Florida Central Railroad (current)

infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Florida Central Railroad
logo_filename=PinslyRailroadCompanyP.pnglogo_size=106
old_gauge=
marks=FCEN
locale=northwest and west from Orlando, Florida
start_year=1986
end_year=present
hq_city=Plymouth, Florida

The Florida Central Railroad reporting mark|FCEN is one of several short line railroads run by the Pinsly Railroad Company. Its only interchange point is with CSX in downtown Orlando, Florida; it has trackage rights from there south to Taft Yard. The railroad is based out of the Plymouth freight station.

History

On November 21, 1986, the newly-formed Florida Central Railroad Company, Incorporated leased the following lines from CSX Transportation (in three separate lease agreements):
* milepost ASD-821.69 in Tavares to ASD-818.15 in Eustis Umatilla Subdivision
* milepost ATA-786.39 in Tavares to ATA-797.4 in Sorrento Umatilla Subdivision
* milepost ST-797.5 in Tavares to ST-806.3 in Toronto Orlando Subdivision
* milepost AT-785.0 in Forest City to milepost AT-799.43 in Winter Garden Groveland Subdivision and DR Subdivision (the short track south from downtown Ocoee)----
* milepost AT-799.43 in Winter Garden to valuation station 1501+24 in the lead to "Diamond R Fertilizer" (east of the Hennis Road crossing on the line north of Plant Street) Groveland Subdivision?----
* milepost ASD-818.15 in Eustis to milepost ASD-815.66 Umatilla Subdivision
* milepost ASC-815.82 to milepost 819.05 in Umatilla Umatilla SubdivisionThis gave them railroads going from Toronto northeast to Forest City, northwest to Tavares, where the line splits to Sorrento and Umatilla, and southwest to Winter Garden, plus a line northeast from Winter Garden to Diamond R Fertilizer. The line from Toronto southeast to Orlando was still run by CSX.

On September 28, 1990, the Florida Central Railroad leased the following line from CSX:
* milepost ST-814.65 in Orlando to milepost ST-806.30 in Toronto Orlando SubdivisionOn October 1, 1998, an agreement was signed between the railroad and other affected parties to abandon the line between Ocoee and Winter Garden west of Boyd Street, and the line to Diamond R Fertilizer west of 9th St, and build a new connector east of Winter Garden. This would eliminate grade crossings in downtown Winter Garden; trains had to go to the west end of downtown and then reverse direction along the other track to reach Diamond R Fertilizer. As the West Orange Trail was built before this, there is a fence separating it from the former railroad east of downtown Winter Garden.

On November 24, 2003, the Florida Central Railroad was granted an easement for a new connector track in the northwest corner at Toronto. Once this was built, the track crossing the mainline was removed, in preparation for abandoning the Forest City Branch (which is still connected via the original connector track in the southeast corner).

ee also

*List of United States railroads
*List of Florida railroads

External links

* [http://www.pinsly.com/florida_central.html The official page]