Florida Midland Railroad

History

The east-west segment of the line was built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1916, which was part of a line that originally extended from Bartow and continued west to Alcoma, Hesperides, and Walinwa. The north-south segment of the line from Lake Wales south to Frostproof was built earlier in 1912 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It is a discontinuous segment of track that was once the Atlantic Coast Line's Haines City Branch, which historically extended as far south as Everglades City.

The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged in 1967 into the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which led to consolidation of the two networks and the abandonment of redundant trackage in the 1970s, reducing the line to its current length. Seaboard Coast Line became CSX in 1980, six years before Florida Midland Railroad began operating over the line.

History

The Winter Haven line was originally built in 1884 as the Bartow Branch of the South Florida Railroad (later part of the Plant System and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad). It historically extended from the South Florida Railroad main line (the current CSX A Line) in Lake Alfred and extended into Bartow. It was abandoned north of Winter Haven to Lake Alfred in the early 1970s and was connected to the current Auburndale Subdivision (a former Seaboard track). The line was severed from Bartow in the 1980s and it now terminates near Gordonville.