Brooksville Subdivision
'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.
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.
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.
Operation
Currently, the Brooksville Subdivision is only used for local freight trains with various customers along the line. It notably serves a Florida Crushed Stone Company facility in Brooksville along with a Cemex facility.History
Sulphur Springs to Brooksville
The line from Brooksville south to Fivay Junction 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.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. The line was completed in 1908. The Tampa Northern Railroad was bought by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1912.
Brooksville to Waldo
At its greatest extent, the Brooksville Subdivision extended as far north as Waldo. Track from Waldo to Archer was built in 1861 by the Florida Railroad. The Florida Railroad later became part of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad 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.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. Around the same time, track from Inverness to Waldo was upgraded with heavier rail, and the Seaboard main line was double-tracked from Starke north to Baldwin which further increased capacity.
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.
The Cedar Key Subdivision was abandoned in 1932. By 1940, the Seaboard was running a daily through freight train round-trip on the line.
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. The Seaboard Coast Line abandoned the Brooksville Subdivision between Waldo and Brooksville in the 1970s 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.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
| Milepost | City/Location | Station | 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: |
| SR 710.8 | Kanapaha | ||
| SR 718.4 | Archer | Archer | junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad DuPont—Lakeland Line |
| SR 718.5 | Archer | 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 junction with Tampa Subdivision |
| Milepost | 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 |