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Main Line (Atlantic Coast Line Railroad)
Historic railroad in the Southeast From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Main Line, was the backbone of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's network in the southeastern United States. The main line runs from Richmond, Virginia to Port Tampa just southwest of Tampa, Florida, a distance of nearly 900 miles. With the exception of a short 61-mile segment in Greater Orlando (which is now state-owned), the entire line is still owned by Atlantic Coast Line successor, CSX Transportation.
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Route description
The historic Atlantic Coast Line Railroad main line begins in Richmond, Virginia. From Richmond, it proceeds south through Petersburg and enters North Carolina near Weldon. It continues south through North Carolina, passing through Rocky Mount, Wilson, Selma, and Fayetteville before entering South Carolina near Hamer.[1]
In South Carolina, it continues south another 23 miles to Pee Dee, where it turns west to Florence. In Florence, it turns south again heading directly to Charleston. On the north side of Charleston, the lines turns west and crosses the Ashley River and continues to Yemassee, where it turns south towards Savannah, Georgia.[1]
Beyond Savannah, the line heads southwest through rural southwestern Georgia, passing through Jesup and Folkston. It enters Florida at the St. Mary's River just south of Folkston. In Florida, it heads south to Jacksonville, Sanford, and Orlando. Beyond Orlando, it turns southwest through Kissimmee, Lakeland, and Plant City to Tampa. It terminates at just southwest of Tampa in the neighborhood of Port Tampa, the location of Tampa's first deepwater port.[2]
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History
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Creation
By the time the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) was officially created, track that would make up its main line had already been built by the company's predecessors.[3] The main line was built in the late 1800s by the following companies:
The process to combine these individual railroads into a unified system began around 1898.[3] By 1900, the system north of Charleston was officially merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. In 1902, the Atlantic Coast Line acquired the Plant System, which expanded the network into Georgia and Florida and nearly doubled the size of the network.[4]
Passenger service
The line carried many of the Atlantic Coast Line's passenger and freight trains though the years. Many of the company's passenger trains on the main line were from the northeast to Florida, which included:[3][5]
- Champion (New York - Tampa/St. Petersburg, and New York - Miami)
- Everglades (New York – Jacksonville)
- Florida Special (New York – Miami/St. Petersburg)
- Gulf Coast Special (New York – Tampa/Fort Myers/St. Petersburg)
- Havana Special (New York – Key West, via the Florida East Coast Railway prior to the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.)
- Miamian (Washington – Miami)
- Vacationer (New York – Miami)
Improvements and realignments
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By the time the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was established, the main line began at Byrd Street Station in Downtown Richmond, which was still in use by passenger trains. At the time, track crossed the James River across Brown's Island near Downtown Richmond and it connected to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) through downtown streets. Atlantic Coast Line predecessor, the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad (R&P), built the current James River crossing (initially consisting of a single-track truss bridge) jointly with the RF&P in 1887 as a freight bypass (known as the Belt Line) to the busy downtown. By 1919, Broad Street Station was opened in Richmond as a union depot for the Atlantic Coast Line, the RF&P, and the Norfolk and Western Railway. The opening of Broad Street Station would essentially cause the Belt Line to become the main line. The Atlantic Coast Line and the RF&P jointly built the current double-track arch bridge over the James River to accommodate the additional passenger traffic. Track south of the bridge was also realigned to connect with the original main line at what is now FA Junction (about 2 miles south of the original junction at Cofer Road). The original main line to downtown Richmond partially remains today as the Clopton Lead and remnants of the original Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Bridge stil remain as well.[6] While the middle of the James River Bridge became the beginning of the realigned main line, Mile Post 0 was placed a short distance south of the bridge to keep the mile numbering consistent with the original line.[7][8]
Due to increasing traffic and the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the ACL began work to double track 661 miles of the main line from Richmond to Jacksonville in 1922. The double track was complete in 1925, two years ahead of schedule. Automatic block signals were installed at the same time.[4] In later years, much of the main line would be restored to single track with centralized traffic control and passing sidings.[9]
The main line also ran through downtown Petersburg, Virginia in the company's early years, which served Petersburg Union Station. Atlantic Coast Line predecessors also built a belt line to the west allowing freight trains to bypass central Petersburg. In 1942, the Atlantic Coast Line built a new Petersburg passenger depot on the belt line in Ettrick and discontinued service to the Union Station.[10] By 1955, the belt line became the main line when the original route through Petersburg was abandoned.[11]
In Sanford, Florida, the main line originally ran through the city's downtown with a passenger depot (built in 1913) located at the current site of Coastline Park. Sometime in the 1940s, track bypassing downtown Sanford to the west was built. In 1953, the Atlantic Coast Line built a new Sanford passenger depot on the bypass at West 8th Street just west of Persimmon Avenue. After the new depot opened, the bypass became the main line and part of the original route through Sanford was abandoned.[12][13][14] Despite the realignment, the mile post numbers still reflect the original route, causing the mileposts to jump from 768 to 771 south of Sanford.[15]
Mergers
In 1967, the Atlantic Coast Line merged with their long-time rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL). The SAL also had a main line running from Richmond, Virginia to Tampa, Florida that was roughly parallel to the ACL's main line.[4] The two main lines crossed each other in Centralia, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Plant City. After the merger was complete, the company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL), who largely retained both main lines in the combined network.[16] To differentiate the two main lines, the Seaboard Coast Line designated the ACL's main line as the A Line and the SAL's main line as the S Line. The letter A was added as a prefix to the mileposts on the A Line (A was also added to the beginning of the pre-existing letter prefixes on the ACL's branch lines).
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.[4]
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Current operations
The full line from Richmond to Port Tampa is still in service. In 2011, CSX sold a 61-mile segment from Deland, Florida to Poinciana, Florida in the Greater Orlando area to the Florida Department of Transportation, who now operates the SunRail commuter rail service on that segment.[17] Other than that, CSX still owns and operates the rest of the line. Many CSX freight trains and Amtrak trains runs the line daily. From north to south, the A Line is designated by CSX as the North End Subdivision, South End Subdivision, Charleston Subdivision, Savannah Subdivision, Nahunta Subdivision, Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision, Sanford Subdivision, Carters Subdivision, Lakeland Subdivision, and the Tampa Terminal Subdivision.[18]
Historic stations
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References
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