The Starting
A coal locomotive engine on the outlets in 1941. | State Archives of Florida
Within the late nineteenth century, the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P) established its West Jacksonville rail yard and upkeep outlets on the town’s western edge. In 1903, the Seaboard Air Line Railway (SAL) acquired FC&P and expanded the positioning, making it one in all Jacksonville’s largest employers by 1909, with over 1,000 staff.
Positioned simply south of West Beaver Road, between McDuff Avenue and Edgewood Avenue, the rail yard and upkeep outlets performed a key position within the early progress of surrounding neighborhoods akin to Lackawanna, Murray Hill, and Woodstock.
To attach the outlets with Downtown Jacksonville, a streetcar line was constructed alongside Lackawanna (now Edison Avenue). At its peak, the streetcar line supplied 89 spherical journeys every day with 15-minute intervals, serving as an important a part of the town’s mass transit system till streetcars had been changed by buses in 1936.
The Seaboard advanced as soon as included steam and diesel locomotive outlets and a 165-foot turntable. On April 6, 1917, staff raised the biggest American flag in Jacksonville on the yard, hoisted atop a 120-foot flagpole—the tallest within the metropolis on the time.
The Finish
In 1967, SAL merged with its longtime rival, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, forming the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). That entity later merged with the Chessie System in 1980. Rail operations on the West Jacksonville outlets led to 1985, simply earlier than the corporate rebranded as CSX Transportation. At present, whereas the unique outlets have been demolished, the positioning stays energetic. The West Jacksonville Yard is used to retailer rock trains for Conrad Yelvington’s close by terminal, and CSX continues to function dispatch, crew providers, and a TRANSFLO terminal on parts of the historic property.
Historic Images
A diesel locomotive engine on the outlets in January 1952. | State Archives of Florida
Left: Engine quantity 302 on Might 5, 1941. Proper: A locomotive within the roundhouse in January 1952. | State Archives of Florida
The prepare engine and automotive roundhouse in January 1952. | State Archives of Florida
A glance contained in the locomotive upkeep and restore store on September 24, 1954. | State Archives of Florida
Locomotives within the store on June 12, 1942. | State Archives of Florida
A glance contained in the prepare engine and automotive roundhouse. | State Archives of Florida
The West Jacksonville outlets in 1979. | State Archives of Florida
A 1943 aerial of the advanced. | College of Florida
A 1960 aerial of the advanced. | College of Florida
A 1990 aerial of the West Jacksonville railyard and closed railroad outlets advanced. | College of Florida
Ruins of the previous railroad outlets on the West Jacksonville Yard.
The CSX Dispatch facility on the West Jacksonville Yard was as soon as known as “The Enterprise” as a result of the within regarded like an area ship with all of the displays and consoles surrounding the circumference of the constructing’s partitions.
CSX Transflo operations on the West Jacksonville Yard at this time.
Wanting west on the West Jacksonville Yard from McDuff Avenue.
Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com