The Tampa Northern Railroad

From Wikipedia

The Tampa Northern Railroad was a historic railroad line running from just east of downtown Tampa north to the city of Brooksville in Hernando County from 1908–1913. The line continues to operate today and is under the ownership of the CSX Corporation, who operates it as their Brooksville Subdivision.

The Tampa Northern Railroad began just southeast of downtown Tampa at Hooker's Point, where it had its own terminal facilities. From there it proceeded north, crossing the main lines of both the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Gary, just east of Ybor City. Continuing north, the line goes through Sulphur Springs, Lutz, Land O' Lakes, and Masaryktown and into Brooksville.

Tampa Northern Railroad was one of the three original users of Tampa Union Station along with the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railroads.  The Tampa Northern Railroad began as a small logging railroad known as the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad. The Brooksville and Hudson Railroad was built in 1902 and was initially owned by Aripeka Sawmills Inc. This line went from Brooksville south to what would become Fivay Junction (near the present-day intersection of US 41 and SR 52) then west to Hudson. A line also had a branch from just south of Brooksville northwest to Tooke Lake. The Tampa Northern Railroad company was incorporated on April 7, 1906 by Henry M. Atkinson of Atlanta. Atkinson intended to build a railroad from Tampa to Thomasville, Georgia to connect with his Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad, which would create a direct rail route between Tampa and Atlanta, which never happened.

In 1907, the Tampa Northern Railroad bought the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad. New track was built from Tampa to Fivay Junction and the company rebuilt the Brooksville and Hudson Railroad from there to Brooksville. The line was completed in 1908. In Brooksville, the Tampa Northern connected to the now abandoned Florida Southern/Atlantic Coast Line Railroad branch from Pemberton Ferry (known today as Croom). The branch to Tooke Lake was abandoned in 1930.

The Tampa Northern was bought out by Seaboard later that year. In 1925, the Brooksville and Inverness Railway, a Seaboard subsidiary, extended the line north from Brooksville to Inverness where it connected to the Seaboard's branch from Waldo and Archer. This would create an additional route from Tampa to the Seaboard main line in northern Florida.

Today, the line ends just north of Brooksville near the former Bronco quarry. Track north of this point was abandoned in the 1970s.

Tampa Northern railroad engine number 100 and its tender are pictured on the turntable of Tampa's Gary shops in 1914. Built by Baldwin in 1907, this locomotive later served the SAL as 690, then was scrapped in 1930.