Florida East Coast Railway

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Florida East Coast Railway

FEC route map
Reporting mark	FEC
Locale	Florida
Dates of operation	1885–present
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Jacksonville, Florida
Website	www.fecrwy.com

[ v t e ] Florida East Coast Railway
Legend
0 mi 0 km Jacksonville St. Johns River / FEC Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge South Jacksonville 7 mi 11 km Bowden Yard Greenland Bayard Durbin 37 mi 60 km St. Augustine, Florida Moultrie Cutoff College Park Tocoi Junction Vermont Heights Elkton Armstrong Spuds 54 mi 87 km Hastings Orange Mills 61 mi 98 km East Palatka Yelvington Roy Dinner Island Neoga Espanola 87 mi 140 km Bunnell Favoretta 104 mi 167 km Ormond Beach 110 mi 177 km Daytona Beach Port Orange 124 mi 200 km New Smyrna Beach 135 mi 217 km New Smyrna Beach Edgewater Oak Hill Scottsmoor Wiley NASA Railroad 154 mi 248 km Titusville Indian River City Frontenac Sharpes City Point 169 mi 272 km Cocoa-City Point 173 mi 278 km Cocoa 174 mi 280 km Cocoa-Rockledge 190 mi 306 km Eau Gallie 194 mi 312 km Melbourne Palm Bay Malabar Grant Micco Roseland Sebastian Wabasso Winter Beach Gifford 228 mi 367 km Vero Beach Oslo Viking Indrio St. Lucie 242 mi 389 km Fort Pierce Lake Harbor Branch (South Central Florida Express) White City Walton Jensen Beach St. Lucie River 261 mi 420 km Stuart Port Sewall Salerno Gomez 275 mi 443 km Hobe Sound Loxahatchee River Jupiter Monet Lake Park Riviera Beach 297 mi 478 km West Palm Beach 299 mi 481 km West Palm Beach 306 mi 492 km Lake Worth Hypoluxo Boynton Beach 317 mi 510 km Delray Beach 325 mi 523 km Boca Raton Deerfield Beach 333 mi 536 km Pompano Beach Oakland Park 341 mi 549 km Fort Lauderdale New River Dania 346 mi 557 km Hollywood Hallandale Ojus North Miami Beach 346 mi 557 km North Miami South Florida Rail Corridor Little River 365 mi 587 km Hialeah PortMiami CSX Homestead Subdivision 366 mi 589 km Miami MiamiCentral Southside Kendall Homestead Florida City Wooddall Siding Everglade Jewfish Jewfish Creek Bridge Key Largo Rock Harbor Tavernier Tavernier Creek Plantation Snake Creek Windley Key Whale Harbor Islamorada Matecumbe Teatable Key Channel Indian Key Indian Key Channel Midway Channel Five Bridge Cook's Siding Crescent Long Key (Fishing Camp) Long Key Viaduct Toms Harbor Grassy Key Key Vaca Cut Key Vaca Marathon Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda Bridge Spanish Harbor Bridge Spanish Harbor Big Pine Key Pine Channel Torch Channel Niles Channel Kemp Channel Cudjoe Key Pirates Cove Pirates Cove Upper Sugarloaf Sound Lower Sugarloaf Sound Chase Shark Key Channel Big Coppitt Key Boca Chica Channel Cow Key Channel Key West Trumbo Point

The Florida East Coast Railway (reporting mark FEC) is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida.

The FEC was historically a Class I railroad owned by Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) from 2000-2016, FOXX Holdings from 1983-2000, and the St. Joseph Paper Company prior to 1983.

Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Flagler. Flagler originally visited Florida to aid with the health issues faced by his first wife, Mary. A key strategist who worked closely with John D. Rockefeller building the Standard Oil Trust, Henry Flagler noted both a lack of services and great potential during his stay at St. Augustine. He subsequently began what amounted to his second career developing resorts, industries, and communities all along Florida's shores abutting the Atlantic Ocean.

The FEC is possibly best known for building the railroad to Key West, completed in 1912. When the FEC's line from the mainland to Key West was heavily damaged by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the State of Florida purchased the remaining right-of-way and bridges south of Dade County, and they were rebuilt into road bridges for vehicle traffic and became known as the Overseas Highway. However, a greater and lasting Flagler legacy was the developments along Florida's eastern coast.

During the Great Depression, control was purchased by heirs of the du Pont family. After 30 years of fragile financial condition, the FEC, under leadership of a new president, Ed Ball, took on the labor unions. Ball claimed the company could not afford the same costs as larger Class 1 railroads and needed to invest saved funds in its infrastructure, fast becoming a safety issue. Using replacement workers, the company, and some of its employees, engaged in one of the longest and more violent labor conflicts of the 20th century, from 1963 until 1977. Ultimately, federal authorities had to intervene to stop the violence, which included bombings, shootings and vandalism.^{[citation needed]} However, the courts ruled in the FEC's favor with regard to the right to employ strikebreakers. During this time, Ball invested heavily in numerous steps to improve its physical plant, installed various forms of automation, was the first US Railroad to operate two man train crews, eliminate cabooses and end all of its passenger services (which were unprofitable) by 1968.

In modern times, the company's primary rail revenues come from its intermodal and rock trains. In January 2018, passenger rail service Brightline began using FEC tracks for its route from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale, then in May 2018 it expanded its service to Miami.

Henry Flagler: Developing Florida's east coast[edit]

An FEC train led by a pair of ES44C4 locomotives in 2015

The Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) was developed by Henry Morrison Flagler, an American tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer and John D. Rockefeller's partner in Standard Oil. Formed at Cleveland, Ohio as Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler in 1867, Standard Oil moved its headquarters in 1877 to New York City. Flagler and his family relocated there as well. He was joined by Henry H. Rogers, another leader of Standard Oil who also became involved in the development of America's railroads, including those on nearby Staten Island, the Union Pacific, and later in West Virginia, where he eventually built the remarkable Virginian Railway to transport coal to Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Flagler's non-Standard Oil interests went in a different direction, however, when in 1878, on the advice of his physician, he traveled to Jacksonville, Florida for the winter with his first wife, Mary, who was quite ill. Two years after she died in 1881, he married Mary's former caregiver, Ida Alice Shourds. After their wedding, the couple traveled to St. Augustine, Florida in 1883. Flagler found the city charming, but the hotel facilities and transportation systems inadequate. He recognized Florida's potential to attract out-of-state visitors. Though Flagler remained on the Board of Directors of Standard Oil, he gave up his day-to-day involvement in the firm in order to pursue his Florida interests.

When Flagler returned to Florida, in 1885 he began building a grand St. Augustine hotel, the Ponce de Leon Hotel. Flagler realized that the key to developing Florida was a solid transportation system, and consequently purchased the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway (JStA&HR) on December 31, 1885. He also discovered that a major problem facing the existing Florida railway systems was that each operated on different gauge systems, making interconnection impossible. He converted the line to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in 1890 and the small operation was incorporated in 1892.

The earliest predecessor of the FEC was the narrow gauge St. John's Railway, incorporated in 1858, which constructed a now-abandoned line between St. Augustine and Tocoi, a small settlement on the east bank of the St. Johns River, midway between Palatka and Green Cove Springs. In 1883, Henry M. Flagler, now retired from Standard Oil, moved to St. Augustine and built the previously mentioned Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar Hotels and purchased the Casa Monica, just east of the Alcazar, changing the name to Cordova. The East Coast of Florida was relatively undeveloped at that time, and Flagler found it difficult to obtain the construction materials he needed. His purchase of the JStA&HR Railway was intended to make it faster and easier to supply his building projects.

The JStA&HR Railway served the northeastern portion of the state and was the first operation in the Flagler Railroad system. Before Flagler bought the line, the railroad stretched only between South Jacksonville and St. Augustine and lacked a depot sufficient to accommodate travelers to his St. Augustine resorts. Flagler built a modern depot facility as well as schools, hospitals and churches, systematically revitalizing the largely abandoned historic city.

Flagler next purchased three additional existing railroads: the St. John's Railway, the St. Augustine and Palatka Railway, and the St. Johns and Halifax River Railway so that he could provide extended rail service on standard gauge tracks. Through the operation of these three railroads, by spring 1889 Flagler's system offered service from Jacksonville to Daytona. Continuing to develop hotel facilities to entice northern tourists to visit Florida, Flagler bought and expanded the Ormond Hotel, located along the railroad's route north of Daytona in Ormond Beach.

Beginning in 1892, when landowners south of Daytona petitioned him to extend the railroad 80 miles (130 km) south, Flagler began laying new railroad tracks; no longer did he follow his traditional practice of purchasing existing railroads and merging them into his growing rail system. Flagler obtained a charter from the state of Florida authorizing him to build a railroad along the Indian River to Miami, and as the railroad progressed southward, cities such as New Smyrna and Titusville began to develop along the tracks.

The Florida East Coast Railway depot in Sebastian. The structure was built in 1893.

By 1894, Flagler's railroad system reached what is today known as West Palm Beach. Flagler constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach overlooking the Lake Worth Lagoon. He also built The Breakers Hotel on the ocean side of Palm Beach, and Whitehall, his private 55-room, 60,000 square foot (5,600 m²) winter home. The development of these three structures, coupled with railroad access to them, established Palm Beach as a winter resort for the wealthy members of America's Gilded Age.

Palm Beach was to be the terminus of the Flagler railroad, but during 1894 and 1895, severe freezes hit all of Central Florida, whereas the Miami area remained unaffected, causing Flagler to rethink his original decision not to move the railroad south of Palm Beach. The fable that Julia Tuttle, one of two main landowners in the Miami area along with the Brickell family, sent orange blossoms to Flagler to prove to him that Miami, unlike the rest of the state, was unaffected by the frost is untrue. The fact is, that Mrs. Tuttle wired Mr. Flagler to advise him that "the region around the shores of Biscayne Bay is untouched by the freezes." Mr. Flagler sent his two now famous in Florida history lieutenants, James E. Ingraham and Joseph R. Parrott, to investigate and they brought boxes of truck (produce) and citrus back to Mr. Flagler, who then wired Mrs. Tuttle, asking, "Madam, what is it that you propose?" To convince Flagler to continue the railroad to Miami, both Julia Tuttle and William Brickell offered half of their holdings north and south of the Miami River to Mr. Flagler. Mrs. Tuttle added 50 acres (200,000 m²) for shops and yards if Mr. Flagler would extend his railroad to the shores of Biscayne Bay and build one of his great hotels. An agreement was made and contracts were signed. On September 7, 1895, the name of Flagler's system was changed from the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway Company to the Florida East Coast Railway Company and incorporated.^[1] On April 15, 1896, track reached Biscayne Bay, the site of present-day downtown Miami. At the time, it was a small settlement of less than 50 inhabitants. When the town incorporated, on July 28, 1896, its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for the city's development by naming it Flagler. He declined the honor, persuading them to retain its old Indian name, Miami. The area was actually previously known as Fort Dallas after the fort built there in 1836 during the Second Seminole War. To further develop the area surrounding the Miami railroad station, Flagler dredged a channel, built streets and The Royal Palm Hotel, instituted the first water and power systems, and financed the town's first newspaper, the Metropolis. Flagler was a great visionary and he can be credited for the development of the entire east coast of Florida. Yet he lacked vision on at least one issue: he felt that Miami would never be more than a fishing village.

As of 1904, Flagler started what everybody considered a folly: the extension of the FEC to Key West which would later be known as the Overseas Railway, at the time considered the eighth wonder of the world and surely the most daring infrastructure ever built exclusively with private funds. The first train—a construction engineers train—arrived in Key West on January 21, 1912, while Mr. Flagler's special train and other passenger trains arrived the next day, January 22, 1912, and that is considered the first day of service on the new route.

A 1913 print advertisement extols the many advantages of traveling on the Florida East Coast Railway, the "New Route to the Panama Canal."

Constructing the Florida East Coast Railway[edit]

The railroad south of West Palm Beach was constructed in phases by the FEC and the predecessor systems. Flagler began his railroad building in 1892. Under Florida's generous land-grant laws passed in 1893, 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) could be claimed from the state for every mile (1.6 km) built. Flagler would eventually claim a total in excess of two million acres (8,000 km²) for building the FEC, and land development and trading would become one of his most profitable endeavors.

Before it became the FEC, the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River was constructing a line southwards from Daytona Beach in 1894. Fort Pierce was reached on January 29, and West Palm Beach on March 22. Further extension southwards did not begin until June 1895, when a favorable deal was signed with Miami-area business interests. Fort Lauderdale was reached on March 3 of the following year. By April, the construction reached Biscayne Bay, the largest and most accessible harbor on Florida's east coast. Flagler announced in 1904 that the FEC would be extended 128 miles (206 km) to Key West over the ocean. However, in 1906, a powerful hurricane killed 135 of Flagler's workers.^[2] The Over-the-Sea Extension was completed in 1912, a mere 16 months prior to Flagler's death, at a cost of $50 million and lives of hundreds of workmen.

Key West Extension[edit]

en route to Key West

Never one to rest on his laurels, Flagler next sought perhaps his greatest challenge: the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city of almost 20,000 inhabitants located 128 miles (206 km) beyond the end of the Florida peninsula. Flagler became particularly interested in linking Key West to the mainland after the United States announced in 1905 the construction of the Panama Canal. Key West, the United States' closest deep-water port to the canal, could not only take advantage of Cuban and Latin America trade, but the opening of the canal would allow significant trade possibilities with the west.

The construction of the Overseas Railroad required many engineering innovations as well as vast amounts of labor and monetary resources. At one time during construction, four thousand men were employed. During the seven-year construction, three hurricanes threatened to halt the project.

Despite the hardships, the final link of the Florida East Coast Railway to Trumbo Point in Key West was completed in 1912. On January 22 of that year, a proud Henry Flagler rode the first passenger train into Key West, marking the completion of the railroad's oversea connection to Key West and the linkage by railway of the entire east coast of Florida.

One of the reasons Flagler built the Key West Extension was at the time of its conception, Key West was a major coaling station for ship traffic between South America and New York. Flagler thought it would be profitable for coal to be brought by railroad to Key West for coaling those ships. By the time the railroad was finished in 1912, though, the range had been extended on the ships to such a degree that Key West was no longer a stopover for coal.

FEC Through the Years[edit]

The Florida Overseas Railroad, also known as the "Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway", was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, and the line was cut back to Florida City. The roadbed and remaining bridges of the extension were sold to the state of Florida, which built the Overseas Highway to Key West, using much of the remaining railway infrastructure. A rebuilt Overseas Highway (U.S. Route 1) taking an alignment that closely follows the Overseas Railroad's original routing, continues to provide a highway link to Key West, ending at the southernmost point in the continental United States.^[3]

The Florida East Coast Railway benefitted greatly from the Florida land boom of the 1920s, which led to increased traffic. The Moultrie cutoff was constructed in 1925 which shortened the distance between St. Augustine and Ormond Beach by avoiding the main line's turn towards Palatka (the Moultrie cutoff has since become part of the main line). The main line was also expanded to double track from Jacksonville to Miami in 1926, along with the installation of automatic block signaling (although a vast majority of the main line would be restored to single track in the early 1970s due to changing rail operations and the absence of passenger operations).^[4][5]

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and Great Depression were harsh on the FEC. The railroad declared bankruptcy and was in receivership by September 1931, 18 years after Flagler's death. Bus service began to be substituted for trains on the branches in 1932. Streamliners plied the rails between 1939 and 1963, including "The Champion" and "The Florida Special" jointly operated with the Atlantic Coast Line. Adding to the woes was the Cuban embargo.

During the Great Depression Edward Ball, who controlled the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust, bought a majority ownership of FEC, buying its bonds on the open market, allowing the FEC to emerge from bankruptcy following protracted litigation with a group of the company's other bondholders, led by S.A. Lynch and associated with the Atlantic Coast Line which had proposed an alternate plan of reorganization. That same year, a labor contract negotiation turned sour. Ball was determined to save the railroad from the bankruptcy that had continued for more than a decade. Ball was certain that if the company didn't become profitable, the equipment and track would deteriorate to the point where some lines would become unsafe or unusable and require partial abandonment.

Promotional excursions such as the Florida Special helped make the state the tourist destination it is today.

Ball fought ferociously for the company's right to engage in its own contract negotiations with the railroad unions rather than accept an industry-wide settlement that would traditionally contain featherbedding and wasteful work rules. This led to a prolonged work stoppage by non-operating unions beginning January 23, 1963, and whose picket lines were honored by the operating unions (the train crews). From this point forward, the long distance named passenger trains rerouted over the Seaboard Air Line route south of Jacksonville, marking the end of long distance service between Jacksonville and West Palm Beach. Any resumed service later in the 1960s was strictly operated by the FEC.

Because the strike was by the non-operating unions, a Federal judge ordered the railroad to continue observing their work rules, while the railroad was free to change the work rules for the operating unions, who were technically not on strike and thus had no standing in the federal court regarding the strike.

Ball's use of replacement workers to keep the railroad running during the strike led to violence by strikers that included shootings and bombings. Eventually, federal intervention helped quell the violence, and the railroad's right to operate during the strike with replacement workers was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. As the strike continued, the FEC took numerous steps to improve its physical plant, installed various forms of automation, and drastically cut labor costs. Most of the nation's other railroads did not match these achievements for several years; some still had not as of 2010.^[6]

Passenger service became an issue in Florida during the early years of the labor strike, which essentially lasted 14 years, from 1963 to 1977. At the insistence of the City of Miami – which had long fought to get rid of the tracks in the downtown section just north of the county courthouse – Miami's wooden-constructed downtown passenger terminal was demolished by November 1963.^[7] Although a new station was planned at NE 36th Street and NE 2nd Avenue,^[8] it was never built.

Further, while freight trains were operated with non-union and supervisory crews, passenger runs were not reinstated until August 2, 1965, after the City of Miami sued and the Florida courts ruled that the FEC corporate charter required both coach and first class passenger services to be offered. In response, FEC sold "parlour car seating" for first class accommodations in the rear lounge section of a tavern-lounge-observation car. This new state-mandated passenger service consisted of a single diesel locomotive and two streamlined passenger cars, which, in addition to the operating crew, were staffed by a passenger service agent and a coach attendant, who were "non-operating." The mini-streamliner operated all of the way across three previously observed crew districts (Jacksonville to New Smyrna Beach to Fort Pierce to Miami). Following the letter of the law, the train carried no baggage, remains, mail or express; honoured no inter-line tickets or passes; and the only food service was a box lunch (at Cocoa-Rockledge in 1966). On-board beverage service was limited to soft drinks and coffee. Without a station in Miami, the 1950s era station in North Miami became the southern terminus. The service operated six days a week until it was finally discontinued on July 31, 1968.

In 1979, the FEC's mainline was cut back to its current terminus in downtown Miami when a 9.5 mile segment of the mainline between there and Kendall was sold to Miami-Dade Transit, which then built the southern half of Miami's elevated Metrorail system on the former right-of-way.^[9] The rest of the former mainline from Kendall south to Homestead and Florida City would remain until 1989, which could still be accessed via the freight bypass through Hialeah (Little River Branch). That segment of the former mainline has since become the South Miami-Dade Busway and the South Dade Rail Trail.

After 23 years under Ball, Raymond Wyckoff took the helm on May 30, 1984.

21st Century[edit]

In March 2005, Robert Anestis stepped down as CEO of Florida East Coast Industries after a 4-year stint, allowing Adolfo Henriquez to assume that position, with John D. McPherson, a long-time railroad man, continuing as president of the railway itself. By this time, the railroad had long since made peace with its workers.

In late 2007, in a move surprising to many employees and railroad industry observers alike, the FEC was purchased for over US$3 billion (including non-rail assets) by Fortress Investment Group,^{[citation needed]} the principal investors who also control short line railroad operator RailAmerica. John Giles was named chairman, and David Rohal was named president. Both men were also principals with major responsibilities at RailAmerica as well, although the ownership of FEC and RailAmerica were not linked corporately, and the spinoff of RailAmerica as a publicly traded company did not include FEC.

In May, 2010, James Hertwig was named as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company effective July 1, 2010. Hertwig had recently retired from CSX, most recently having served as president of CSX Intermodal, one of CSX's major operating units.^[10]

James Hertwig retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company effective December 31, 2017, and was replaced by Nathan Asplund.

FEC in modern times[edit]

Old office buildings in St. Augustine

Florida East Coast Railway #1594 at Gold Coast Railroad Museum

Routing[edit]

The Florida East Coast Railway operates from its relocated headquarters in Jacksonville after selling the original General Office Building in St. Augustine to Flagler College in late 2006. Its trains run over nearly the same route developed by Henry Flagler; notably, the Moultrie Cutoff was built in 1925 to shorten the distance south of St. Augustine.

Modern operations[edit]

The FEC operations today are dominated by "intermodal" trains and unit rock (limestone) trains. Passenger service was discontinued in 1968 after labor unrest.

The company's major income-earning sources are its rock trains, transporting primarily limestone, and intermodal trains. FEC freight trains operate on precise schedules. Trains are not held for missed connections or late loadings. Most of the trains are paired so that they leave simultaneously from their starting points and meet halfway through the run and swap crews, so they are back home at the end of their runs. The FEC pioneered operation with 2 man crews with no crew districts, which they were able to start doing after the 1963 strike. The entire railroad adopted positive train control (PTC) after a fatal 1987 collision caused by a crew not obeying signaling. (PTC is a safety feature long-sought by federal safety officials for all railroads).

FEC has what is called by some a "prime" railroad right-of-way. The heavy weight of the rock trains required very good trackage and bridges. The railroad has mostly 136 pound-per-yard (66 kg/m) continuous-welded rail attached to concrete ties, which sits on a high quality granite roadbed. The entire railroad is controlled by centralized traffic control with constant radio communication. Because the railroad has only minor grades, it takes very little horsepower to pull very long trains at speed. 60 mph (97 km/h) trains are a normal FEC operating standard.

Passenger service[edit]

The FEC was already in the freight only business when Amtrak was created and assumed passenger operations of nearly all U.S. railroads' passenger services in 1971. Periodically, there has been speculation that the southern end of the FEC line might be used for a commuter rail service to complement the existing Tri-Rail line (which follows former CSX tracks to the west). There has also been some discussion about Amtrak or the State of Florida using FEC lines for a more direct route between Jacksonville and Miami.^[11]

In March 2012 the FEC proposed a privately owned and operated service between Miami and Orlando along its route named All Aboard Florida. New high speed trackage would be built between Brevard County (the oceanside county east of Orlando) and Orlando International Airport. In addition to the new track, the main line is once again being expanded to double track from Brevard County to Miami (some of the bridges still have adequate width from the previous double track). In 2014 the very first beginnings of All Aboard Florida commenced with studies and actual construction of the first phase, and construction began in November 2014. In 2015, AAF announced they will operate the service under the name Brightline, after a few delays, service on an initial stretch between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale started in January 2018 with future extensions planned towards Orlando and Miami.

Rock trains[edit]

A lifeblood of the FEC is its transportation of high-grade limestone, which is used in the formulation for concrete and other construction purposes. The limestone is quarried near Miami in the "Lake Belt" area of Dade County and Broward County just west of Hialeah. The rock trains come out of the FEC yard at Medley in Miami-Dade County and the southern end of the FEC service area. Shipments currently are principally for materials dealers Titan and Rinker.

Rinker has since been sold and is now part of the multi-national Cemex. Rock train traffic dropped dramatically in 2008 with the elimination of all but one dedicated rock train. Other rock loads are now added onto other regular trains. Up until mid 2017, only one rock train remained, which is called the "unit train" and operates between Miami and City Point. Since then, rock traffic has rebounded, and the railroad has since added a second unit rock train which handles Ft. Pierce bound rock.

Intermodal services[edit]

The intermodal traffic includes interchanged shipments with CSX and Norfolk Southern, participation in EMP container service operated by UP and Norfolk Southern, United Parcel Service (UPS) piggyback trailers, trailers going to the Wal-Mart distribution center at Fort Pierce, and intermodal shipping container traffic through the ports of Miami, Port Everglades (adjacent to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and the principal source of imports), Port of Palm Beach/Lake Worth Inlet, and Port Canaveral.

Additionally FEC offers "Hurricane Service" offering trucking companies the opportunity of having their trailers piggybacked out of Jacksonville to save the expensive cost of back-hauling empty trailers.

Starting in 2012 the FEC began an aggressive project to reopen direct rail service to the ports of Miami, and Port Everglades. This is in anticipation of the expansion of the Panama Canal and the expected increase of intermodal traffic. In 2013 the drawbridge at the Port of Miami was repaired and reactivated and trains began to roll. In 2014 a new container shuttle was put into operation between Hialeah Yard and the Port of Miami. Also in 2014, the new rail lines into Port Everglades were opened allowing direct access for FEC trains into the port. Further a new transfer facility in Hialeah Yard will add additional intermodal transfer between trains, trucks, and planes. This facility will open by 2015. Additional capacity improvements are planned at other ports as well as the FEC's mainline.

Manifest, other freight[edit]

Produce being loaded into FEC refrigerated cars in the 1950s

The FEC also hauls normal "manifest" freight to and from points along its right of way. These cars are hauled on whatever train is going that way, so intermodal and rock trains routinely have some manifest cars in their consists.

Additionally, the FEC currently transports Tropicana Products "Juice Train" cars to and from one of the company's processing facilities located on the "K" Line. The Juice Train concept was developed by Tropicana founder Anthony T. Rossi in conjunction with Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (a CSX predecessor) beginning in 1970.

Motive power[edit]

The FEC completed its "second generation" dieselization with the purchase of 49 GP40s and GP40-2s and 11 GP38-2s, ranging in the 400's. Most of these locomotives have been extensively rebuilt with others being retired. In 2002, the FEC acquired 20 ex-UP SD40-2s, which were numbered in 700s. These ex UP locomotives remained in their original colors with FEC markings, however as of 2014 seven of them have been repainted into the "retro" Champion scheme. As of 2015 the majority of these were leased to CSXT. In 2006 The FEC leased four SD70M-2's numbered in the 100 series (100-103) in a blue and yellow livery known by fans as the "Classic" or the "Alaskan" schemes. In 2009 when RailAmerica came into the picture, they added four more SD70M-2's (104-107) in the Red, Pearl & Blue scheme which was the standard RailAmerica scheme. That brought the total SD70M-2 count to eight. Seeking further power improvements, in 2009, the FEC leased three CITX SD70M-2's making the count now of 11 of the big EMD's. These locomotives were numbered 140, 141 and 142, all are big blue and white striped units. All of the SD70M-2's served on the railway until the end of 2014 when they were replaced with new power. The fleet GP38-2s are used principally for yard and road switching as well as the occasional local. The others are used as available in road service. Some test runs have been made to observe the effect on fuel consumption of dynamic braking and combinations of new and old power. In 2014 the railway purchased 24 GE ES44C4's, the first General Electric and AC Powered locomotives to be owned by the FEC. All of the GE's have been delivered by the end of 2014 with the first run on November 21, 2014. In 2015 the railway will begin to experiment with LNG fuel that will help with costs and efficiency. With the arrival of the GE's the majority of the FEC's SD40-2's and a number of the SD70M-2's have been temporarily leased to CSXT. As of year end 2017, all SD70M-2's have been returned to their respective leasing companies. Most of the SD40-2's will remain on the FEC with the exception of leases to other companies.

FEC101-03 with 107, 141 & Champion713 on lead.

FEC202-02 with 101 & Champion714.

FEC202-05 with CITX142 and the damaged 106 leading. 106 was damaged on May 4, 2013 when FEC101-04 struck a van in Hypoluxo, FL.

FEC920-06( local ) with 415 on lead.

Two ES44C4 locomotives lead a southbound train through Boynton Beach, FL

Statistics[edit]

In 2005 FEC owned and operated:^[12]

• 351 miles (565 km) of mainline track between Jacksonville and Miami, Florida
• 277 miles (446 km) of branch, switching, and other secondary track
• 158 miles (254 km) of yard track

Flagler Development owned and operated:

• 64 buildings
• 7.4 million rentable square feet

In 1925 FEC carried 979 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 261 million passenger miles on (at year-end) 849 miles of road and 1411 miles of track; corresponding numbers for 1970 were 1345, 0, 554 and 1058.

Motive Fleet[edit]

FEC #446, an EMD GP40-3

Original like her other sisters, this locomotive (both GP40-2s) and 425 are now Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness engines.

Three GP40-2s lead a southbound train through Lake Worth, FL. This is a classic scene on the FEC

Awards and recognition[edit]

On May 16, 2006, FEC was the recipient of the Gold E. H. Harriman Award for safety in Group C (line-haul railroad companies with fewer than 4 million employee hours per year).^[15]

Corporate history[edit]

The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway Company was incorporated under the general incorporation laws of Florida to own and operate a railroad from Jacksonville in Duval county, through the counties of Duval, St. Johns, Putnam, Volusia, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Dade, Polk and Hillsborough.

Florida state law chapter 4260, approved May 31, 1893, granted land to the railroad.^{[citation needed]} At that time, it was already in operation from Jacksonville to Rockledge, the part south of Daytona having been constructed by them. The company had just filed a certificate changing and extending its lines on and across the Florida Keys to Key West in Monroe County.

The name was changed to the Florida East Coast Railway Company on September 7, 1895.

Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) incorporated in 1983^[12] and was made the holding company for the Railway and the Commercial Realty/Flagler Development Company in 1984. The other subsidiaries are Orlando-based carrier, "EPIK Communication" and the logistics firm, "International Transit".^[16]

FECI began operating independently of the St. Joe Company on October 9, 2000^[12] when St. Joe shareholders were given FECI stock.

On May 8, 2007, Florida East Coast Railway Company's parent, Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), announced that FECI would be purchased with private equity funds managed by Fortress Investment Group in a transaction valued at $3.5 billion.^[17][18] Fortress Investment acquired Florida East Coast Railway from Florida East Coast Industries in March, 2008.^{[18][clarification needed]}

On July 7, 2017, Grupo Mexico Transportes, subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, completed the acquisition of Florida East Railway.^[19]

Lines[edit]

Main line[edit]

Historical listing of main line stations (north to south)

Historical marker

Historical marker

• Lyrata
• Scottsmoor
• East Aurantia
• Jones Post Office or East Mims
• Titusville (Enterprise Branch begins)
• Indian River City
• Pritchards
• Frontenac
• Hardeeville
• Fuastina
• Sharpes
• City Point
• Cocoa
• Rockledge
• Rockledge Hotels (spur across Indian River)
• Coquina
• Bonaventure
• Pineda
• Bahia
• Horse Creek
• Eau Gallie
• Military Park (Station at the Kentucky Military Institute)
• Sarno
• Melbourne
• Tillman (now Palm Bay)
• Malabar
• Valkaria
• Grant
• Micco
• Roseland
• Sebastian
• Wabasso
• Winter Beach
• Gifford
• Vero Railroad Station, now Vero Beach, extant
• Viking
• Indrio
• St. Lucie
• Fort Pierce
• White City
• Walton
• Jensen (now Jensen Beach), demolished
• Rio, demolished
• Stuart, demolished
• Port Sewall, demolished
• Salerno, now Port Salerno, demolished
• Gomez, demolished
• Hobe Sound, moved to a grove on Bridge Road west of Hobe Sound and still extant (Land purchased and developed into the Hobe Sound Polo Club and the old station now serves as the grounds office)
• Jupiter, built 1914, later moved to 479 Seabrook Road, Tequesta to be used as a house. Now facing demolition.^[20]
• Monet (now Palm Beach Gardens)
• Kelsey City (now Lake Park)
• Riviera
• West Palm Beach
• Lake Worth
• Hypoluxo
• Boynton
• Delray Beach
• Yamato
• Boca Raton Florida East Coast Railway Station, restored and functioning as a museum.
• Deerfield
• Pompano
• Oakland Park
• Fort Lauderdale
• Dania
• Hollywood
• Hallandale
• North Miami Beach
• North Miami
• Little River/ El Portal/ Miami Shores
• Miami

Kissimmee Valley Line and cutoff (K-Branch)[edit]

FEC Kissimmee Valley Extension Map

Stations (north to south)

• Maytown
• Osceola
• Geneva
• Chuluota
• Bithlo
• Pocataw
• Wewahotee
• Narcoossee
• Salofka
• Tohopkee ( Mail service terminated 1927 )
• Holopaw
• Illahaw ( Mail service terminated 1935 )
• Nittaw ( Mail service terminated 1935 )
• Kenansville

Kenansville Branch (East)[edit]

• Apoxsee
• Lokosee
• Yeehaw
• Osawa
• Fort Drum Depot
• Hilo (Currently known as Hilolo)
• Efal
• Opal
• Okeechobee

Kenansville Branch (West)[edit]

• Armstrong
• Pine Island
• Halsey
• Greely
• Bassinger

South of Holopaw, the line roughly parallels US 441.

Little River Branch (Bypass around Miami)[edit]

The Little River Branch connects to the mainline near Little River and heads south west toward Hialeah, where it turns south towards an FEC freight yard and Miami International Airport. The branch ends just south of the airport at Oleander Junction, where it connects with CSX's Homestead Subdivision and the South Florida Rail Corridor.^[21]

The Little River Branch was historically a freight bypass around downtown Miami when the FEC mainline continued south to Homestead and Florida City. The branch continued south past the airport and reconnected with the mainline at Kendall. Part of the abandoned segment south of the airport is currently planned to become the Ludlam Trail linear park.^[22]

Palm Beach Branch[edit]

The former Palm Beach branch once extended from the mainline in West Palm Beach east a short distance over Lake Worth Lagoon onto Palm Beach Island. Henry Flagler built the spur to deliver passengers to his two hotels on the island: the Royal Poinciana and The Breakers. The branch’s wooden trestle over Lake Worth Lagoon also included a pedestrian walkway.^[23]

The spur was removed in 1902 at the insistence of Flagler’s wife, Mary, who complained about the noise and smoke coming from trains affecting them at their nearby mansion Whitehall. The trestle would become a toll bridge, which would be replaced by the Flagler Memorial Bridge in 1938 (which carried State Road A1A until 2017 when a new bridge replaced the 1938 span).^[24]

Fellsmere Branch[edit]

See http://www.taplines.net/tfc/tfc01.html for the story of the Fellsmere Branch.

Lake Harbor Branch[edit]

The Lake Harbor Branch runs from Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County to Lake Harbor in Palm Beach County. It basically serves the sugar farms in Palm Beach and Hendry Counties. It branches off the main line in Fort Pierce and heads southwest to Marcy, where it turns south along Lake Okeechobee. At Lake Harbor, it connects to the South Cental Florida Express's main line (a former CSX branch). Though still owned by the Florida East Coast Railway, the South Central Florida Express has a car haulage arrangement with FEC, allowing SCFE to use the branch and the mainline to interchange with CSX and Norfolk Southern at Jacksonville.

The Lake Harbor Branch was once part of the Kissimmee Valley Branch until 1947, when the cutoff from Marcy to Fort Pierce was built and the rest of the Kissimmee Valley Branch was abandoned.^[25]

Enterprise Branch[edit]

The Enterprise Branch (E-branch) was built in 1885 by the Atlantic Coast, St. Johns and Indian River Railroad and leased to the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad, part of the Plant System. Initially, the westernmost five miles (8 km) served as a connection from Enterprise Junction to Enterprise, a port for steamboat traffic down the St. Johns River. Later, the line was built through Osteen, Kalamazoo, and Mims to Titusville. The Enterprise Branch also crossed the Kissimmee Valley Branch at a location known as Maytown.

FEC Railway crossing at Maytown, Florida

A steam locomotive pulled the first train over the line onto the wharf on the Indian River at Titusville on the afternoon of December 30, 1885, and greatly accelerated the transportation of passengers, produce, seafood, and supplies to and from central Florida. While Titusville thrived thanks to this new transportation connection, Enterprise lost stature as a steamboat port, since Henry Plant's railroad paralleled the St. Johns River and greatly reduced travel times to Jacksonville.

During the winter of 1894–95, a widespread freeze hit twice, decimating the citrus crop and ruining that part of Florida's economy. This allowed Henry Flagler to acquire the line at a discount to piece together what became the Florida East Coast Railway.

The track of the E-branch at one time had been uprooted as far as Aurantia, about five miles (8 km) northwest of Mims, ending directly under the Interstate 95 overpass and has been abandoned. The crossing gates and signals were removed before the summer 2004 hurricanes and the track is being removed by a steel salvage company. As of 2008 the track has been completely removed up to the connection with the current FEC mainline in Titusville.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection took ownership of the rail bed on December 31, 2007. The corridor will become Florida's longest rails-to-trails project.^[26] This rail line would have been suited to recreational railroad use by such groups as the North American Rail Passenger Car Owners' Association assuming a representative who is local to the area could have been located.

Atlantic and Western Branch[edit]

This branch, from Blue Spring on the St. Johns River via Orange City to the main line in New Smyrna Beach, was built by the Blue Spring, Orange City and Atlantic Railroad. In the mid-1880s it became the Atlantic and Western Branch of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway, which changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. It may have been the Atlantic and Western Railroad in between. The line was in use until 1930.

Tocoi Branch[edit]

The railroad from Tocoi to Tocoi Junction, outside St. Augustine, was built by the St. Johns Railway. The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway took it over by 1894, and changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was abandoned by 1917; it was later used for SR 95, which became SR 214 at some time after the 1945 Florida State Road renumbering, and is now CR 214.

Moultrie Cutoff[edit]

The almost arrow-straight Moultrie Cutoff was built in 1925 to cut the distance on the main line, avoiding the swing inland to East Palatka. It runs from just north of Bunnell to Moultrie Junction in St. Augustine. In 2005 the entire route had its mileposts redone to match the rest on the main line.

Flagler Beach Branch[edit]

The railroad from Flagler Beach to Dorena, north of Bunnell, was built by the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in 1953. The line connected to the Lehigh Portland Cement Company Plant located near Flagler Beach. The line was abandoned in 1963, after a deadly strike erupted in that year that closed the massive plant. The site of the old plant was where some of the monorail beams were assembled for Walt Disney World in the early 1970s. The route is now part of the rails to trails system. The plant has been demolished outside of one smokestack that will become a "lighthouse" for a new development. Some remains of the yard can be found in the woods near the eastern end of the current Lehigh rail trail.

San Mateo Branch[edit]

Palatka Branch[edit]

The railroad from Palatka to Moultrie Junction, outside St. Augustine, was built by the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway. The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway took it over by 1894, and changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was the main route until the construction of the Moultrie Cutoff in 1925. There was also a spur with a bridge across the St. Johns River into Palatka, where there was a junction with the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway and the Florida Southern Railway.^[27] The bridge over the river was removed in 1950, and the rest of the line was later abandoned in 1988 and all rail was removed to a point just west of I-95. In 2001, rail service resumed up to this point and track was rehabilitated when new industries were located there. A daily local serves the eastern end of the line today known as the Wilber Wright Industrial Lead.

Mayport Branch[edit]

This was originally built by the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad, a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line from Jacksonville to Pablo Beach (now Jacksonville Beach). In late 1899 it was bought by Henry Flagler, who had the line converted to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge and extended it north along the coast to Mayport. The new branch opened in March 1900 and was abandoned in October 1932.

Family tree[edit]

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Florida East Coast Railway formed September 13, 1895, as a renaming of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad; still exists
• Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad - formed October 6, 1892, as a renaming of the FC&G; renamed the Florida East Coast Railway September 13, 1895
  • Florida Coast and Gulf Railway - formed May 28, 1892; renamed the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad October 6, 1892
  • Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway - formed February 28, 1881, as a renaming of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad; merged with the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad October 31, 1892
    • Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad - formed March 1879; renamed the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway February 28, 1881
  • St. Augustine and Palatka Railway - formed September 1, 1885; merged with the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad 1893

See also[edit]

• Boca Express Train Museum

Notable passenger trains operated over FEC rails: (sponsoring railroads and destinations)

• Champion-east coast section (Atlantic Coast Line, New York City)
• City of Miami (Illinois Central, Chicago)
• Dixie Flagler (Louisville & Nashville, Chicago)
• Dixie Flyer (Louisville & Nashville, Chicago)
• Ponce de Leon (Southern Railway, Cincinnati)
• Havana Special (Atlantic Coast Line, New York City)
• Royal Palm (Southern Railway, Cincinnati)
• South Wind (Louisville & Nashville, Chicago)

References[edit]

Notes

Bibliography

• Bramson, Seth H. (2002). Speedway to Sunshine: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway. Boston Mills Press, Boston, MA. ISBN 1-55046-358-6. 
• Standiford, Les (2002). Last Train to Paradise. Crown Publishers, New York, NY. ISBN 0-609-60748-0. 
• Rand McNally Map — 1917 showing Western Kissimmee Valley Branch
• Biscayne Times: Waiting for the Train (Jan. 2009)

External links[edit]

• Florida East Coast Railway Website
• http://www.sethbramsonbooks.com (Includes three books on FEC, many local histories and history of the Plant System)
• Flagler Museum - History of the Florida East Coast Railway
• Florida East Coast Railway Society
• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (1936), "Out to sea by train", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 109–114  account of the Florida East Coast Railway Key West Extension
• Railroad Bells at A History of Central Florida Podcast