The Brooker Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line owned by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The line runs from the CSX S Line (the

Wildwood Subdivision The Wildwood Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Florida. It runs along CSX's Main Line (Seaboard Air Line Railroad), S Line from Baldwin, Florida, Baldwin south to Zephyrhills, Florida, Zephyrhills via Ocala, Florida, Oc ...

) at Wannee Junction in Starke to

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (1956–2023), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Ne ...

for a total of 39.6 miles.CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
/ref>

Route description

The Brooker Subdivision begins at Wannee Junction in Starke where it connects to CSX's S Line (

). From here, it heads southwest through Sampson City, Brooker,

LaCrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

. In Alachua, it connects with CSX's Deerhaven Subdivision which runs south to Gainesville. From Alachua, the Brooker Subdivision continues southwest to its terminus at

Newberry, Florida Newberry is a city located in the southwest corner of Alachua County, Florida, United States. The population was 7,342 as of the 2020 Census, up from 4,950 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

, where it connects with the Florida Northern Railroad.

Operation

The Brooker Subdivision is primarily used by CSX to interchange with the Florida Northern Railroad in

. It is also used for local freight, as well as providing access to the Deerhaven Subdivision, CSX's only remaining line to Gainesville.

History

The Brooker Subdivision from Starke to Hainesworth (just west of

) was originally built from 1863 to 1894 by the Atlantic, Suwannee River and Gulf Railway, which would eventually run in its entirety from Starke east to Wannee (which is why the junction with the

is still known as Wannee Junction). The Atlantic, Suwannee River and Gulf Railway was leased by the

Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was the final name of a system of railroads throughout Florida, becoming part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900. The system, including some of the first railroads in Florida, stretched from Jackso ...

in 1899, which would in turn be bought by the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

a year later. The Seaboard would designate this line as the Wannee Subdivision. From Hainesworth to Newberry, the line was originally part of the Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad which was built in 1899. The Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad, which originated in Jacksonville and ran through

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

was bought 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 Coast ...

in 1904. The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railroads merged in 1967 which brought all of the trackage under a single owner, the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

, which would become

in the 1980s. In the early 1970s, the Wannee Subdivision from Brooker to Hainesworth was abandoned along with much of the original Atlantic, Suwannee River and Gulf Railway. Trains could still access Gainesville and Newberry via the former Jacksonville and Southwestern Railroad from Mattox.Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Jacksonville Division and Tampa Division Timetable (1982)
/ref> When that line was abandoned north of Hainesworth, track from there to Brooker was rebuilt and was designated as the Brooker Subdivision. The former Atlantic Coast Line segments mileposts were also renumbered to match the Seaboard segments (SN prefix), which is unusual for CSX lines. The previous mileposts on this segment had an ASG prefix.Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Jacksonville Division and Tampa Division Timetable (1977)
/ref>

References

{{Reflist CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Florida Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Seaboard Air Line Railroad Transportation in Alachua County, Florida Transportation in Bradford County, Florida

Route description

Operation

History

See also

References