Florida Midland Railroad (current)
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| Reporting mark | FMID |
|---|---|
| Locale | three spurs in Central Florida |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Plymouth, Florida |
The Florida Midland Railroad (reporting mark FMID) is one of several short line railroads operated by the Pinsly Railroad Company in Florida (along with the Florida Central Railroad and the Florida Northern Railroad). The Florida Midland Railroad operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines including their former Lake Wales Subdivision (running from West Lake Wales to Frostproof), and their former Bartow Subdivision (from Winter Haven to a point just northwest of Bartow). It also ran a third line from Wildwood to Leesburg that is now mostly abandoned. Florida Midland Railroad began operating the lines in 1987.
The line from West Lake Wales to Frostproof, which extends a distance of about 18 miles, branches off of CSX's Auburndale Subdivision in West Lake Wales. It proceeds west to Lake Wales along a former Seaboard Air Line Railroad line. In Lake Wales, it connects to a former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad line and continues south to Frostproof. The line notably serves citrus fields and a Lowe's distribution center at the terminus in Frostproof.
The first four miles of the line were built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1916, and originally extended from Bartow and continued west to Alcoma. The 14 mile segment of the line from Lake Wales south to Frostproof was built earlier in 1912 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It is a discontinuous segment of track that was once the Atlantic Coast Line's Haines City branch, which historically extended as far south as Everglades City. The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged in 1967 into the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which led to consolidation of the two networks and the abandonment of redundant trackage in the 1970s, reducing the line to its current length. Seaboard Coast Line became CSX in 1980, six years before Florida Midland Railroad began operating over the line.
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Wikipedia