The Yeoman Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida . It runs along CSX’s S Line from Zephyrhills south to just east of Tampa via Plant City for a total of 31.2 miles.
33-917: The north end of the line connects to the Wildwood Subdivision and the south end connects to the Tampa Terminal Subdivision . It also connects with the Plant City Subdivision and Lakeland Subdivision (the A Line) in Plant City, and with the Valrico Subdivision (which carries Bone Valley traffic) in Valrico . The Yeoman Subdivision and the Wildwood Subdivision (which both run along CSX’s S Line) together are CSX’s main freight route through Peninsular Florida. Passenger service
66-554: A nearly straight line down to Auburndale, where it crossed the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 's main line (the current CSX A Line). From here, it continued through southern Central Florida, passing through Winter Haven , West Lake Wales , Avon Park , and Sebring . Between Auburndale and Sebring, the line's trajectory closely paralleled the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 's Haines City Branch , which at one point ran from Haines City to Everglades City . After Sebring,
99-561: A number of intercity passenger services on the line including the Orange Blossom Special , Silver Meteor , Silver Star , the Sunland , and the Palmland . The Cross State Limited also ran the line, which was one of the first rail services to connect Tampa and Miami directly. The Cross State Limited ran the Valrico Subdivision from West Lake Wales to access Tampa. In 1963,
132-574: A short branch into Avon Park, as well as trackage now operated by the Florida Midland Railroad (Lake Wales to Frostproof) and the South Central Florida Express . In 1989, a few years after Seaboard Coast Line became CSX, the northern section of the line from Coleman to just north of Auburndale was abandoned and removed. It carried Amtrak's Miami service up until its removal, which was then shifted to its current routing along
165-713: A total of 155.7 miles. The S Line is CSX's designation for the line that was the Seaboard Air Line Railroad main line from 1903 to 1967. The north end of the line is at Baldwin Junction, where it connects with the Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision to the east, the Callahan Subdivision to the north, and the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad to the west. At its south end, it connects to
198-672: Is located at the junction for rail enthusiasts to observe passing trains. The platform is part of the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum which operates in the Plant City Union Depot . The Yeoman Subdivision was built in 1890 by the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad . The line would later become the main line of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad , who acquired the FC&P, in 1903. The Seaboard Air Line would designate this segment of
231-666: Is still in service today from Auburndale to West Palm Beach and is now operated by Seaboard successor CSX Transportation as their Auburndale Subdivision . The Florida Western and Northern Railroad began in Coleman, which was located on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's main line about five miles south of Wildwood (where the Seaboard Air Line operated a major yard). It branched off the main line in Coleman and proceeded south through wetlands of north Central Florida in
264-559: Is unofficially considered part of the S Line since it carries all S Line traffic (though, this segment still retains its ACL milepost numbering with AR and ARF prefixes). A portion of the former SAL line in Dade City became the Hardy Trail in 2019. After the merger, the line remained the Baldwin and Miami Subdivisions north of Coleman, but the remaining line from Coleman to Owensboro became
297-806: The Coleman Subdivision . The ex-ACL segments were then part of the West Coast Subdivision . In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System , creating the CSX Corporation . The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation . The line was renamed the Wildwood Subdivision from Baldwin and Zephyrhills by CSX after more of
330-405: The West Coast Subdivision was abandoned in 1987. The Wildwood Subdivision and the rest of the S Line (CSX's designation for the former Seaboard Air Line main line) continues to be CSX's main route through peninsular Florida. Florida Western and Northern Railroad The Florida Western and Northern Railroad was a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that expanded their network in
363-587: The Yeoman Subdivision , which continues to Tampa . It also connects with the Vitis Subdivision just south of Dade City . The Wildwood Subdivision and the Yeoman Subdivision (which both run along CSX’s S Line) together are CSX’s main freight route through Peninsular Florida. The Wildwood Subdivision is used exclusively for freight. Freight trains bound for Tampa generally run the full line to
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#1732858751860396-493: The 1920s by building a rail line from Coleman, Florida (near Wildwood ) all the way to West Palm Beach via Auburndale and Sebring (near Lake Okeechobee ), a distance of 204 miles. The line would be extended to Miami by the Seaboard-All Florida Railway , another Seaboard Air Line subsidiary, shortly after with the full line from Coleman to Miami becoming the Seaboard Air Line's Miami Subdivision . The line
429-672: The A Line in Auburndale to Mangonia Park just northwest of West Palm Beach. The line south of Mangonia Park is now the South Florida Rail Corridor, which is owned by the Florida Department of Transportation . All of Amtrak 's passenger service to Miami including the Silver Meteor and Silver Star service continue to traverse the line from Auburndale to access Miami. A short spur known as McDonald Connection connects
462-401: The A Line. Most of the former right-of-way of the abandoned northern segment is now part of the nearly 30-mile General James A. Van Fleet State Trail , as well as the adjoining Auburndale TECO Trail . Today, the remaining trackage of the original Florida Western and Northern Railroad remains in service under CSX Transportation . It is now CSX's Auburndale Subdivision from its junction with
495-529: The Auburndale Subdivision with the CSX A Line towards Tampa. The Auburndale Subdivision runs in a roughly parallel trajectory to U.S. Route 27 between Avon Park and Sebring, and from Okeechobee to West Palm Beach, the line directly parallels State Road 710 which in some places known as Warfield Boulevard (named after Seaboard president S. Davies Warfield). All CSX freight trains to and from Miami also run
528-529: The Seaboard Air Line also double-tracked its main line from the junction in Coleman to Wildwood Yard. The line only briefly terminated in West Palm Beach before Seaboard organized another subsidiary, the Seaboard-All Florida Railway , to extend it to Miami which was completed in January 1927. The Seaboard would designate the line from Coleman to Miami as their Miami Subdivision. The Seaboard Air Line ran
561-632: The Seaboard Air Line era, the main line was designated from Jacksonville and Baldwin to Wildwood as the Baldwin Subdivision . From Wildwood to Coleman, it was part of the Miami Subdivision , which continued down the now-abandoned branch from Coleman to Auburndale and to the Miami area (built by the Seaboard's Florida Western and Northern Railroad subsidiary). From Coleman south, the Seaboard main line
594-585: The Seaboard network to the South Florida region, which for almost thirty years had been the exclusive domain of the Florida East Coast Railway . The line's final spike was placed on January 21, 1925, and four days later, a special section of the Seaboard's Orange Blossom Special ran to West Palm Beach officially inaugurating service. President Warfield was on board with around 500 guests. To accommodate large amounts of traffic bound for Miami,
627-408: The Seaboard's division points to Tampa, Orlando, and Miami were located just to the south. Trains to Orlando previously turned towards Leesburg and Tavares just south of the yard (the wye at the south end of the yard is all that remains of that connection). Trains to Miami turned in Coleman down Seaboard's Florida Western and Northern Railroad . Wildwood station still stands and is co-located in
660-438: The Yeoman Subdivision while trains to Miami, Orlando, and other areas of Southern Florida diverge on to the Vitis Subdivision at Vitis Junction. The line is double tracked in many places to accommodate the large amount of freight traffic and is dispatched through a Centralized traffic control signal system. Some of the double track was installed in the mid 2010s to further increase capacity since through trains no longer use
693-485: The adjacent A Line, which is now partially state owned. Passenger service previously operated over the line which diminished in the late 1980s when CSX abandoned parts of Seaboard's branch at Wildwood to West Palm Beach and Miami (the Florida Western and Northern Railroad ). Amtrak 's Silver Star to Miami used this route up until then, which was subsequently shifted to the A Line through Orlando. Passenger service
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#1732858751860726-539: The line began hosting the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 's Miami-bound passenger trains. This arrangement between Seaboard and its competitor was quickly made due to the abrupt discontinuation of passenger service on the Florida East Coast Railway, which the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) had used prior. By then, merger talks were underway between the two railroads. The merger would be complete by 1967 and
759-585: The line turned into a more southeast trajectory towards Okeechobee . From here, it continued southeast near the northern edge of Lake Okeechobee in a nearly straight line southeast to Indiantown and to its terminus in West Palm Beach. The Seaboard Air Line Railroad first chartered the Florida Western and Northern Railroad in April 1924 and construction began shortly after. The line was beginning of Seaboard president S. Davies Warfield 's ambitious plan to connect
792-543: The line was originally part of the Peninsula Railroad and from Ocala south to Lacoochee (at a point previously known as Owensboro Junction ) it was part of the Tropical Florida Railroad . All three of these railroads would be merged into the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad , which would be bought by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1903. The line became the Seaboard's main line . For much of
825-646: The line. Freight trains also notably serve the Palm Center Automotive Terminal just west of Jupiter and CSX's Winter Haven Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven which opened in 2014. A short spur known as Mission Spur splits from the line in Mangonia Park just north of the South Florida Rail Corridor boundary. Mission Spur connects with the Florida East Coast Railway ’s Lewis Terminal track, which connects to FEC’s main line. CSX also uses
858-504: The main line from Coleman to Tampa (along with track from Tampa to St. Petersburg) as the Tampa Subdivision . The Seaboard Air Line merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967 with the merged company becoming CSX Transportation by 1986. Seaboard Air Line track north of Zephyrhills was abandoned in the wake of the merger and the remaining line to the south was renamed the Yeoman Subdivision. Current track north of Zephyrhills
891-614: The new combined company would be named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad . The line remained mostly unchanged through the Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) era. It became their main route through southern Central Florida and segments of the Atlantic Coast Line's parallel Haines City Branch were abandoned. Remaining segments of the Haines City branch became smaller branches of the Florida Western and Northern line including
924-557: The yard, though passenger service has long been discontinued. In 2013, new double-tracked main lines were built to bypass the yard. The station's platforms were removed to accommodate this expansion. The Wildwood Subdivision from Baldwin to Waldo was built in 1859 by the Florida Railroad , which historically ran from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key (which was the first cross-state railroad route in Florida). From Waldo south to Ocala
957-504: Was abandoned in the early 1970s, shortly after the Seaboard Air Line's 1967 merger with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The abandonment was part of an effort to consolidate the merged network, which was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad . The Atlantic Coast Line route was kept in favor of the Seaboard route since is it went around the downtowns of Dade City and Zephyrhills. Despite its Atlantic Coast Line heritage, it
990-571: Was designated as the Tampa Subdivision . From Owensboro south to Vitis Junction, the Wildwood Subdivision was originally part of the South Florida Railroad 's Pemberton Ferry Branch, which would become the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 's DuPont—Lakeland Line . From Vitis Junction south to Zephyrhills, the Wildwood Subdivision was the Atlantic Coast Line's Vitis—Tampa Line . The Seaboard line originally had its own alignment from Owensboro to Zephyrhills via Dade City, but that segment
1023-450: Was discontinued completely in 2004 when Amtrak truncated the Palmetto to Savannah, Georgia . A notable location on the Wildwood Subdivision is Wildwood Yard. Today, Wildwood yard serves as a small CSX maintenance and switching yard. It was historically a busy classification yard in the days of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad . From the 1920s to the 1980s, the yard was significant since
Yeoman Subdivision - Misplaced Pages Continue
1056-412: Was discontinued completely in 2004 when Amtrak truncated the Palmetto to Savannah, Georgia . The Yeoman Subdivision runs through the middle of Plant City , where it crosses CSX's other main line, the A Line ( Lakeland Subdivision ). This junction, known as Plant City Interlocking, is a particularly busy junction since all trains to and from Tampa must pass through this point. A train viewing platform
1089-545: Was previously the Atlantic Coast Line's Vitis—Tampa Line . The Yeoman Subdivision west of Tampa to St. Petersburg was later redesignated as the Clearwater Subdivision after Seaboard Coast Line became CSX. 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
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