The South Central Florida Express, Inc. (originally known as the South Central Florida Railroad ) is a common carrier shortline railroad in southern Florida run by U.S. Sugar Corporation. Its trains operate from Sebring to Fort Pierce via Clewiston around the southern perimeter of Lake Okeechobee, and serves customers at 26 locations. With of track, the SCXF is the largest private agricultural railroad in the U.S.

The railroad began operation in 1994 on tracks previously owned and operated by CSX Transportation; in 1998, operation expanded on to tracks leased from the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). In addition to the SCXF, U.S. Sugar has its own private tracks known as the U.S. Sugar Railroad , which consists of multiple branch lines connected to SCXF tracks. In 2021, the SCXF began operating the Sugar Express , a heritage tourist passenger train featuring a steam locomotive pulling historic passenger cars.

Operation

thumb|left|Cane train approaching Clewiston bringing harvested sugarcane from the fields

The South Central Florida Express (SCXF) is at its busiest during the main sugar harvest, which usually runs from October to March each year. U.S. Sugar is the only sugar company in the continental U.S. that transports sugarcane by rail.

In addition to the SCXF, U.S. Sugar has its own private tracks known as the U.S. Sugar Railroad, which is made up of several branch lines running from SCXF tracks to sugar fields near Clewiston and Bryant. Unlike the SCXF, the USSC is not a common carrier and is not subject to Federal Railroad Administration regulations. The SCXF refers to these trains as "cane trains", which then take empty cars back out to the fields.

On the east side of the lake, sugarcane is collected the same way and loaded cars are brought to Bryant Yard near Pahokee, where cars are combined on to longer trains before being sent to Clewiston. This movement of trains from Bryant to Clewiston is referred to as the Bryant Turn. Since the junction switch at the entrance to Bryant Yard is oriented north on the main line, Bryant Turn trains are backed out of the yard on to the main line before heading south and west to Clewiston. During harvest season, Bryant Turn trains can run as often as every four hours. Nearly all locomotives on both SCXF and USSC tracks carry the USSC reporting mark. The SCXF owns the tracks between Sebring and Pahokee, and leases the tracks between Pahokee and Fort Pierce from the FEC. The main line is divided into east and west sides, and the Miami Canal on the south side of Lake Okeechobee in Lake Harbor is where the two sides officially connect. The milepost numbers on each side are independent from one another and remain as they did under predecessor companies.

West side

thumb|left|Maintenance facility in Clewiston

The of main-line track on the west side of Lake Okeechobee begins in Sebring at a connection with CSX's Auburndale Subdivision just south of Sebring's Amtrak station. A short distance south from Sebring is Desoto City Yard, a small three-track switching yard. CSX has trackage rights into Desoto City Yard where interchange between the two companies takes place.

From Desoto City, the line continues south running mostly parallel to US 27 through Lake Placid and Palmdale. Just south of Palmdale, at a point historically known as Harrisburg, the line turns southeast towards Moore Haven. The line crosses the Caloosahatchee Canal on a small swing bridge in Moore Haven.

The line continues southeast from Moore Haven winding through sugar fields before reaching Clewiston. Clewiston is the location of U.S. Sugar's refinery which is co-located with SCXF's Clewiston Yard. The yard and refinery are located off the main line on a wye known as Sugar Junction. SCXF's maintenance facility is also located in Clewiston along W.C. Owen Avenue.

The Atlantic Coast Line built tracks from Harrisburg to Moore Haven in 1918. In 1921, the Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway was built, which extended the Coast Line's tracks to Clewiston. The Coast Line leased the Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway in 1925, and extended it to Lake Harbor in 1929. Even in its early days, the line mostly served U.S. Sugar (and its predecessor, the Southern Sugar Company prior to 1931), who built and operated their own small branch near Clewiston and Lake Okeechobee that connected to the Coast Line (the USSC tracks). By 1944, the Atlantic Coast Line completely bought out the Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway.

The west side was bought from CSX on June 2, 1990, by the Brandywine Valley Railroad, a Lukens Steel Company subsidiary, and sold to U.S. Sugar on September 17, 1994. U.S. Sugar then spun off the railroad into a separate company with its own board of directors to operate independently from the of branch lines U.S. Sugar already owned (USSC trackage).

East side

thumb|left|Buker passing track located at milepost K 67 between South Bay and Lake Harbor. It's used for storage and for Bryant Turn trains to pass each other.

The of main-line track on the east side of Lake Okeechobee continues the line from Lake Harbor east to South Bay and then north to Belle Glade, Pahokee, and Canal Point.

Located just off the main line on a spur between Pahokee and Canal Point is Bryant Yard. Bryant Yard is used to sort cars and consolidate trains from a number of nearby fields before being sent to Clewiston.

The line crosses the St. Lucie Canal on a small lift bridge in Port Mayaca. The line then continues to follow the lake a short distance before turning northwest to a point known as Marcy. The line crosses CSX's Auburndale Subdivision at Marcy before continuing northeast directly to Fort Pierce, where it connects to the FEC at their Fort Pierce Yard.

East side history

When the FEC ran the east side, it referred to the line as their K Branch. It was the southernmost segment of the FEC's Kissimmee Valley Line to Lake Okeechobee, which originally branched off the FEC main line near New Smyrna Beach and ran south through the Kissimmee Valley. It reached Belle Glade by 1923, and was extended to the Miami Canal in Lake Harbor in 1929 to connect with the Atlantic Coast Line. Most of the Kissimmee Valley Line north of Marcy was abandoned in 1947, and the remaining track was connected to the FEC main line by way of a new track from Fort Pierce known as the Glades Cutoff. The SCXF began leasing the east side line from the FEC on March 2, 1998, and now fully operates the line from milepost K 15 (Cana) south, and has trackage rights into FEC's Fort Pierce Yard where the interchange takes place. U.S. Sugar originally bought it from the FEC, which ran the locomotive on its Key West Extension.

thumb|right|The two cars used on the Sugar Express; The Miami Locks open-air car (left) and the Palmdale lounge car (right)

The South Central Florida Express now runs the No. 148 locomotive as part of USSC's heritage tourist passenger train named the Sugar Express. In need of rolling stocks for the Sugar Express, U.S. Sugar initially leased the Georgia 300 observation car. They also acquired an ex-Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) lounge car renamed from William Penn to Palmdale, along with an ex-Santa Fe (AT&SF) and Amtrak (AMTK) baggage car converted into an open-air car and named the Miami Locks. All of the rolling stock will be repainted in an Illinois Central (IC) City of Miami homage livery.

On December 12, 2021, the Sugar Express ran its first public excursion, featuring the No. 148 locomotive pulling the Lake Placid Limited train from Clewiston to Lake Placid and back. On January 29-30, 2022, U.S. Sugar and Trains Magazine hosted a private photo charter of the No. 148 locomotive pulling passenger and freight consists. On April 23-25, the No. 148 locomotive participated in taking the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners' (AAPRCO) special Sugarland Limited train on a multi-day tour around the Lake Okeechobee counties. Sugar Express continues to operate a full season of events, including special holiday train events for Lake Placid, Sebring, and Clewiston, Florida, as well as short trips and all-day excursions in and around the Lake Okeechobee region. In 2024, USSC leased a former FEC observation car the Bay Biscayne from the East Tennessee Railcar. In late January 2026, U.S. Sugar officially placed the ex-PRR observation car, now named the Clewiston, into service for private group charter trains.

See also

  • List of United States railroads
  • List of Florida railroads

Notes

References

Further reading

  • The official page
  • Sugar Express
  • Railway Age 1999 Short Line/Regional Railroad of the Year Awards