The history of Florida railroads began as early as 1834, when the Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad incorporated.
On April 14, 1836, the St.Joseph-Lake Wimico line was the first to be put into service, with trains operating between the boomtown of St. Joseph and the Apalachicola River.Although the Florida railroad "boom" began with Henry Flagler and Henry Bradley Plant, the expansion continued into the 1920s when the president of Seaboard Railway, S. Davies Warfield, extended his lines to Miami and Naples. With the passage of time, numerous railroads were bought, merged, or abandoned. Today, 12 full-service railroads are still operating as well as several port railroads.
Seth H. Bramson has written 32 books on and about Florida history, 21 of which have been published by Arcadia Publishing and The History Press. A lifelong Miamian, he is America's senior collector of Florida East Coast Railway, Florida transportation, and Miami memorabilia as well as Floridiana. He is America's single most-published Florida history book author.