Florida East Coast Railway history

The materials were transported, and the hotels opened for the 1888 winter season.

On January 20, 1890 a bridge was completed across the St Johns River establishing direct service into Jacksonville.

During the fall of 1892 Flagler's growing rail empire underwent a corporate name change when all properties involved became the Jacksonville, St Augustine & Indian River Railway.

He now had the two hotels in Palm Beach and extended the railway opening in Palm Beach in 1894, and he decided he was done expanding the line.

The Florida East Coast Railway arrived on the shores of Biscayne Bay in 1895.

Passenger service from Jacksonville to Miami officially started on April 22, 1896, according to Seth Bramson's Speedway to Sunshine: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway.

Just east of Jacksonville he constructed The Continental at Atlantic Beach which opened in 1901.

The railroad made an official announcement construction of the project had commenced in April, 1905.

Perhaps Flagler's greatest achievement was the construction of the Key West Extension finished shortly before his death in 1913.

By 1916, the FEC Railway included 23 railroads, terminals, and bridge companies along 739 miles of track.

However, they proved invaluable in the FEC's growth as well as the state's population explosion during the 1920s.

Finally, in 1926 an additional $21 million dollars was spent to improve operations.

In 1928 things worsened as revenue declined to under $14 million.

An additional spur, running along the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee, was finished to Lake Harbor in 1929 offering an interchange with the Atlantic Coast Line.

Instead, Miami was claiming this title and Key West shrank; by 1930 its population was only 13,000.

The railway declared bankruptcy in 1931 and would spend the next 30 years in receivership.

Revenues dipped even further in 1933 to just $7 million.

Then, Mother Nature added a knockout blow in 1935; the great Labor Day Hurricane hammered the Keys with winds clocked at 200 mph.

By 1940 the FEC had been reduced to just 679 route miles. Its first new diesels arrived in late November of 1939 in the form of Electro-Motive's sleek E3A model for passenger services (#1001-1002).

By 1940 the FEC had been reduced to just 679 route miles.

Interestingly, as Harold Mayer points out in his article "Rich Road, Poor Road" from the April, 1941 issue of Trains Magazine, Flagler's eventual Florida East Coast system wasn't the first proposal for a rail line to southern Florida.

On April 1, 1947 the railroad began operating its new branch to Lake Okeechobee via Fort Pierce and Marcy to reach the ACL connection at Lake Harbor.

On January 1, 1961 the FEC formally exited receivership and came under the ownership of the St Joe Paper Company in a deal negotiated by Edward Ball.

However, it had lasted but a few years when a nasty strike by FEC's operating unions was launched on January 23, 1963.

The Arab oil embargo of 1973 had prompted many truckers to have FECR carry their trailers south on flatbed cars.

A local labor organization called the Florida Federation of Railroad Employees began representing FECR workers in 1977.

Carrying an ever-increasing numbers of trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) and container-on-flatcar (COFC) business, in addition to automobiles, the FEC's revenues surged to over $100 million by 1980.

FECR President Winfred L. Thornton was named chairman and CEO after the death of Ed Ball in 1981.

Florida East Coast Industries, Inc. was formed as a holding company effective May 31, 1984.

FECR posted a profit of $24 million on sales of $184 million in 1992.

Norfolk Southern Corp., the fourth largest railway in the country, considered acquiring FECR after it was offered for sale in February 1996.

1999: A telecom unit is formed.

Formerly called Gran Central Corp., its name was changed in 2000 to reflect the legacy of company founder Henry Flagler.

2002: The trucking and telecom units are divested.

They served as the Railway's headquarters until 2006, when the FEC provided a $7.2 million gift-in-equity, making possible the transfer of the property to Flagler College.

In 2007 it was purchased by Fortress Investment Group, LLC, which oversaw the railroad and other businesses interests.

In 2012 an exciting announcement stated privately operated passenger service would return to FEC's rails.

Initially, it was believed operations could begin in 2015.

Its ownership persisted for a decade when rumors began in late March of 2017 that Mexico's largest railroad, Ferromex, was looking to acquire the FEC.