The Florida Central Railroad was a railroad company

Railway company

A railway company or railroad company is an entity that operates a railroad track and/or trains. Such a company can either be private or public...

 that was originally established as the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad

Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad

The Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad was a railroad company that, in 1860, completed a railroad line running from Jacksonville, Florida, west to Lake City, Florida...

 in 1851, and was renamed the Florida Central upon its purchase by carpetbagger

Carpetbagger

Carpetbaggers was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877....

 George W. Swepson

George William Swepson

George William Swepson was a carpetbagger and a swindler. notable for his involvement in the 1868 North Carolina railroad bonds scandal.-References:...

 in 1868. It operated a railroad line between Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, and Lake City, Florida

Lake City, Florida

Lake City is the county seat of Columbia County, Florida, in the United States. In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 12,614. In addition, it is the Principal City of the Lake City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is composed of Columbia County, and had an...

. In 1870, it was consolidated into Swepson's Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad

Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad

The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad was a Florida railroad line charted in 1869. It consisted of the former Pensacola and Georgia Railroad, which ran east from Quincy, Florida through Tallahassee to Lake City, Florida, and the subsequently consolidated Florida Central Railroad, which...

 (JP&M), which ran from Lake City west to Quincy, Florida

Quincy, Florida

Quincy is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,982 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,975...

. In 1882, both the JP&M and the Central, as it was known, were purchased by Sir Edward Reed

Edward James Reed

Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...

, and together became known as the Florida Central and Western Railroad

Florida Central and Western Railroad

The Florida Central and Western Railroad was a railroad company that was the 1882 reincarnation of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad , which ran from Lake City, Florida, west to Chattahoochee, Florida The Florida Central and Western Railroad was a railroad company that was the 1882...

.