- Plant System
Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Plant System
logo_filename=Plant System logo.gif
logo_size=150
old_gauge=
marks=
locale=United States Atlantic coast
start_year=1860
end_year=1902
hq_city=The Plant System was a system of
railroad s andsteamboat s in theU.S. South , taken over by theAtlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system, named after its owner,Henry B. Plant , was the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, running across southern Georgia. [ [http://railga.com/plant.html Plant System] railga.com, Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Retrieved2008-03-24 ]History
The Savannah and Albany Railroad was chartered
December 25 ,1847 to connect Savannah toAlbany, Georgia . In 1853 it was renamed as the Savannah, Albany and Gulf Railroad, and it opened in 1858 from Savannah west to Screven, just west of Jesup.The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad was chartered in December 1856 to also run west from Savannah, but to run south of Albany via Thomasville. Rather than build all the way to Savannah, it used the Savannah, Albany and Gulf's line. It opened from Screven west to Blackshear in April 1859, Homerville around October, Valdosta in July 1860, and Thomasville soon after. Construction stopped then due to the
American Civil War . The two companies merged in May 1863, forming a new Atlantic and Gulf Railroad from Savannah to Thomasville.Late in the Civil War, a branch was built from Dupont south to the
Florida state line, where a branch of thePensacola and Georgia Railroad from Live Oak connected. This was intended to connect the railroads in Florida with the rest of the network, but came too late to be of much use. After the war, the A&G acquired the full branch. In 1867 an extension of the main line west to Bainbridge opened.The
South Georgia and Florida Railroad opened from Thomasville north to Pelham in 1869 and to Camilla and then to Albany in 1870. It was merged into the Atlantic and Gulf before any section opened, and operated as their Albany Branch.In December 1875 the "Junction Branch" in Savannah opened, connecting the line to the
Charleston and Savannah Railroad . The company wentbankrupt onJanuary 1 ,1877 , and Henry B. Plant bought it onNovember 4 ,1879 , reorganizing it as the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway onDecember 9 . The Plant Investment Company was formed in 1882 to lease and buy other railroads and expand the system.Plant bought the
Savannah and Charleston Railroad (opened 1860) in 1880, reorganizing it as theCharleston and Savannah Railway . That acquisition extended the line from Savannah northeast toCharleston, South Carolina , where theAshley River Railroad (operated by the C&S) connected to the Northeastern Railroad (later part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad main line).The
Waycross and Florida Railroad andEast Florida Railroad were chartered in February 1880, forming the Georgia and Florida parts of the "Waycross Short Line". That line, running from the main line at Waycross southeast toJacksonville, Florida , opened in April 1881.In 1882, the
Chattahoochee Branch opened from Climax on the main line southwest to the Florida state line, where theChattahoochee and East Pass Railroad (chartered 1881) continued to River Junction, Florida, a hamlet which later came to be known asChattahoochee, Florida . At River Junction, theLouisville and Nashville Railroad 'sPensacola and Atlantic Railroad continued west, and theFlorida Central and Western Railroad ran east to Jacksonville.The
Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad andLive Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad were chartered in 1881 to continue the short Florida Branch south from Live Oak further into Florida (eventually reaching Gainesville with a branch to Lake City). Plant tried to acquire theFlorida Southern Railway to continue this line, but was unsuccessful, and onMay 4 ,1883 he bought 3/5 of the stock of theSouth Florida Railroad . At the time, the only connection between this system, with a main line from Sanford west to Tampa, was via steamboats on theSt. Johns River from Jacksonville to Sanford.The various lines of the SF&W were consolidated into one company in 1884. Specifically, the following companies lost their corporate existence:
*Waycross and Florida Railroad and East Florida Railroad (Waycross Short Line)
*Chattahoochee and East Pass Railroad (Chattahoochee Branch)
*Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad and Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad (Florida Division)The
Brunswick and Western Railroad , opened in the late 1850s as theBrunswick and Florida Railroad , was bought by Plant in 1884.In 1886 the system was changed to
standard gauge ; it had been built to 5 foot (1524 mm)broad gauge .In 1887 the
Green Pond, Walterboro and Branchville Railroad opened as a short branch of the main line toWalterboro, South Carolina . TheWalterborough and Western Railroad continued that line to Ehrhardt in 1896, and the two were merged into the Green Pond, Walterboro and Branchville Railroad in 1900. From opening, the Plant System operated the branch.On
May 30 , 1887, Florida state law chapter 3794 was approved, authorizing the SF&W to build lines from Tallahassee and Monticello north to the Georgia state line, connecting to branches from Thomasville, Georgia. The Tallahassee Branch was never built, but the Monticello Branch opened in 1888.Plant obtained a controlling interest in the
Alabama Midland Railway in July 1890. That line continued the main line from Bainbridge west toMontgomery, Alabama . TheSouthwestern Alabama Railway andAbbeville Southern Railway , two branches of that line, were acquired in the 1890s.In 1892 Plant bought the Florida Southern Railway under
foreclosure and reorganized it as theFlorida Southern Railroad . This system stretched from the south end of the Plant System at Gainesville south via Ocala, usingtrackage rights over the South Florida Railroad'sPemberton Ferry Branch , to Punta Gorda.The
Silver Springs, Ocala and Gulf Railroad was chartered in 1877 and opened in 1892, running from Ocala west to Dunnellon and then south to Homosassa and Inverness. A connection was built from Inverness to the South Florida Railroad at Pemberton Ferry.The
Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad was incorporated in 1893, running northeast from the South Florida Railroad in Tampa to the small town of Thonotosassa. Plant bought theOrange Belt Railway in 1893, reorganizing it as theSanford and St. Petersburg Railway . This line stretched across the state from Sanford to St. Petersburg. The Florida Midland Railway was acquired in 1896, providing a short line in the Orlando area. TheWinston and Bone Valley Railroad , opened in 1892 to servephosphate mines near Lakeland, became part of the Plant System in 1896.In 1899 the
Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway , except for the branch to Titusville (which had been sold to theFlorida East Coast Railway ), was reorganized and bought by Plant as theJacksonville and St. Johns River Railway . This supplied a connection between Jacksonville and Sanford without the need for a steamboat transfer at each end, as well as system connections at Tavares and Palatka.The Plant System built the nearly straight Convert|54|mi|km|0|abbr=on
Folkston Cutoff in southeast Georgia in 1901. [ [http://okefenokeepress.com/MALLARD.html Lawrence E. Mallard ] ] This ran from the old Waycross and Florida Railroad at Folkston north via Nahunta to Jesup on the SF&W mainline, allowing trains to bypass Waycross and save Convert|19|mi|km|0|abbr=on over the old route.In 1901 the following companies were merged into the SF&W:
*Brunswick and Western Railroad
*Alabama Midland Railway
*Charleston and Savannah RailwayIn 1902 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad acquired the entire Plant System, connecting at Charleston, SC. The components were soon merged into the ACL. The system has since become part of
CSX after several mergers.tation listing
Florida Division
References
* [http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp Railroad History Database]
* [http://www.csa-railroads.com/ Confederate Railroads]
*Mileposts from [http://web.archive.org/web/20040718192935/www.trainweb.org/csxtimetables/Contents.html CSX Transportation Timetables]External links
* [http://www.railga.com/plant.html Georgia's Railroad History and Heritage - Plant System]
* [http://www.csa-railroads.com/Savannah,%20Albany%20&%20Gulf.htm Confederate Railroads - Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad]
* [http://www.csa-railroads.com/Atlantic%20&%20Gulf.htm Confederate Railroads - Atlantic & Gulf Railroad]
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