South Central Florida Express

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=South Central Florida Express
logo_filename=SCFE Logo.gif
logo_size=133
old_gauge=
marks=SCFE
locale=south Florida
start_year=1994
end_year=present
hq_city=Clewiston, Florida

South Central Florida Express, Incorporated (originally known as the South Central Florida Railroad and run by the Brandywine Valley Railroad until September 17, 1994) is a short line railroad in southern Florida run by U.S. Sugar. It serves customers at 26 locations.

U.S. Sugar, the only sugar company in the continental U.S. to transport sugarcane by rail, owns private trackage to take the cane to the SCFE. From there, the SCFE runs around both sides of Lake Okeechobee. The west side connects to CSX at Sebring, and the east side connects to CSX at Marcy and the Florida East Coast Railway at Fort Pierce, with trackage rights to CSX and Norfolk Southern at Jacksonville, Florida.

History

The mi to km|87 west connection, west of Lake Harbor, was a CSX line (Sebring Subdivision along the mainline to the sugar fields, and Okeelanta Subdivision on the spur to Lake Harbor), originally part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It was bought on June 2, 1990, by the Brandywine Valley Railroad, a Lukens Steel Company subsidiary, and sold to U.S. Sugar on September 17, 1994. U.S. Sugar set up the railroad as separate company with its own board of directors to operate independently from the mi to km|119 branch line U.S. Sugar already owned at the time.

The mi to km|71 east connection, east of Lake Harbor, is still owned by the Florida East Coast Railway as its Fort Pierce-Lake Harbor Branch (also known as the K-Branch). It was part of the original Kissimmee Valley Line to Lake Okeechobee south of near Marcy, and a newer cutoff north of there. On March 2, 1998, South Central Florida Express and the Florida East Coast Railway entered into a car haulage arrangement, allowing SCFE to use the branch and the mainline to interchange with CSX and Norfolk Southern at Jacksonville.

ee also

*List of United States railroads
*List of Florida railroads

External links

* [http://www.ussugar.com/sugar/transportation.html The official page]
* [http://www.railwayage.com/aug99/shortline_awards.html Railway Age 1999 Short Line/Regional Railroad of the Year Awards]