The Wildwood Subdivision and the Yeoman Subdivision together are CSX’s main freight route through Peninsular Florida. The Wildwood Subdivision is used exclusively for freight. Freight trains bound for Tampa generally run the full line to the Yeoman Subdivision while trains to Miami, Orlando, and other areas of Southern Florida diverge on to the Vitis Subdivision at Vitis Junction. The line is double tracked in many places to accommodate the large amount of freight traffic and is dispatched through a Centralized traffic control signal system. Some of the double track was installed in the mid 2010s to further increase capacity since through trains no longer use the adjacent A Line, which is now partially state owned. Passenger service previously operated over the line which diminished in the late 1980s when CSX abandoned parts of Seaboard's branch at Wildwood to West Palm Beach and Miami. Amtrak's Silver Star to Miami used this route up until then, which was subsequently shifted to the A Line through Orlando. Passenger service was discontinued completely in 2004 when Amtrak truncated the Palmetto to Savannah, Georgia.
Wildwood Yard
A notable location on the Wildwood Subdivision is Wildwood Yard. Today, Wildwood yard serves as a small CSX maintenance and switching yard. It was historically a busy classification yard in the days of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. From the 1920s to the 1980s, the yard was significant since the Seaboard's division points to Tampa, Orlando, and Miami were located just to the south. Trains to Orlando previously turned towards Leesburg and Tavares just south of the yard. Trains to Miami turned in Coleman down Seaboard's Florida Western and Northern Railroad. Wildwood station still stands and is co-located in the yard, though passenger service has long been discontinued. In 2013, new double-tracked main lines were built to bypass the yard. The station's platforms were removed to accommodate this expansion.
History
The Wildwood Subdivision from Baldwin to Waldo was built in 1859 by the Florida Railroad, which historically ran from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key. From Waldo south to Ocala the line was originally part of the Peninsula Railroad and from Ocala south to Lacoochee it was part of the Tropical Florida Railroad. All three of these railroads would be merged into the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad, which would be bought by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1903. The line became the Seaboard's main line. From Owensboro south to what is now Vitis Junction was originally a branch of the South Florida Railroad, and from Vitis Junction to Zephyrhills, it was originally part of the Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad. Both of those lines would become part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The Seaboard line originally had its own alignment from Owensboro to Zephyrhills via Dade City, but that segment was abandoned in the early 1970s, shortly after the Seaboard Air Line's 1967 merger with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The abandonment was part of an effort to consolidate the merged network, which was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The Atlantic Coast Line route was kept in favor of the Seaboard route since is it went around the downtowns of Dade City and Zephyrhills. Despite its Atlantic Coast Line heritage, it is unofficially considered part of the S Line since it carries all S Line traffic. In the Seaboard Coast Line-era, the line was designated as the Baldwin Subdivision from Baldwin Junction to Wildwood. From Wildwood to Coleman, it was part of the Miami Subdivision, which continued down the now-abandoned SX branch from Coleman to Auburndale and to the Miami area. From Coleman to Owensboro, the line was designated as the Coleman Subdivision, and from Owensboro south to Zephyrhills was part of the West Coast Subdivision. 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. During late 1980s, the company sought to abandon many redundant routes which created the track structure in place today. The Wildwood Subdivision and the rest of the S Line continues to be CSX's main route through peninsular Florida.
