Plant then sought to expand his railroad system further into Florida and hoped to reach Charlotte Harbor.

[3] The first segment of the line on the south end was built in 1884 from Lakeland north to Pemberton Ferry (later known as Croom).

This segment was built by the South Florida Railroad and was the northern leg of their Pemberton Ferry Branch.

[3] In 1887, the Silver Springs, Ocala and Gulf Railroad (SSO&G) built the segment of the line from Juliette (known today as Rainbow Falls) south to Dunnellon as part of their network.

The Southland ran the line daily from the Perry Cutoff to Tampa via Vitis Junction with stops at Dunnellon, Inverness, Trilby and Dade City.

[1] Additionally, local mixed trains (consisting of both passengers and freight) ran the full line from DuPont to Lakeland until they were discontinued in the 1940s.

At least two through freight trains ran the line round-trip daily from DuPont to Vitis Junction on their route from Waycross to Tampa with a stop at High Springs Yard.

Local freight trains also ran on the Lake City and Crystal River branches several times a week.

[1] On October 18, 1956, a head-on collision between two Atlantic Coast Line Railroad freight trains occurred near Pineola killing four crewmen.

The lines even crossed each other twice (once just south of Dunnellon and again near Rainbow Springs where the Juliette Falls Golf Course's driving range is currently located).

[8] Much of the parallel Seaboard Air Line track from Archer to Inverness was also abandoned in the wake of the merger due to its proximity to the West Coast Subdivision.

[11] In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System, creating the CSX Corporation.

[11][13] In 1987, only a year after completing the transition to CSX, the company abandoned 46 miles of the West Coast Subdivision between Gulf Junction (in Dunnellon) to its connection with the S Line at Owensboro.

[17] CSX's freight trains from the north heading to Winston Yard, southern Orlando, and Miami continue to operate over the Vitis Subdivision.

The Vitis Subdivision crosses Interstate 4 on an overpass just west of Kathleen Road interchange (mile marker 31) near Lakeland.

[20] The line north of Dunnellon to High Springs and the remaining Crystal River Branch to Red Level was taken over by the shortline Florida Northern Railroad in 1988.

[22] A third trail replaced the line in Jasper between northbound and southbound Central Avenue, which is being expanded south of the city.