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 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.

Wildwood Subdivision
CSX Callahan Subdivision ← Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad CSX S Line (Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision) → S 653.0 Baldwin I-10 Baldwin Yard S 665.7 Highland S 669.3 Lawtey S 678.4 Starke S 679.1 Wannee Junction CSX Brooker Subdivision S 680.3 Newnan S 690.0 Waldo fmr. FC&P Southern Division (SAL) to Cedar Key S 696.6 Orange Heights S 700.1 Campville S 703.3 Hawthorne Edgar Spur S 712.3 Lochloosa S 719.8 Sparr to Silver Springs (abandoned) S 735.3 Ocala Florida Northern Railroad S 738.0 Singletary S 743.5 Santos S 752.0 Summerfield S 756.8 Oxford Wildwood Yard S 761.5 Wildwood fmr. FC&P Orlando Division (SAL) to Orlando Florida's Turnpike S 766.1 Coleman fmr. Florida Western and Northern Railroad (SAL) to West Palm Beach S 775.1 Bushnell fmr. Orange Belt Railway (ACL) ← to St. Petersburg · to Sanford → S 791.2 Lacoochee S 791.9 AR 824.7 Owensboro fmr. South Florida Railroad (ACL) to Inverness AR 830.2 Dade City AR 832.8 Ellerslie AR 835.2 Richland AR 836.7 Vitis Junction fmr. Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad (ACL) to Tampa ARF 840.7 S 808.0 Zephyrhills CSX Vitis Subdivision CSX S Line (Yeoman Subdivision)

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 the Yeoman Subdivision, which continues to Tampa. It also connects with the Vitis Subdivision just south of Dade City[1][2]

Operation

The Wildwood Subdivision passing through Wildwood Yard as seen in 2008.

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 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.[2] Some of the double track was installed in the mid 2010s to further increase capacity since through trains no longer use the adjacent A Line, which is now partially state owned.[3][4]

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.[5] Passenger service was discontinued completely in 2004 when Amtrak truncated the Palmetto to Savannah, Georgia.[6]

Wildwood Yard

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 the Seaboard's division points to Tampa, Orlando, and Miami were located just to the south.[7] 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).[8] Trains to Miami turned in Coleman down Seaboard's Florida Western and Northern Railroad.

Wildwood station still stands and is co-located in 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.[7]

History

Historic plaque marking the former location of Owensboro Junction where the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line tracks crossed.

See also: Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad

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 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.[9]

From Owensboro south to what is now Vitis Junction was originally a branch of the South Florida Railroad, and from Vitis Junction to Zephyrhills, it was originally part of the Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad. Both of those lines would become part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.

The Seaboard line originally had its own alignment from Owensboro to Zephyrhills via Dade City, but that segment 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 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).[10][11]

In the Seaboard Coast Line-era, the line was designated as the Baldwin Subdivision from Baldwin Junction to Wildwood. From Wildwood to Coleman, it was part of the Miami Subdivision, which continued down the now-abandoned SX branch from Coleman to Auburndale and to the Miami area (the former Florida Western and Northern Railroad). From Coleman to Owensboro, the line was designated as the Coleman Subdivision, and from Owensboro south to Zephyrhills was part of the West Coast Subdivision (which continued up the now-abandoned AR line north from Owensboro to High Springs).[12]

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. During late 1980s, the company sought to abandon many redundant routes which created the track structure in place today. 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.

See also

• List of CSX Transportation lines

References

1. CSX Wildwood Sub
2. CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
3. Harmon, Danny. "Saturday Dash Up The S Line 0811". YouTube. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
4. Thompson, Bill (July 27, 2011). "Approval of SunRail means more freight trains for Ocala". Ocala Star Banner. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
5. Spear, Kevin (March 20, 1988). "Long-distance Trains Leaving Lake County Behind". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
6. Stinson, Lashonda (October 14, 2004). "Amtrak to Cut Service to Several Small Fla. Towns". Lakeland Ledger.
7. Harmon, Danny. "Switching Corn Syrup & S-Line Update". YouTube. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
8. "Wildwood to Tavares". Abandoned Rails. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
9. "First Railroads in Tampa". Tampa Bay Trains. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
10. "Tampa Bay Lines in CSX Era". Tampa Bay Trains. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
11. Harmon, Danny. "Railfanning With Danny - Dade City May 3, 2012". YouTube. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
12. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Jacksonville Division and Tampa Division Timetable (1977)

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