Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad


The Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad was a historic railroad in Florida chartered by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant. Mostly completed by 1893, it ran from Rowland's Bluff, known today as Branford, south to Gainesville.

History

Henry Plant chartered the line as an extension of the Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad. Plant intended for the line to extend south through peninsular Florida to Charlotte Harbor. However, during construction, Plant learned that a competing line, the Florida Southern Railway, was building a line from Lake City to Charlotte Harbor in a similar path. To avoid competition, Plant unsuccessfully attempted to buy the Florida Southern. Subsequently, as the Florida Southern was working to extend their line north from Gainesville to Hague, Plant made a deal with them.
In the agreement, the two lines would combine into one. The Florida Southern would operate south of Gainesville and the Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad would exists north of there and the two firms would share trackage rights. Plant would take over and finish the Florida Southern's line north of Gainesville. Litigation from Lake City ensued as they were now being bypassed under this new plan, leading Plant to build a branch from just northwest of Fort White to Lake City.
In 1893, a branch was built from High Springs south though Newberry to Archer.

Later years

The Plant System was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The Atlantic Coast Line would then extend the branch to Archer south to Morriston in 1913 to connect with the former Silver Springs, Ocala and Gulf Railroad, which would create a more direct route down the west coast and to Lakeland instead of the former Florida Southern line.
The Atlantic Coast Line would then become the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967. In the Seaboard Coast Line-era, the line from Branford to High Springs was designated as the DuPont Subdivision. The branch to Archer and its extension would be the West Coast Subdivision. Track from Burnett's Lake to Gainesville was the Ocala and Gainesville Subdivisions.
In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System, creating the CSX Corporation. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation.

Current conditions

Much of the main line of the Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad was abandoned by CSX in the late 1980s though track remains from Burnett's Lake to just north of Gainesville today. This line is now CSX's Deerhaven Subdivision.
The short line Florida Northern Railroad took over the West Coast Subdivision in 1988. Track from High Springs to Newberry was removed in 2014, but the line is still active from Newberry south to Dunnellon.
The Suwannee River Greenway runs on some of the former right of way in Branford.

Station listing