The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Haines City Branch was a railroad line running from their main line in Haines City, Florida south through southern Central Florida. The line notably ran through Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, and Immokalee and would stretch as far south as Everglades City upon its completion in 1928. Everglades City would be the southernmost point the entire Atlantic Coast Line Railroad system would ever reach. The Haines City Branch was one of the Atlantic Coast Line's major additions to its Florida network, much of which was previously part of the Plant System.
History
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad began construction on the Haines City Branch in 1910, with its initial route running from the main line in Haines City south 47 miles to Sebring. This segment would be complete in June 1912 and served many vegetable and citrus growers.
In 1916, the Atlantic Coast Line made plans to extend the branch further south to Immokalee. Construction began that year with track reaching the Caloosahatchee River at Ortona by April 1918. This project also included a branch from Harrisburg, just south of Palmdale, to Moore Haven which was completed around the same time. Harrisburg was named after the Harris track-laying machine used to construct the line. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad would then charter the Moore Haven & Clewiston Railway to extend the Moore Haven Branch southeast a short distance to Clewiston, which would be complete in 1921. The Southern Sugar Corporation (which became the U.S. Sugar Corporation in 1931) would be a major customer on the line in Clewiston and they would also build private branch tracks from the line to their sugar fields.
The Atlantic Coast Line would extended the line one last time in 1929 to the Miami Canal in Lake Harbor to connect with the Florida East Coast Railway's Kissimmee Valley Line. A spur south and east to Okeelanta would also be built.
In 1919, construction resumed on the main route from Ortona south. Track was built from Ortona south across the Caloosahatchee River through Goodno, Sears, and Felda to Immokalee. The first train to Immokalee arrived on October 16, 1921. In later years, the line from Harrisburg to Immokalee was known as the Immokalee Branch on employee timetables.
Shortly after service to Immokalee began, the Atlantic Coast Line's President Henry Walters authorized one last extension of the line south to Everglades City. The Atlantic Coast Line accomplished this extension by purchasing the Deep Lake Railroad from entrepreneur Barron Collier, the namesake of Collier County. The Deep Lake Railroad was originally built in 1913 by Walter Langford and John Roach, who operated a grapefruit grove near Deep Lake. The line was used to transport grapefruit south to Everglades City to be sold and shipped. In 1921, Collier purchased the line and grapefruit groves and also used the line to transport pine and cypress logs to a sawmill he operated in Everglades City. After the Atlantic Coast Line acquired the Deep Lake Railroad, they rebuilt it to their standards and extended track south from Immokalee to Deep Lake. The line was completed in 1928 and a passenger depot was built in Everglades City (known then as simply Everglades), which would be the farthest south the Atlantic Coast Line would ever reach.
In 1925, the Atlantic Coast Line would lose its monopoly in communities on the northern half of the Haines City Branch when the Atlantic Coast Line's competitor, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, built the Florida Western and Northern Railroad through Auburndale, West Lake Wales, Avon Park, and Sebring. The Seaboard line paralleled the Haines City Branch to the west through much of southern Central Florida, and the lines crossed each other just south of Avon Park.
By 1949, the line was relatively busy with the Atlantic Coast Line running a daily local passenger train from Haines City to Clewiston. A daily local freight train also ran from Haines City to Lake Harbor, and two additional freight trains ran six days a week from Haines City to Sebring. In addition, a mixed train (both passengers and freight) ran six days a week from Palmdale to Immokalee and Everglades City. In 1958, service to Everglades City was discontinued due to diminished traffic and track was removed between there and Copeland. By 1961, track was removed between Copeland and Sunniland.