Tampa Southern Railroad

Tampa Southern Railroad

Former Bradenton passenger depot, which is now a medical clinic
Reporting mark	TAS
Dates of operation	1917–1967
Successor	Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

CSX's Palmetto Subdivision

to Yeoman/Uceta Yards AZA 885.0 East Tampa Alafia River AZA 890.1 Big Bend Little Manatee River AZA 898.3 Ruskin AZA 910.0 Gillette I-275 Ellenton Belt Line (abandoned) former Florida West Shore Railway (SAL) to Durant Florida Railroad Museum SW 860.2 Parrish SW 869.1 Ellenton AZA 914.8 Palmetto Manatee River AZA 917.8 Bradenton Tropicana Juice Plant former Tampa Southern Railroad (ACL) to Sarasota SW 875.0 Oneco Seminole Gulf Railway

The Tampa Southern Railroad was a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad originally running from Uceta Yard in Tampa south to Palmetto, Bradenton, and Sarasota with a later extension southeast to Fort Ogden in the Peace River valley built shortly after. It was one of many rail lines built during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Most of the remaining trackage (between Tampa and Bradenton) now serves as CSX Transportation's Palmetto Subdivision. Another short portion just east of Sarasota also remains that now serves as Seminole Gulf Railway's Matoaka branch.

The Tampa Southern Railroad was first incorporated in 1917 as a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. It principally competed with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's parallel route (largely built by their Florida West Shore Railway subsidiary) that ran from Durant to Venice which was completed earlier in 1911. The Tampa Southern's tracks were completed to Sarasota by May 1924, and the first passenger train arrived in Sarasota in December of that year.

The Tampa Southern began at the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Uceta Yard in Tampa and ran south, paralleling the east shore of Tampa Bay. Just northeast of Palmetto, a loop was constructed through Ellenton to serve agricultural growers. Known as the "Ellenton Belt Line", the now abandoned loop branched off the main line near Rubonia and ran in a roughly rectangular trajectory through Ellenton before returning to the main line in Palmetto. A short spur to Terra Ceia, which is now abandoned, also existed near this area.

South of Palmetto, the tracks crossed the Manatee River on a bascule bridge into Bradenton, with Bradenton's passenger depot (which still stands today and serves as a medical clinic) built just south of the bridge. The tracks then turned southeast for a short distance and crossed the Seaboard line before turning south again and into Sarasota near Fruitville. A spur to the Payne Terminal at Hog Creek existed just north of the Sarasota passenger depot (which was located at Main Street and School Avenue).