When people think of railroading in Florida, they often think of Class 1 giant, CSX Transportation or of the fast intermodal lanes of the Florida East Coast Railroad and, maybe, even the sugar cane of Clewiston’s US Sugar railroad. But there’s one candidate amongst all the short line railroading of Florida that’s been virtually forgotten about: The Apalachicola Northern Railway, now known the AN Railway Co, Under Genesee and Wyoming, Inc.

I grew up in the Florida Panhandle and lived in Crawfordville, situated about twenty-five miles south of Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, for thirteen years. In my time as a teenager, when opportunity presented itself, I’d explore the CSX in Tallahassee and the local area or make my way to places such as the AN in Apalachicola or places like Greensboro or Chattahoochee. In my time, however, most of it was spent relying on my parents to tote me everywhere until I had a license and a truck to get down the road in. Like most railfans, armed with a scanner, a camera and some hope- I made it a priority to find things that always interested me and one thing is for sure, the AN did.