{{Short description|Railway line in Florida}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Brooksville Subdivision}} CSX Transportation's '''Brooksville Subdivision''' is a railroad line in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. Today, the line runs from the Clearwater Subdivision in Sulphur Springs, Florida north to a point just north of Brooksville, a distance of 49.1 miles. Historically, the Brooksville Subdivision was owned and operated by CSX predecessor, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Under Seaboard ownership, the Brooksville Subdivision continued north as far as Waldo.<ref name="SAL 1951">[https://wx4.org/to/foam/maps/2-Zukas/17/1951-12-01SAL_SouthFlorida1-Zukas.pdf Seaboard Air Line Railroad South Florida Division Timetable (1951)]</ref>
==Route description== The Brooksville Subdivision begins in Sulpher Springs just 5 miles north of Tampa. It branches off of the Clearwater Subdivision, which continues south to Downtown Tampa and west to Clearwater and St. Petersburg.
From Sulphur Springs, the Brooksville Subdivision runs north paralleling U.S. Route 41, passing through Lutz, Land o' Lakes, and Masaryktown to Brooksville. The Brooksville Subdivision terminates near the Broco Quarry, less than two miles north of Brooksville.<ref>[http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/B2-Brooksville_Sub CSX Brooksville Sub]</ref><ref name="CSX">[http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CSX/CSX%20ETTs/CSX%20Jacksonville%20Div%20ETT%20%234%201-1-2005.pdf CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable]</ref>
Historically, the Brooksville Subdivision continued north from Brooksville through Inverness, Dunnellon, and Williston to Archer. In Archer, it turned northeast and passed through Gainesville to its historic northern terminus in Waldo, where it connected to what is now CSX’s S Line.<ref name="SAL 1951" />
==Operation== Currently, the Brooksville Subdivision is only used for local freight trains with various customers along the line.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Multicolor Films |title=Operations and Railfanning Updates on CSX's Brooksville Sub - Fall, 2024 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAS2xIZkz8Y |website=YouTube |access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref> It notably serves a Florida Crushed Stone Company facility in Brooksville along with a Cemex facility.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harmon |first1=Danny |title=Fire Closes the S-Line |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6nK9jIVPvQ |website=YouTube |date=29 January 2019 |accessdate=26 April 2019}}</ref>
==History== {{Infobox rail line | box_width = | name = Brooksville Subdivision | other_name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | color = FF9901 | logo = Seaboard Air Line Railroad Logo, April 1955.svg | logo_width = 75px | status = | start = Waldo, Florida | end = Sulphur Springs, Florida | owner = Seaboard Air Line Railroad | linelength_mi = 148.1 | gauge = {{Track gauge|sg|allk=on}} | electrification = No | map = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=290|type=line|from=Brooksville Subdivision.map}}Brooksville Subdivision at its greatest extent (click to enlarge) | map_state = uncollapsed | embedded = }} thumb|left|Brooksville Subdivision as seen from Broad Street Overpass in Brooksville ===Sulphur Springs to Brooksville=== {{see also|Tampa Northern Railroad}} The line from Brooksville south to Fivay Junction (near the present-day intersection of US 41 and SR 52) was originally built by the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad in 1902. The Brooksville and Hudson Railroad was a logging railroad owned by the Aripeka Sawmills Inc. <ref name="history">{{cite web |title=Railroads |url=http://www.fivay.org/railroads.html |website=History of Pasco County |accessdate=14 April 2020}}</ref>
In 1907, the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad was bought by the Tampa Northern Railroad. The Tampa Northern then built the track from Tampa to Fivay and rebuilt the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad from there to Brooksville.<ref name="history" /> The line was completed in 1908.<ref name="Seaboard">{{cite book|last1=Prince|first1=Richard|title=Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives and History|date=2000|publisher=Wheelwright Lithographing Company|location=Salt Lake City, UT|isbn=0253336953|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MM2ph3S2V2cC&dq=tampa+northern+railroad+1906&pg=PA96|accessdate=24 October 2016}}</ref> The Tampa Northern Railroad was bought by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1912.<ref name="Seaboard"/>
===Brooksville to Waldo=== At its greatest extent, the Brooksville Subdivision extended as far north as Waldo. Track from Waldo to Archer (which continued southwest to Cedar Key) was built in 1861 by the Florida Railroad. The Florida Railroad later became part of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P) network. In 1890, the FC&P built track from Archer south to Early Bird as a branch track. The Seaboard Air Line bought the FC&P network in 1900, with track from Waldo to Cedar Key becoming their Cedar Key Branch.<ref>{{cite book |title=A B C Pathfinder Shipping and Mailing Guide |date=1917 |publisher=New England Railway Publishing Company |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_B_C_Pathfinder_Shipping_and_Mailing_Gu/qkopAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=seaboard+railway+%22plant+city+branch%22&pg=PA102&printsec=frontcover |access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref> In 1911, track was extended south of Early Bird to Inverness. The extension from Early Bird to Inverness ran closely parallel the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's High Springs–Lakeland Line.
In 1925, the '''Brooksville and Inverness Railway''', a Seaboard subsidiary, was built connecting Inverness with the former Tampa Northern Railroad in Brooksville. This would create an additional freight route from northern Florida to the Tampa Bay region as an alternative to the Seaboard main line.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=Gregg|title=A Short History of Florida Railroads|date=2003|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-2421-4}}</ref> Around the same time, track from Inverness to Waldo was upgraded with heavier rail, and the Seaboard main line was double-tracked from Starke (just north of Waldo) north to Baldwin which further increased capacity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Gregg M.|title=Florida Railroads in the 1920s|year=2005|publisher=Arcadia Publishing}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States |date=1932 |publisher=United States. Interstate Commerce Commission |edition=184 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Interstate_Commerce_Commission_Reports/pMyxBf54SrsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=SEABOARD+RAILWAY+CEDAR+KEY+BRANCH%22&pg=PA581&printsec=frontcover |access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref>
When complete in 1925, the line was designated as the Brooksville Subdivision from Waldo to Sulphur Springs and the remaining track from Archer to Cedar Key was designated as the '''Cedar Key Subdivision'''. By the end of 1926, the Seaboard Air Line was running at least three freight trains a day to Tampa on the Brooksville Subdivision. This included a daily mail train, the ''Manatee River Special'' freight train, and an additional through freight train. An additional local freight train also ran the line six days a week. Local passenger service between Waldo and Cedar Key was also running the Brooksville Subdivision north of Archer at the time.<ref name="SAL 1926">[https://wx4.org/to/foam/maps/2-Zukas/30/SA/1926-12-12SALNorth%26WestFloridaDivs5-Zukas.pdf Seaboard Air Line Railroad North and West Florida Division Timetable (1926)]</ref>
The Cedar Key Subdivision was abandoned in 1932.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cedar Key History |url=https://cedarkeyhistory.org/cedar-key-history |website=Cedar Key Historical Society |access-date=8 September 2025}}</ref> By 1940, the Seaboard was running a daily through freight train round-trip on the line.<ref>Seaboard Air Line Railroad South Florida Division Timetable (1940)</ref>
===Later years=== The Seaboard Air Line became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967 after merging with their former rival, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The line initially remained intact after the merger.<ref>Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Tampa Division Timetable (1968)</ref> The Seaboard Coast Line abandoned the Brooksville Subdivision between Waldo and Brooksville in the 1970s (which nearly restored the Tampa Northern Railroad's original terminus ironically) as it was largely redundant as a through route due to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's nearly parallel route as well as its own main line to Tampa. The line now ends near the Broco Quarry just north of Brooksville. Despite the abandonment, the line's SR mileposts numbers remain as they did when the full line was intact.<ref name="CSX" />
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.
==Historic Seaboard Air Line stations== right|thumb|Former Gainesville depot right|thumb|Former Williston SAL depot {| class="wikitable" |+ Waldo to Sulphur Springs !Milepost{{efn|name=fn1|The Seaboard Air Line assigned the prefix R to the milepost numbers on its line from Waldo to Cedar Key when it took over the line. The prefix RA was assigned to the branch from Archer to Early Bird and on to Sulphur Springs at the time.<ref name="SAL 1926"/> When the Cedar Key Subdivision was abandoned in 1932, the R prefix was reassigned to remaining track from Waldo to Sulphur Springs.<ref name="SAL 1951"/> After the merger of the Seaboard Air Line with the Atlantic Coast Line in 1967, S was added to the beginning of all Seaboard Air Line milepost prefixes to differentiate them from the Atlantic Coast Line's routes. This made the prefix SR as it is today.}} !City/Location !Station<ref name="SAL 1926"/><ref name="SAL 1951"/> !Connections and notes |- |SR 690.2 |Waldo |Waldo |junction with Main Line |- |SR 697.2 | |Fairbanks | |- |SR 701.9 | |Nedra | |- |SR 704.0 |Gainesville |Gainesville |junction with:<br>{{bulleted list|Gainesville and Gulf Railway (SAL)|Atlantic Coast Line Railroad High Springs—Croom Line}} |- |SR 710.8 | |Kanapaha | |- |SR 718.4 |! rowspan="2" |Archer |Archer |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad DuPont—Lakeland Line |- |SR 718.5 |Cedar Key Junction |junction with Cedar Key Subdivision |- |SR 719.7 | |Eve | |- |SR 726.2 | |Raleigh | |- |SR 730.1 |Williston |Williston | |- |SR 734.5 | |Montbrook |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad DuPont—Lakeland Line |- |SR 737.9 |Morriston |Morriston | |- |SR 745.0 |Early Bird |Early Bird | |- |SR 749.6 | |Hoyt | |- |SR 758.7 |Dunnellon |Dunnellon |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Ocala Branch |- |SR 765.5 | |Harrison | |- |SR 768.9 | |Felecia |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad DuPont—Lakeland Line |- |SR 774.3 | |Johnsons | |- |SR 775.8 |Inverness |Inverness | |- |SR 782.6 | |Landrum | |- |SR 788.3 |Lake Lindsey |Lake Lindsay | |- |SR 791.7 | |Lake Stafford | |- |SR 797.8 |Brooksville |Brooksville |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Brooksville Branch |- |SR 806.6 | |Ayers | |- |SR 807.3 |Masaryktown |Masaryktown | |- |SR 812.2 | |Loyce | |- |SR 817.0 | |Fivay | |- |SR 823.5 | |Drexel |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Trilby—St. Petersburg Line |- |SR 826.9 | |Denham | |- |SR 829.8 |Lutz |Lutz | |- |SR 838.3 |Sulphur Springs |Sulphur Springs |originally Gulf Coast Junction<ref>{{cite web |title=Sulphur Springs Depot |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=238669 |website=The Historical Marker Database |access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref><br>junction with Tampa Subdivision |}
{| class="wikitable" |+Cedar Key Subdivision !Milepost{{efn|name=fn1}} !City/Location !Station !Connections and notes |- |R 718.5 |Archer |Cedar Key Junction |junction with Brooksville Subdivision |- |R 722.2 | |Venables | |- |R 724.7 | |Meredith | |- |R 727.8 |Bronson |Bronson | |- |R 733.9 | |Lennon | |- |R 739.6 |Otter Creek |Otter Creek |junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Thomasville—Dunnellon Line |- |R 741.3 | |Ellzey | |- |R 749.0 | |Wylly | |- |R 750.8 |Rosewood |Rosewood | |- |R 753.3 |Sumner |Sumner | |- |R 760.7 |Cedar Key |Cedar Key | |- |}
==See also== * List of CSX Transportation lines * Main Line (Seaboard Air Line Railroad) * Clearwater Subdivision
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Commons category|Brooksville Subdivision}} {{Reflist}}
{{Attached KML}} Category:CSX Transportation lines Category:Seaboard Air Line Railroad Category:Railway lines opened in 1902 Category:Rail infrastructure in Florida Category:Transportation in Hillsborough County, Florida Category:Transportation in Pasco County, Florida Category:Transportation in Hernando County, Florida