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Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad

Overview
Headquarters	Tallahassee, Florida
Reporting mark	FGA
Locale	Florida Panhandle
Dates of operation	2019 (2019)–present
Predecessor	Louisville & Nashville Railroad Seaboard Air Line Railroad CSX Transportation
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	430 miles
Other
Website	railusa.com/railroads/florida-gulf-atlantic-railroad/
Route map Legend Main Line (Tallahassee Subdivision/P&A Subdivision) CSX S Line (Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision) CSX ← Callahan Subdivision S Line (Wildwood Subdivision) → SP 653.0 Baldwin SP 656.3 Mattox SP 660.8 Macclenny SP 673.9 Sanderson I-10 SP 680.7 Olustee Norfolk Southern Railway Navair District SP 694.3 Lake City I-75 SP 704.2 Wellborn fmr. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad ← to Du Pont · to High Springs → SP 715.3 Live Oak I-10 SP 735.5 Lee SP 745.6 Madison SP 756.4 Greenville Georgia and Florida Railway Aucilla River SP 764.6 Aucilla SP 770.8 Drifton fmr. Perry Cutoff (ACL) ← to Monticello · to Perry → SP 787.9 Chaires Lake Lafayette SP 799.3 Tallahassee fmr. Tallahassee Railroad (SAL) to St. Mark's FGA Bainbridge Subdivision (see below) Tallahassee Yard fmr. Georgia, Florida and Alabama Ry. (SAL) to Carrabelle Ochlockonee River SP 811.4 Midway I-10 SP 823.4 Quincy SP 825.6 Douglas City SP 828.7 Gretna AN Railway SP 842.5 00K 811.5 Chattahoochee Tallahassee Subdivision P&A Subdivision Apalachicola River 00K 801.5 Grand Ridge 00K 796.6 Cypress Chipola River 00K 785.9 Marianna 00K 776.7 Cottondale Bay Line Railroad 00K 767.2 Chipley 00K 758.0 Bonifay 00K 750.0 Caryville Choctawhatchee River 00K 747.3 Westville 00K 741.0 Ponce de Leon 00K 729.7 DeFuniak Springs 00K 716.5 Mossy Head fmr. Eglin Air Force Base Railroad Shoal River 00K 700.8 Crestview Yellow River 00K 680.0 Harold Blackwater River 00K 670.3 Milton 00K 668.6 Bagdad 00K 666.1 Avalon 00K 663.3 Pace Escambia Bay I-10 00K 645.0 Pensacola CSX PD Subdivision Bainbridge Subdivision CSX Bainbridge Subdivision SLC 77.8 Attapulgus Georgia Florida SLC 66.7 Havana I-10 SLC 52.0 Tallahassee FGA Main Line (see above) fmr. Georgia, Florida and Alabama Ry. (SAL) to Carrabelle Note: Not to scale This diagram: view talk edit

The Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad (reporting mark FGA) is a shortline railroad owned and operated by RailUSA in the Florida Panhandle. The line consists of 430 miles (692 km) of track: a main line from Baldwin, Florida (just west of Jacksonville), through Tallahassee to Pensacola, as well as a branch from Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia.

The FG&A began operation on June 1, 2019, after RailUSA acquired the line from CSX Transportation. The FG&A connects with CSX at Baldwin, Pensacola, and Attapulgus; with the AN Railway at Chattahoochee; and with the Bay Line Railroad at Cottondale.

The Jacksonville-Pensacola line was the route of the Gulf Wind streamliner from 1949 to 1971. After two decades of freight-only service, passenger service resumed in 1993 when the route of Amtrak's Sunset Limited was extended beyond New Orleans to Orlando. Amtrak service was suspended in 2005 due to damage to track and trestles by Hurricane Katrina, and has never resumed east of New Orleans.

Lines and history

The 373 miles of the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad comprise the main line between Baldwin and Pensacola. The main line is known as the Tallahassee Subdivision east of the Chattahoochee River and the P&A Subdivision west of the river. The Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad's Bainbridge Subdivision runs as a branch line between Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia. The system connects with CSX Transportation at each end of the line in Baldwin, Pensacola, and Attapulgus. CSX has trackage rights on the FG&A, but plans to use the them only if their lines to the north are impassable.

Tallahassee Subdivision

The Tallahassee Subdivision of the main line was first built as the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad from Lake City to Jacksonville in 1857. The Pensacola and Georgia Railroad built the line between Quincy and Lake City which was completed by 1863. The line was then extended west to Chattahoochee to connect with the newly built Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad.

In 1882, the lines were acquired by Sir Edward Reed, and were renamed together as the Florida Central and Western Railroad. Two years later, Reed brought the Florida Central and Western and several other Florida railroads he had purchased under the umbrella of what was named the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, which, in 1888, was renamed the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P). In 1900, a year after purchasing the majority of FC&P stock, the newly organized Seaboard Air Line Railway (a predecessor of CSX Transportation) leased the FC&P and, in 1903, acquired it outright. CSX previously operated this segment as their Tallahassee Subdivision. The line has a centralized traffic control signal system between Tallahassee and Baldwin.

P&A Subdivision

The P&A Subdivision of the main line runs west from Chattahoochee to Pensacola, Florida. This segment of the main line was originally built in 1881-1883 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, operating it as a subsidiary, the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad. William D. Chipley and Frederick R. De Funiak (General Manager of the L&N), both of whom are commemorated in the names of towns later built along the P&A line (Chipley and DeFuniak Springs), were among the founding officers of the P&A. The line was merged into the L&N in 1891. In 1982, the L&N was merged into the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which in 1986 became part of CSX Transportation, operating this segment as its P&A Subdivision (a reference to the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad).

Bainbridge Subdivision

The Bainbridge Subdivision runs from the FG&A main line in Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia, where it connects to CSX's Bainbridge Subdivision, which continues north to Bainbridge, Georgia. The Bainbridge Subdivision was first built in 1901 by the Georgia Pine Railway. The line was only intended to be a shortline for logging, but since it provided an additional rail route from Georgia into Florida, traffic increased. As a result, the line was renamed the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railway by the end of 1901. The GF&A Railway bought the Carrabelle, Tallahassee and Georgia Railroad in 1906, which ran from Tallahassee south to Carrabelle.

The Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railway, which extended from Richland, Georgia, to Carrabelle, Florida, at its greatest extent, became part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1927. The Seaboard lines, after various other mergers, became part of CSX Transportation in 1986.

The line's milepost numbers begin in Tallahassee at 52 and increase from there. This is due to the fact that the numbering still reflects the line's full length to Carrabelle, which was mile 0 before the track between there and Tallahassee was abandoned.

References

1. "Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, LLC-Acquisition and Operation Exemption With Interchange Commitment-CSX Transportation, Inc". Federal Register. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
2. "Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad". RailUSA. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
3. Stephens, Bill (12 December 2018). "CSX to retain trackage rights on Florida Panhandle". Trains Magazine. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
4. Turner, Gregg (2003). A Short History of Florida Railroads. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-2421-4.
5. CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
6. Hensley Jr., Donald R. "The story of the Georgia Florida & Alabama RR". Taplines. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
7. "Georgia, Florida & Alabama Railway". Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
8. Harmon, Danny (7 October 2018). "How To Read Trackside Signs & Markers". YouTube. Retrieved 12 December 2018.

External links

Media related to Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad at Wikimedia Commons

In chronological order:

• "Notice of Intent to Acquire Lines" - filed with the Surface Transportation Board by FG&A, November 6, 2018
• "Local Officials Have Questions about FGAR Purchase" - WEARTV.com (Pensacola), November 13, 2018
• "Railroad Giant CSX Announces Deal to Sell Rail Line Between Pensacola and Jacksonville" - Pensacola News Journal, November 15, 2018
• "CSX Selling Florida Panhandle Lines" - Railway Age, November 16, 2018
• "Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, LLC - Acquisition and Operation Exemption With Interchange Commitment - CSX Transportation, Inc." - Notice published in the Federal Register by the Surface Transportation Board, December 21, 2018
• "RailUSA Acquires CSX's 430-mile Florida Panhandle Rail Line" - press release from RailUSA, June 3, 2019
• "Florida Gulf and Atlantic Assumes Ownership of North Florida Rail Line" - WFSU.org (Tallahassee), July 29, 2019

• Florida railroads
• Spin-offs of CSX Transportation
• Rail infrastructure in Florida