Tallahassee Railroad

Tallahassee Railroad

Company type	Railroad company
Industry	Rail transport
Founded	1834
Founder	Richard Keith Call
Headquarters	Tallahassee , United States
Area served	Florida
Products	Rail transport of cotton and passengers

The Tallahassee Railroad, based in Tallahassee, Florida, ranks among the pioneering railroads in Florida, commencing service around 1836 or 1837. For more than twenty years, it operated using mule power before transitioning to steam locomotives in 1855. Its chief function was moving cotton bales from Tallahassee to ports along the St. Marks River.

Origin

Situated within "Middle Florida," between the Appalachicola River and Suwannee River, Tallahassee was centrally located in the affluent Red Hills Region, renowned for its cotton and tobacco plantations. Transporting cotton to maritime ports posed significant difficulties; bales were transported by wagon over sandy roads to ports on the St. Marks River. Initial railroad ventures included the Leon Rail-Way Company in 1831 and later the Leon Railroad Company, both of which failed due to insufficient funding.

In 1834, the Tallahassee Railroad Company was established with Richard Keith Call, a prominent plantation owner, as its founder and president. To aid construction efforts, the Territorial government granted 500,000 acres. Call obtained congressional consent for a right-of-way and land at St. Marks, although on less favorable terms than originally sought.

Construction

Work on the railroad started in 1834 from Tallahassee and extended 22 miles to St. Marks by 1836 or 1837. By 1839, the track reached Port Leon, crossing the St. Marks River via a drawbridge. The line featured strap rail mounted on a five-foot gauge, with ties spaced six to seven feet apart. The flat but poorly drained landscape led to frequent track shifts and elevated upkeep expenses; early reports indicate rails were sometimes placed directly on sand without ties.

French naturalist Francis de Laporte de Castelnau, who visited in 1837–38, recognized the railroad’s value for cotton transport but criticized its inferior construction quality, observing that locomotives struggled to run effectively on the tracks.

Railroad specialist Franz Anton von Gerstner documented the line during his 1839 visit to the United States, offering important observations regarding its engineering difficulties and operational constraints.

Port Leon

The railroad initially terminated at St. Marks; however, the Federal government allocated only 20 acres there instead of the requested 100 acres. Conversely, the Territory of Florida granted a larger tract east of the St. Marks River near its mouth, providing more space for terminal facilities and enabling greater control over cargo transfers between railcars and ships. Beginning in 1838, the company planned and sold lots in Port Leon, drawing inhabitants from Magnolia, a port town bypassed by the railroad. The line reached Port Leon in 1839, which rapidly expanded to about 450 residents and incorporated as a town in 1841. Despite a yellow fever epidemic in 1841 that claimed 139 lives, Port Leon became the county seat of newly formed Wakulla County in early 1843.

The railroad company marketed Port Leon as the highest elevation site on Apalachee Bay safe from high tides. Nevertheless, an 1843 hurricane brought a storm surge between seven and ten feet, devastating or severely damaging every building and destroying the bridge over the St. Marks River. Although only one fatality was reported, many residents moved northward to Newport near St. Marks. The company restored service to St. Marks, which then became the primary shipping port, causing Port Leon’s decline.

Operations

For an extended period, trains were pulled by horses or mules, even though two locomotives had been acquired by 1837 but remained unusable due to substandard track conditions. By 1839, the company’s holdings comprised three passenger coaches—the earliest accommodating eight passengers—45 freight cars, 35 horses and mules, and 23 enslaved individuals. Additionally, the enterprise controlled a sawmill, 4,000 acres of timberland, a 1,000-acre plantation dedicated to feed cultivation, and the port at Port Leon. Enslaved labor played a crucial role in sustaining operations.

Passenger service operated daily with a single carriage drawn by two horses at an average speed near 9 mph; each journey lasted approximately two and a half hours one way, including horse exchanges halfway along the route. The fare for passengers was set at $1.50, with about 4,000 travelers transported in 1838. Freight trains ran once per day, consisting of five to eight cars pulled by six horses or mules at roughly 2.5 mph. In 1838, outbound shipments included nearly 14,000 bales of cotton (each weighing between 400 and 500 pounds), accounting for roughly half of all freight moved; inbound freight totaled around 5,000 short tons. Freight rates were charged at $0.75 per bale.

Despite these activities, track quality remained poor throughout almost twenty years under the initial proprietors. A visitor in 1855 noted missing rails and ties alongside iron straps curling at their ends due to insufficient fastening. A wildfire destroyed ties along more than two miles of track while trains continued running without firefighting efforts; enslaved workers operated the trains during this time. Frequent delays occurred because of derailments requiring passenger assistance and slow-moving freight trains limited by single-track lines without passing sections.

New owners

In 1855, Richard Keith Call transferred his controlling stake in the Tallahassee Railroad to the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad. The line underwent reconstruction in 1856, replacing wooden rails with iron ones and introducing two Baldwin 4-4-0 steam engines. By 1857, the railroad was recognized as "one of the best paying roads in the country," indicating robust financial health.

Battle of Natural Bridge

In March 1865, Union forces launched an incursion near St. Marks with the objective of severing Confederate supply routes by destroying bridges and the Tallahassee Railroad itself. Brigadier General John Newton's troops attempted to cross the St. Marks River via a natural bridge after discovering that the primary bridge had been burned. Confederate reinforcements—including the Second Florida Cavalry, local militia units, and cadets from West Florida Seminary—utilized the Tallahassee Railroad to rapidly mobilize near Woodville. They successfully defended the river crossing during the Battle of Natural Bridge, compelling Federal troops to retreat and safeguarding vital rail infrastructure.

Mergers

In 1867, George William Swepson fraudulently purchased both the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad for $1.22 million and the Tallahassee Railroad for $195,000. These lines were consolidated into a new Tallahassee Railroad company that became part of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad by 1869. Under Edward Reed’s leadership in 1882, it merged into the Florida Central and Western Railroad, which subsequently combined with others to form the Florida Railway and Navigation Company in 1884. This organization was reincorporated as the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad in 1888 and later renamed Florida Central and Peninsular Railway in 1893. The Seaboard Air Line Railway leased this network in 1900 before acquiring it outright in 1903. The segment from Tallahassee to St. Marks was designated as the Wakulla Subdivision under Seaboard Air Line and its successors—a strategic consolidation that enhanced market presence and operational scope throughout the region.

Abandonment

Operations on the final segment of the St. Marks branch, originally known as the Tallahassee Railroad, were discontinued by the Seaboard Air Line Railway (SAL) in 1932. Following a successful appeal to the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1939, rail service on this portion was reinstated and continued through the 1960s. The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, SAL’s successor, formally abandoned the line in 1983. Subsequently, in 1984, the State of Florida purchased the corridor and transformed it into the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail, demonstrating a purposeful conversion of former railway infrastructure for recreational use.

Historic Stations

Milepost	City/Location	Station	Connections and notes
SPA 799.3	Tallahassee	Tallahassee	junction with: Pensacola and Georgia Railroad (FC&P/SAL) Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Georgia Railroad (GF&A/SAL)
SPA 802.2		St. Marks Junction
SPA 803.3		Belair
SPA 805.6		Lutterloh
SPA 808.2		Rhodes
SPA 808.8	Woodville	Woodville
SPA 809.4		Moody
SPA 811.3		Burnt Mill
SPA 812.1		Vereen
SPA 814.5		Wakulla
SPA 815.7		Burns
SPA 817.5	Newport	Newport
SPA 820.2	St. Marks	St. Marks

External links

• Interactive map of the Tallahassee Railroad