The Plant System named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coas ...

in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, running across southern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

. The Plant Investment Company was formed in 1882 to lease and buy other railroads and expand the system. Other major lines incorporated into the system include the

Savannah and Charleston Railroad The Charleston and Savannah Railway was a 19th-century American railroad serving the coastal states of South Carolina and Georgia and running through part of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Its name varied slightly over time: * Charleston and Sa ...

and the

Brunswick and Western Railroad The Brunswick and Western Railroad (known earlier as the Brunswick and Florida Railroad and the Brunswick and Albany Railroad) is a historic railroad in southern Georgia that at its greatest extent ran from Brunswick near the coast to Albany. ...

History

The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

on January 1, 1877, and Henry Plant bought it on November 4, 1879, reorganizing it as the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway on December 9. Plant bought the

(opened 1860) in 1880, reorganizing it as the Charleston and Savannah Railway. That acquisition extended the line from Savannah northeast to Charleston, South Carolina, where the

Ashley River Railroad The Ashley River Railroad was a shortline railroad that served the South Carolina Lowcountry region in the late 19th century. The Ashley River Railroad was incorporated by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1875 and, according to an article i ...

(operated by the C&S) connected to the Northeastern Railroad (later part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad main line). The Waycross and Florida Railroad and East Florida Railway were chartered in February 1880, forming the Georgia and Florida parts of the "

Waycross Short Line The Waycross Short Line was the unofficial name of a railroad line built by Henry B. Plant that ran from Waycross, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida on the St. Johns River. The line through Georgia was chartered by Plant as the Waycross and Flori ...

". That line, running from the main line at Waycross southeast to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, opened in April 1881. In 1882, the Chattahoochee Branch opened from

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

on the main line southwest to the Florida state line, where the Chattahoochee and East Pass Railroad (chartered 1881) continued to River Junction, Florida, a hamlet which later came to be known as

Chattahoochee, Florida Chattahoochee is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Its history dates to the Spanish era. The population was 3,652 as of the 2010 census, up from 3,287 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statis ...

. At River Junction, the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of t ...

Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad (P&A) was a company incorporated by an act of the Florida Legislature on March 4, 1881, to run from Pensacola to the Apalachicola River near Chattahoochee, a distance of about . No railroad had ever been bui ...

continued west, and the Florida Central and Western Railroad ran east to Jacksonville. The Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad and

Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad The Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad was a historic railroad in Florida chartered by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant. It was built as an extension of Plant's Live Oak and Rowlands Bluff Railroad. Together, the two lines ran from ...

were chartered in 1881 to continue the short Florida Branch south from Live Oak further into Florida (eventually reaching Gainesville with a branch to Lake City). Plant tried to acquire the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...

Florida Southern Railway to continue this line, but was unsuccessful, and on May 4, 1883, he bought 3/5 of the stock of the

South Florida Railroad The South Florida Railroad was a railroad from Sanford, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, becoming part of the Plant System in 1893 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. It served as the southernmost segment of the Atlantic Coast Line's m ...

. At the time, the only connection between this system, with a main line from

Sanford Sanford may refer to: People *Sanford (given name), including a list of people with the name *Sanford (surname), including a list of people with the name Places United States * Sanford, Alabama, a town in Covington County * Sanford, Colorado, ...

west to

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Co ...

, was via steamboats on the St. Johns River from Jacksonville to Sanford. The Plant Investment Company was formed in 1882 to lease and buy other railroads and expand the system. Plant System Railroad trade card

The various lines of the SF&W were consolidated into one company in 1884. Specifically, the following companies lost their corporate existence: *Waycross and Florida Railroad and East Florida Railway (Waycross Short Line) *Chattahoochee and East Pass Railroad (Chattahoochee Branch) *Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad and Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad (Florida Division) The

, opened in the late 1850s as the

Brunswick and Florida Railroad The Brunswick and Western Railroad (known earlier as the Brunswick and Florida Railroad and the Brunswick and Albany Railroad) is a historic railroad in southern Georgia that at its greatest extent ran from Brunswick near the coast to Albany. ...

, was bought by Plant in 1884. In 1886, the system was

changed Change or Changing may refer to: Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or change, ...

to ; it had previously consisted of

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

lines and

lines.

Expansion into Alabama and central Florida

In 1887 the Green Pond, Walterboro and Branchville Railway opened as a short branch of the main line to

Walterboro, South Carolina Walterboro is a city in Colleton County, South Carolina, United States. The city's population was 5,398 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Colleton County. Walterboro is located west of Charleston and is located near the ACE Basin reg ...

. The Walterborough and Western Railroad continued that line to Ehrhardt in 1896, and the two were merged into the Green Pond, Walterboro and Branchville Railroad in 1900. On May 30, 1887, Florida state law chapter 3794 was approved, authorizing the SF&W to build lines from

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

and

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

north to the Georgia state line, connecting to branches from Thomasville, Georgia. The Tallahassee Branch was never built, but the Monticello Branch opened in 1888. Plant obtained a controlling interest in the

Alabama Midland Railway The Alabama Midland Railway was incorporated in Alabama and Georgia in 1887, and built a line from Bainbridge, Georgia, to a point near Montgomery, Alabama. The route was completed in 1890. It became part of the Plant System in 1894, and in 1901 ...

in July 1890. That line continued the main line from Bainbridge west to

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. The

Southwestern Alabama Railway The Southwestern Alabama Railway was incorporated in Alabama, United States, in 1897 and tasked with the construction of a branch line from a connection with the Alabama Midland Railway near Newton, Alabama towards Elba, Alabama. The route was c ...

and Abbeville Southern Railway, two branches of that line, were acquired in the 1890s. In 1890, the

Florida Southern Railway went into receivership and remained so for two years. During this time, its Charlotte Harbor branch operated independently and

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

this portion of the line to . In 1892, Plant bought the Florida Southern Railway under

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mort ...

and reorganized it as the Florida Southern Railroad. At this time, the Florida Southern system stretched from the south end of the Plant System at Gainesville south via Ocala, using

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

over the South Florida Railroad's Pemberton Ferry Branch, to Punta Gorda. The Florida Southern Railroad was integrated with the rest of the Plant System in 1896 and was converted to that same year. The Silver Springs, Ocala and Gulf Railroad was chartered in 1877 and opened in 1892, running from Ocala west to Dunnellon and then south to Homosassa and

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histo ...

. A connection was built from Inverness to the South Florida Railroad at

Pemberton Ferry Pemberton Ferry, later renamed Croom,Winston and Bone Valley Railroad The Winston and Bone Valley Railroad was a railroad line running the Bone Valley region of Central Florida. It connected to the South Florida Railroad main line (the current CSX A Line) near Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland. A vast majority of the l ...

, opened in 1892 to serve

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

mines near Lakeland, became part of the Plant System in 1896. The Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad was incorporated in 1893, running northeast from the South Florida Railroad in Tampa to the small town of Thonotosassa. In 1895, Plant bought the

Sanford and St. Petersburg Railroad (previously the Orange Belt Railway) in 1895, which stretched across the state from Sanford to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. The most profitable section of this line was immediately converted to , leaving the remaining section from

Trilby A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. an ...

in its original gauge. The Florida Midland Railway in the

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...

area was acquired in 1896, its line north of the Sanford and St. Petersburg Railroad was abandoned, and its remaining track from

Kissimmee Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a Principal City of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area, wh ...

was converted to

. By keeping these two connecting lines the same narrow gauge, they were able to work in conjunction with one another, utilizing the same narrow gauge equipment from both the Sanford and St. Petersburg Railroad and the recently converted Florida Southern Railroad. In 1899, the

Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway was a railroad and steamboat network in Florida, USA at the end of the 19th century. Most of its lines became part of the Plant System in 1899 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The line ...

, except for the branch to Titusville (which had been sold to the

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a ...

), was reorganized and bought by Plant as the

Jacksonville and St. Johns River Railway The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway was a railroad and steamboat network in Florida, USA at the end of the 19th century. Most of its lines became part of the Plant System in 1899 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The line re ...

. This supplied a connection between Jacksonville and Sanford without the need for a steamboat transfer at each end, as well as system connections at

Tavares Tavares may refer to: Places Brazil *Tavares, Paraíba *Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul *Rodovia Raposo Tavares, the longest highway in São Paulo *Tavares Bastos (favela), a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *Tavares River Jamaica *Tavares Garden ...

and Palatka. The Plant System built the nearly straight

Folkston Cutoff The Folkston Cutoff is a railroad line in southern Georgia. It runs from Jesup southwest to Folkston, a distance of 54 miles. It was built in 1901 by the Plant System to allow trains from the northeast to Florida to bypass their busy terminal ...

in southeast Georgia in 1901. This ran from the old Waycross and Florida Railroad at Folkston north via Nahunta to Jesup on the SF&W mainline, allowing trains to bypass Waycross and save over the old route. In 1901, the Green Pond, Walterboro and Branchville Railroad, the

, the Abbeville Southern Railway; and Southern Alabama Railroad were all consolidated into the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway. In 1901, the following companies were also merged into the SF&W: *Alabama Midland Railway *Brunswick and Western Railroad *Charleston and Savannah Railway In 1902 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad acquired the entire Plant System, connecting at Charleston, SC. The components were soon merged into the ACL. The system has since become part of CSX after several mergers.

Station listing

Main Line (Savannah, Florida and Western Railway) Florida Division Chattahoochee Branch Monticello Branch

Steamship Lines

Associated with the railroad were the Plant Steamship Line and Canada Atlantic and Plant Steamship Co., Ltd., both with Henry B. Plant as chief officer. The Tampa, Florida-based steamships served Cuba by way of Key West, Mobile, Alabama, and two local routes. The Canada Atlantic and Plant Steamship Co., Ltd., with no direct company terminal as at Tampa, served Boston and Canadian points at Halifax, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. Advertising touted "Plant Steamship Line — Ships ply between the ports of 3 great nations: United States (Port Tampa, Key West, Mobile, Boston), England (Dominion of Canada), Spain (Cuba)."

References

Railroad History DatabaseConfederate Railroads
*Mileposts fro

External links