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad for $ 1,220,000, and the Tallahassee Railroad for $ 195,000. The two railroads were then merged into a new company, called the Tallahassee Railroad. That company was in turn incorporated into the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad , which was created in 1869. Edward Reed purchased the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad and, in 1882, merged it into

312-555: A local freight train six days a week round-trip from Baldwin to Tallahassee in the 1950s. A through freight train also ran from Tallahassee to Chattahoochee daily at the time. The line was busy enough in the 1950s to warrant the installation of Centralized traffic control along the Tallahassee Subdivision from Baldwin to a point just west of Tallahassee. In 1967, the Seaboard Air Line merged with their long-time rival,

364-526: A year after purchasing the majority of FC&P stock, the newly organized Seaboard Air Line Railway (a predecessor of CSX Transportation ) leased the FC&;P and, in 1903, acquired it outright. CSX previously operated this segment as their Tallahassee Subdivision. The line has a centralized traffic control signal system between Tallahassee and Baldwin. The P&A Subdivision of the main line runs west from Chattahoochee to Pensacola, Florida . This segment of

416-471: The Appalachicola and Suwannee rivers. In the 1830s Middle Florida was the most populous and prosperous part of Florida. The heart of Middle Florida and the adjacent part of Georgia formed the " Red Hills Region ", which held many plantations producing cotton and tobacco. Export of cotton from the region was difficult. Cotton bales were brought into Tallahassee, from which they were carried in wagons across

468-750: The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). The Tallahassee Subdivision crossed or connected with ACL branch lines in Jacksonville , Mattox, Live Oak , Drifton , and Chattahoochee . After the merger was complete, the company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System , creating the CSX Corporation . The CSX Corporation initially operated

520-500: The Aucilla ("Ocilla" on the map), East , Ochlockonee ("Okloknee" on the map), and St. Marks rivers, to seize the towns of Newport and St. Marks, and to destroy the Tallahassee Railroad. The main force under Brigadier General John Newton arrived at Newport to find that the bridge across the St. Marks River had been burned. General Newton decided to cross the St. Marks on the natural bridge (where

572-623: The Chattahoochee River and the P&;A Subdivision west of the river. The Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad's Bainbridge Subdivision runs as a branch line between Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia . The system connects with CSX Transportation at each end of the line in Baldwin, Pensacola, and Attapulgus. CSX has trackage rights on the FG&;A, but plans to use the them only if their lines to

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624-605: The Civil War , the railroad figured in the Battle of Olustee when Union Brigadier General Truman Seymour led troops west toward Lake City along the line, destroying the junction at Baldwin , and then engaging Confederate troops near Olustee Station . The tracks and junction were rebuilt after the war, but the railroad defaulted on its payments to the Florida Internal Improvement Fund. From Lake City to Tallahassee,

676-600: The Florida Central and Western Railroad . The Florida Central and Western Railroad was in turned merged into the Florida Railway and Navigation Company in 1884, which was re-incorporated as the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad in 1888, and again, in 1893, as the Florida Central and Peninsular Railway. The Seaboard Air Line Railway leased the Florida Central and Peninsular Railway in 1900, and purchased it in 1903. The Tallahassee to St. Marks line would be known as

728-796: The Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1927. The Seaboard lines, after various other mergers, became part of CSX Transportation in 1986. The line's milepost numbers begin in Tallahassee at 52 and increase from there. This is due to the fact that the numbering still reflects the line's full length to Carrabelle, which was mile 0 before the track between there and Tallahassee was abandoned. [REDACTED] Media related to Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad at Wikimedia Commons In chronological order: Tallahassee Railroad The Tallahassee Railroad , headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida ,

780-654: The Wakulla Subdivision under the Seaboard Air Line and its successors. The Seaboard Air Line Railway (SAL) had ceased operating over the last two miles (3.2 km) of the St. Marks branch (the old Tallahassee Railroad) leading into St. Marks in 1932. A petition by the SAL to resume service to those two miles (3.2 km) to the end of the line in St. Marks was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1939. The St. Marks branch remained in use through

832-596: The river went briefly underground ) a few miles upstream from Newport. News of the Federal landings at St. Marks had reached Tallahassee the night of March 4. Various Confederate troops were dispatched to bolster the defence of the area. Confederate reinforcements, including elements of the Second Florida Cavalry, militia from Leon and Gadsden counties, and cadets from the West Florida Seminary , traveled down

884-580: The Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation . The Gulf Wind continued to operate on the Tallahassee Subdivision under the Seaboard Coast Line until 1971, when passenger service was taken over by Amtrak . This left the line without passenger service until 1993, when the Amtrak extended the Sunset Limited to Miami via Jacksonville. The Sunset Limited ran

936-523: The FA&;GC the Florida Central Railroad , set his carpetbagger protégé, Milton S. Littlefield , a former Union general known as the "Prince of Carpetbaggers", loose in Tallahassee to buy, cheat, and otherwise defraud Florida legislators in order to obtain a new charter for a railroad that Littlefield promised would be extended west from Quincy to Pensacola . Backed by $ 6 million in capitalization,

988-403: The Federal government, Call petitioned the U.S. Congress to grant the railroad a 200-foot (61 m) wide right-of-way, and 100 acres (40 ha) in St. Marks. Congress granted a 60-foot (18 m) wide right of way, and just 20 acres (8.1 ha) at the junction of the St. Marks and Wakulla rivers. Much of what is now known about the construction of the Tallahassee Railroad was recorded by

1040-523: The Florida Central and Western and several other Florida railroads he had purchased under the umbrella of what was named the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, which was renamed the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P) in 1888. In 1900, a year after purchasing the majority of FC&P stock, the newly organized Seaboard Air Line Railway leased the FC&P and, in 1903, acquired it outright. The line would become an important route for

1092-607: The Florida Central and Western was built by the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad (P&G). The Pensacola and Georgia Railroad was chartered in January 1853, and was to be built east from Pensacola, Florida , but instead started at Tallahassee and was built east. It reached Lake City, Florida in 1860 where it connected to the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central. The P&G also built a short branch from Drifton north to Monticello . In 1855,

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1144-588: The German Bohemian railroad expert, Franz Anton von Gerstner . Gerstner had been commissioned by the Russian government to write a comprehensive report on railroads in the United States. He visited Middle Florida in 1839. Construction of the railroad began in 1834 from Tallahassee, and had reached St. Marks, a distance of 22 miles (35 km), by 1836 or 1837 (sources differ on the year operations began). By 1839,

1196-571: The P&A. The line was merged into the L&;N in 1891. In 1982, the L&N was merged into the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad , which in 1986 became part of CSX Transportation , operating this segment as its P&A Subdivision (a reference to the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad). The Bainbridge Subdivision runs from the FG&A main line in Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia , where it connects to CSX's Bainbridge Subdivision , which continues north to Bainbridge, Georgia . The Bainbridge Subdivision

1248-584: The P&G also took over the Tallahassee Railroad , which ran south from Tallahassee to the port at St. Marks, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico . The P&G then built from Tallahassee west to four miles (6 km) short of Quincy , stopping in 1863 in the middle of the American Civil War . George W. Swepson , a notorious scalawag , purchased both the P&G and the FA&GC in 1868. After renaming

1300-606: The P&G was reorganized as the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad in June 1869 with Littlefield as president. The original charter did not consolidate the Florida Central Railroad into the JP&;M; this did not occur until the Florida legislature amended the charter in 1870. Littlefield and Swepson then launched a major swindle, personally enriching themselves from the sales of company bonds to unwitting investors. Due to

1352-601: The Seaboard Air Line for passenger service from Jacksonville to New Orleans , which was operated jointly with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad . This daily passenger service was known as the New Orleans-Florida Express and the New Orleans-Florida Limited before being renamed the Gulf Wind in 1949. In addition to passenger service, the line also carried two daily Red Ball freight trains and

1404-534: The Seaboard Air Line. The easternmost 17 miles of the line from Jacksonville to Baldwin became part if the Seaboard's main line . The rest of the line from Baldwin to Chattahoochee became the Seaboard's Tallahassee Subdivision. The branch to Monticello became the Monticello Subdivision, while track from Tallahassee to St. Marks became the Wakulla Subdivision . The Tallahassee Subdivision was notably used by

1456-468: The Tallahassee Railroad the night of March 5 and into March 6, detraining at Hodgsons ( turpentine ) distillery, in the vicinity of what is now Woodville , as that was closer to the natural bridge than Newport. Newton's forces reached the natural bridge on March 6, only to find it defended by Confederate troops. Confederate forces held the crossing in the Battle of Natural Bridge , and the Federal troops withdrew. In March, 1867, George William Swepson , in

1508-705: The deep sand of the Woodville Karst Plain to ports on the St. Marks River. The Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida authorized the Leon Rail-Way Company in 1831 to build a railroad from Tallahassee to the St. Marks River. When that company failed to organize, the Legislative Council then authorized the Leon Railroad Company, which forfeited its charter after it was unable to raise

1560-419: The embezzling of such funds, the company was unable to extend the line to Pensacola, reaching only an additional 20 miles to Chattahoochee instead. By 1879, the U.S. Supreme Court had a lien placed on the railroad's assets. In 1882, the JP&M and the Florida Central were both acquired by Sir Edward Reed , and were renamed together as the Florida Central and Western Railroad. Two years later, Reed brought

1612-556: The former Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad west to Pensacola, and track from Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia . Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad The Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad ( reporting mark FGA ) is a shortline railroad owned and operated by RailUSA in the Florida Panhandle . The line consists of 430 miles (692 km) of track: a main line from Baldwin, Florida (just west of Jacksonville ), through Tallahassee to Pensacola , as well as

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1664-538: The line until late 2005 due to damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina further west. The Sunset Limited has terminated in New Orleans ever since. The Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad took over operation of the former Florida Central and Western Railroad on June 1, 2019, after its parent company, RailUSA, acquired the line from CSX Transportation . As part of the deal, the Florida Gulf and Atlantic also took over

1716-409: The lines were acquired by Sir Edward Reed , and were renamed together as the Florida Central and Western Railroad . Two years later, Reed brought the Florida Central and Western and several other Florida railroads he had purchased under the umbrella of what was named the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, which, in 1888, was renamed the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P). In 1900,

1768-403: The main line was originally built in 1881-1883 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad , operating it as a subsidiary, the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad . William D. Chipley and Frederick R. De Funiak (General Manager of the L&N), both of whom are commemorated in the names of towns later built along the P&A line ( Chipley and DeFuniak Springs ), were among the founding officers of

1820-429: The north are impassable. The Tallahassee Subdivision of the main line was first built as the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad from Lake City to Jacksonville in 1857. The Pensacola and Georgia Railroad built the line between Quincy and Lake City which was completed by 1863. The line was then extended east to Chattahoochee to connect with the newly built Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad . In 1882,

1872-442: The poor condition of the track. As of 1839, besides the two unused locomotives, the railroad owned three passenger cars (the first of which could hold only eight passengers), 45 freight cars, 35 horses and mules, and 23 slaves. The railroad also owned a sawmill, 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of woodlands, a 1,000-acre (400 ha) plantation for raising fodder for the horses and mules, and the town of Port Leon. Slaves performed most of

1924-462: The railroad and ships. Starting in 1838, the railroad company laid out and sold lots in Port Leon. The residents of Magnolia , a port town up the St. Marks River from the port of St. Marks, which had been bypassed by the railroad, moved en masse to Port Leon. The railroad reached Port Leon in 1839. The town had quickly grown to a population of about 450, and was incorporated in 1841. Yellow fever struck

1976-486: The railroad was "very useful" because of the near impossibility of transporting cotton by horse-drawn wagon across the sandy soil from Tallahassee to the St. Marks River, he called the railroad "the very worst that has yet been built in the entire world", with such poor construction that it had proven impossible to operate locomotives on the track. The initial terminal for the railroad was St. Marks. The Federal government had only granted 20 acres (8.1 ha) at St. Marks to

2028-431: The railroad was extended two miles (3.2 km) south to Port Leon by means of a drawbridge across the St. Marks River. The line was constructed using strap rail (eight-foot (2.4 m) long timbers with a one-half-inch (13 mm) thick strap of iron on top), using a track gauge (distance between rails) of five feet (1,524 mm) laid on ties spaced at intervals of six to seven feet (1.8 to 2.1 m). Most of

2080-400: The railroad, instead of the 100 acres (40 ha) it had requested. The land grant from the Territory of Florida included a larger area across (to the east of) the St. Marks River and a little nearer to the mouth of the river. Siting the terminal of the railroad on the territorial grant land gave the company more room for its terminal facilities, and full control of the transfer of goods between

2132-464: The required capital. The Tallahassee Railroad Company was incorporated in 1834 as authorized by an act of the Legislative Council. Richard Keith Call , who owned two plantations in Leon County, became president and chief stockholder of the company. The Territorial government granted 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of land to the railroad company. As part of the proposed route crossed land still held by

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2184-410: The route of Amtrak 's Sunset Limited was extended beyond New Orleans to Orlando . Amtrak service was suspended in 2005 due to damage to track and trestles by Hurricane Katrina , and has never resumed east of New Orleans. The 373 miles of the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad comprise the main line between Baldwin and Pensacola. The main line is known as the Tallahassee Subdivision east of

2236-522: The route was over very flat, forested land. Drainage was poor, and rain often washed the sand from under the tracks, throwing them out of alignment. This left the track in poor condition, with high maintenance costs. (A traveler on the railroad in 1855 reported being told that the rails had initially been laid directly on the sand without ties to hold the rails in alignment.) The French naturalist, Francis de Laporte de Castelnau , visited Middle Florida from November 1837 until March 1838. While admitting that

2288-464: The site. The Port Leon, Florida Hurricane of 1843 struck Port Leon in September of that year. The hurricane was accompanied by a storm surge of 7 to 10 feet (2.1 to 3.0 m). While only one person was killed, every structure in the town was destroyed or severely damaged. The bridge across the St. Marks River was carried upstream past the town of St. Marks. The town of St. Marks also suffered damage from

2340-583: The storm. Many residents of Port Leon moved to a new town north of St. Marks, Newport . The railroad company quickly repaired its line into St. Marks, and made it the new shipping terminal for the line. Port Leon then faded away. Trains on the railroad were pulled by horses or mules for many years. The company had purchased two locomotives (the Tallahassee Floridan reported the purchase of one locomotive in December, 1837), but could not use them because of

2392-408: The strap curled up. At one point a forest fire had set the ties on fire for a distance of two miles (3.2 km), which the train nevertheless proceeded across. When the slave driving the train was asked why he did not try to fight the fire, he replied that he was not a fireman. The passenger train was delayed because a freight train had derailed, and the passengers had to help place the freight cars on

2444-417: The town in 1841, killing 139 residents. About 200 residents were still in Port Leon in early 1843 when it was made the county seat of Wakulla County , which was newly created out of Leon County. When it began selling lots at Port Leon, the railroad company had claimed that site was the highest on Apalachee Bay , above the highest tides. The Apalachee Bay Storm of 1837 apparently had not seriously flooded

2496-439: The track again. As there was no way for the passenger train to pass the freight train, it was further delayed by the slow speed at which the freight train moved. The traveler noted that delays of this sort occurred almost every day. In 1855, Richard Keith Call sold his majority interest in the Tallahassee Railroad to the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad . The following year, the line was completely rebuilt, with iron rails replacing

2548-621: The wood rails, and the introduction of two Baldwin 4-4-0 steam locomotives. In 1857, the president of the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad declared that the Tallahassee Railroad was "one of the best paying roads in the country". The Union Army and Navy mounted a raid on the area around St. Marks in March 1865 as part of an attempt to cut off peninsular Florida from the rest of the Confederacy . Seamen and soldiers were landed at various points on Apalachee Bay in an attempt to capture or burn bridges over

2600-446: The work on the railroad and the plantation. Daily passenger service in each direction was provided with a single car pulled by two horses. The horses were changed at the half-way mark, and the one-way trip took two-and-a-half hours at a speed of about 9 miles per hour (14 km/h). Passenger fare was $ 1.50 per passenger, and some 4,000 passengers were carried in 1838. Freight trains of five to eight cars also ran in each direction once

2652-753: Was first built in 1901 by the Georgia Pine Railway. The line was only intended to be a shortline for logging, but since it provided an additional rail route from Georgia into Florida, traffic increased. As a result, the line was renamed the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railway by the end of 1901. The GF&A Railway bought the Carrabelle, Tallahassee and Georgia Railroad in 1906, which ran from Tallahassee south to Carrabelle . The Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railway, which extended from Richland, Georgia , to Carrabelle, Florida, at its greatest extent, became part of

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2704-471: Was one of the first two railroads in Florida, starting operations in 1836 or 1837. It did not successfully use steam locomotives until 1855, with trains being pulled by mules for more than 20 years. The principal source of traffic on the railroad for many years was carrying cotton bales from Tallahassee to seaports on the St. Marks River . Tallahassee sat in "Middle Florida", the part of the Territory of Florida between

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