The Sanford and Indian River Railroad was chartered in 1881 by officers of the South Florida Railroad. The South Florida Railroad was in the process of building their main line from Sanford southwest to Orlando and Tampa at the time. South Florida Railroad president James Ingraham envisioned a rail line running from Sanford east through agricultural lands to the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville, hence the railroads name.[1]
The first six miles of the Sanford and Indian River Railroad from Sanford to Lake Jesup was complete on December 27, 1883. That year, it was leased by the South Florida Railroad and it would eventually be integrated with South Florida Railroad network.[2] The railroad was extended as far as Lake Charm by 1886 but was never fully extended to its intended terminus at Titusville.[3] The line was also converted to standard gauge in 1886. The line was primarily used to ship celery, citrus, and other produce.[1]
The South Florida Railroad, along with other railroads in the Sanford area, were incorporated into Henry B. Plant's system of railroads in 1893. In 1902, the Plant System was taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The Sanford and Indian River Railroad line continued operation as the Atlantic Coast Line's Lake Charm Branch (U Branch).
In 1953, the Atlantic Coast Line relocated their Sanford passenger station from just north of the Lake Charm Branch junction (the current site of Coastline Park) to their main line's bypass of central Sanford.[4] As a result, main line track southwest of the junction to the bypass (which was the original South Florida Railroad alignment through Sanford) was removed. Track from the junction northwest to the bypass at a point near Rands Yard (which was the original Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway alignment) then became part of the Lake Charm Branch.
In 1967, the Atlantic Coast Line merged with their long-time rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL). The Lake Charm Branch connected with the Seaboard Air Line's Orlando Subdivision (which ran to Lake Charm from Orlando and Winter Park) at Oviedo. After the merger was complete, the company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and the Sanford and Indian River Railroad line was designated as their Aloma Subdivision (which also included the remaining SAL line from Oviedo southwest to Aloma).[5] The Seaboard Coast Line became CSX Transportation by 1986.[2]
In the 1990s, CSX abandoned the line from Lake Charm to a point near Winter Springs along with the remaining SAL track to Aloma. Despite no longer running to Aloma, the remaining line from Sanford to Winter Springs is still known as CSX's Aloma Spur and it connects to the A Line (now the Central Florida Rail Corridor) at the Sanford AutoTrain station. The Cross Seminole Trail was built on the abandoned right of way between Winter Springs and Oviedo in 2002.[6]
In 2013, local officials proposed to use the line to expand the SunRail commuter rail system to Orlando Sanford International Airport. The Florida Department of Transportation has a contractual option to lease the spur from CSX for 30 years after 2007 for $10 as part of the deal when they purchased the A Line (where SunRail currently operates). This remains a proposal and no further action has been taken.[7]
