The First Coast Railroad is a class III railroad operating in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

and

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 ...

, owned by

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

. The name is derived from its area of operations around the First Coast of Florida. The FCRD was founded in April 2005 to lease 32 miles of a former

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

from CSX. It stretches east from Yulee to Fernandina Beach, Florida and north from Yulee to Seals, with a connection at Yulee to CSX. The north–south line, formerly the Seaboard Air Line main line before it was abandoned by the combined

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 li ...

in favor of the ex-

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 ...

main line to the west, connects to the

St. Marys Railroad The St. Marys Railroad is a class III railroad operating in Georgia United States. History The St. Mary's and Kingsland Railroad, incorporated on October 24, 1906, was founded in 1865 by Captain Lemuel Johnson. It received its charter from the ...

Kingsland Kingsland may refer to: Places ;Barbados * Kingsland, Barbados (in Christ Church, Barbados Parish) ;Canada * Kingsland, Calgary, Alberta, a neighborhood ;Australia * proposed alternative name for the Northern Territory in 1912 ;New Zealand * Kings ...

. The line is abandoned north of Seals.

History

The line from Yulee north into southern Georgia was built in 1894 by the Florida Northern Railroad. It was an extension of the Fernandina and Jacksonville Railroad north to

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

to connect with the South Bound Railroad. The line from Yulee to Fernandina Beach was completed in 1861 by the Florida Railroad which connected Fernandina Beach with Cedar Key. The Florida Railroad, Florida Northern Railroad, Fernandina and Jacksonville Railroad, and the South Bound Railroad were all eventually absorbed by the Florida Central & Peninsular Railroad by 1893. In 1900, the Florida Central & Peninsular Railroad became part of the

, and the line into Georgia became Seaboard's main line. Seaboard Air Line became the

after merging with the Atlantic Coast Line in 1967. The former Seaboard Air Line mainline was designated as the S Line with this specific segment known as the Everett Subdivision. The route to Fernandina Beach was designated the Fernandina Subdivision. The Seaboard Coast Line became the CSX Corporation in the 1980s. With the former Atlantic Coast Line main line ( A Line) being used as the through route in the combined network, CSX abandoned the S Line between Riceboro, Georgia (just southwest of Savannah) and Bladen, Georgia in 1986 and redesignated the remaining track as the Kingsland Subdivision (a designation which remains on the CSX line south of Yulee). Track between Bladen and Seals was removed in 1990. CSX leased the lines north of Yulee to the First Coast Railroad in 2005. The remaining Seaboard track north of Riceboro is operated by the Riceboro Southern Railway, another subsidiary of

References

External Links

First Coast Railroad official webpage - Genesee and Wyoming website
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Coast Railroad Florida railroads Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Genesee & Wyoming Spin-offs of CSX Transportation Companies operating former Seaboard Air Line Railroad lines