72-2695: The Seaboard Air Line Depot can refer to the following former and active train stations previously used by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad , many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places : [REDACTED] This list is incomplete ; you can help by adding missing items . ( September 2008 ) Alabama [ edit ] Birmingham Terminal Station Union Station (Montgomery, Alabama) Florida [ edit ] Apopka Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot Auburndale (SAL station) ( Auburndale, Florida ) Bay Pines (SAL station) Belleview (SAL station) ( Belleview, Florida ) Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway Depot (Boca Grande) Clearwater station (Amtrak) Deerfield Beach Seaboard Air Line Railway Station Delray Beach Seaboard Air Line Railway Station Fort Lauderdale Seaboard Air Line Railway Station Fort Myers (SAL station) Old Gainesville Depot Hawthorne (SAL station) Hialeah Seaboard Air Line Railway Station Hollywood (SAL station) Homestead Seaboard Air Line Railway Station Inverness (SAL station) Largo (SAL station) Leesburg (SAL station) Live Oak Union Depot Naples Railroad Depot Ocala Union Station Okeechobee (Amtrak station) Opa-locka Seaboard Air Line Railway Station Orlando (SAL station) Plant City Union Depot Sarasota (SAL station) Old Sebring Seaboard Air Line Depot Seaboard Coast Line Railroad station (St. Petersburg, Florida) Tallahassee (Amtrak station) Union Station (Tampa, Florida) Venice Seaboard Air Line Depot Waldo (Amtrak station) West Lake Wales (SAL station) West Palm Beach (Tri-Rail station) Wildwood (Amtrak station) Williston (SAL station) Winter Haven (Amtrak station) Yulee (SAL station) Georgia [ edit ] Athens (SAL station) Terminal Station (Atlanta) Colbert (SAL station) Comer (SAL station) Elberton (SAL station) Emory (SAL station) Lawrenceville (SAL station) Plains (SAL station) Rockmart (SAL station) Union Station (Savannah) Tucker (SAL station) Winder (SAL station) North Carolina [ edit ] Apex (SAL station) Bladenboro (SAL station) Bostic (SAL station) Caroleen (SAL station) Charlotte (SAL station) Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot (Cherryville, North Carolina) , listed on
144-674: A Mediterranean Revival station there as well. Warfield died in October 1927 and was succeeded by Legh R. Powell, who had worked his way up on the financial side of the railroad. The railroad was in an unfortunate position due to being geographically sandwiched in the South between two well-to-do rivals, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) and the Southern Railway . In addition, Warfield's expansion down
216-564: A controlling interest in the steamship company in 1851, providing valuable northward connections from the docks at Norfolk for the railroad's passenger and freight business. Control passed to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad in 1901, but in 1922, with S. Davies Warfield as its president, the Old Bay Line became a wholly owned subsidiary of the SAL. In that same year, Warfield
288-599: A lease agreement, was formally consolidated within the Seaboard. In 1904, Seaboard subsidiary Atlanta and Birmingham Air Line Railway , purchased the previous year, completed construction and extended the Atlanta route to Birmingham, Alabama , the largest center of iron and steel production in the South, and a valuable endpoint for the Seaboard. Upon formation, the Seaboard inherited multiple repair shop sites from predecessor railroads, most of which were obsolete. A fire at
360-472: A line from Jacksonville via Tallahassee to a connection with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) at Chattahoochee, Florida , for through service to New Orleans ; a line to Atlanta, Georgia , and Birmingham, Alabama , connecting with the main line at Hamlet, North Carolina ; and a line from the main at Norlina, North Carolina , to Portsmouth, Virginia , the earliest route of what became
432-646: A line running east from Quincy, Florida , through Tallahassee to Lake City, where it connected with the FA&;GC. In 1868, the P&;G and the FA&GC were acquired by carpetbaggers , with the P&G being renamed the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad (JP&M), into which the FA&GC — now called the Florida Central Railroad — was consolidated in 1870. Meanwhile, in 1871,
504-689: A majority of shares in the Seaboard and Roanoke, which included controlling interests in each of the affiliated companies and subordinated railroads in the Seaboard Air Line system. Although a New York syndicate of various stockholders headed by Thomas Fortune Ryan bitterly opposed the deal, control of all of the railroad properties comprising the Seaboard system was formally transferred to the Williams syndicate in February 1899. Immediately, Williams and his financial backers sought to expand into
576-615: A marketing strategy, and all the railroads remained separate legal and operating entities. The Family Lines System and the Chessie System became subsidiaries of the newly created CSX Corporation on November 1, 1980, but continued to operate as separate railroads. The Family Lines name and logo were dropped when all of the Family Lines merged on December 29, 1982, to form the Seaboard System . On July 1, 1986,
648-596: A prosperous decade in the 1920s. In 1924, Warfield, now president and CEO of the railroad, began building a 204-mile extension, called the Florida Western and Northern Railroad , from the Seaboard mainline in Coleman, Florida south to West Palm Beach , which for almost thirty years had been the exclusive domain of the Florida East Coast Railway . Some 35 miles northwest of West Palm Beach,
720-666: A rail line, "...between Deep River, at or near the Coalfields, Moncure, NC in the county of Chatham, and the City of Raleigh or some point on the North Carolina Railroad." The project was riddled with delays and finally reorganized as the Raleigh & Augusta Air-Line in 1871. It eventually reached Hamlet in 1877 which in later years was a major SAL terminal point. With a route that now extended through North Carolina
792-494: A strategic move to reduce costs and counter the competition of airlines and trucking companies, merger with the parallel system of Seaboard's chief rival, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) was first proposed in 1958, but was not approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission until 1967. On July 1 of that year, SAL and ACL merged to form Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). The seeming redundancy of
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#1732798140976864-515: A twice-daily train from Portsmouth to Suffolk, Virginia , 17 miles away. By June 1837 the railroad was completed to Weldon, where a connection was made with the tracks of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad (later part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad ). In 1846, after suffering financial difficulties, the P&R was reorganized as the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad , known informally as
936-418: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad ( reporting mark SAL ), which styled itself as "The Route of Courteous Service", was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , its longtime rival, to form
1008-527: The Champion , while eliminating others. By 1972, Seaboard Coast Line and its corporate relatives Louisville and Nashville , Georgia Railroad , Atlanta and West Point Railroad , Western Railway of Alabama and Clinchfield Railroad began advertising themselves as the Family Lines System , and applying the Family Lines logo to their rolling stock . However, the Family Lines name was merely
1080-561: The Atlantic Coast Line 's tracks from Weldon to Richmond, and the tracks of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac from Richmond to Washington. Between 1898 and 1900, Seaboard affiliate Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina completed the laying of track from Norlina to Richmond, thereby providing an all-Seaboard route from Atlanta to Richmond. As important as the route to the major railroad hub of Atlanta was, access to Florida resorts and markets would be even more important to
1152-639: The Birmingham Terminal Station . At the station's opening in 1905 the military band of the 16th Infantry Regiment played "Down in Dixie" according to a report that appeared in the Atlanta Journal . On May 21, 1910, a statue of Samuel Spencer , who had served as the first president of Southern Railway, was dedicated at the station, where it would remain until the station's closing. In its 20th century heyday, Terminal Station
1224-612: The Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway , which ran from central Florida to Boca Grande , as well as the East and West Coast Railway between Arcadia and Manatee County . Warfield, however, was not content with what seemed to be a complete Seaboard system in Florida, and at the end of 1925, announced two new extensions, one from West Palm Beach to Miami and another from Arcadia to Fort Myers and Naples . Groundbreaking for
1296-600: The Florida Sunbeam, a wintertime train from Detroit and Cleveland to Florida. Following is a partial list of the many named passenger trains that Seaboard operated during the first half of the 20th century, some of which were continued by successors Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) and Amtrak . Trains originating in New York were handled by the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York to Washington; by
1368-570: The Panic of 1907 , the railroad went into receivership and Ryan was ousted. S. Davies Warfield , a Seaboard director and member of the railroad's executive committee, who had assisted Williams in forming the corporation, was appointed one of the receivers, and was subsequently named chairman. In 1912, Warfield — who was the uncle of the Baltimore-born Wallis Warfield Simpson, the future Duchess of Windsor – became
1440-469: The Portsmouth, Virginia shops in 1903 resulted in the plant being upgraded and modernized. To serve the southern section of the system, new shops were built on the west side of Jacksonville, Florida in 1907, which became the primary diesel shops after 1948. Rather than build any other heavy back shops, the Seaboard chose to equip several major roundhouse terminals to handle medium repairs in addition to
1512-490: The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Washington to Richmond; and by Seaboard from Richmond to points south. Prior to the completion of Seaboard's Cross-Florida extension from Coleman to West Palm Beach (1925) and on to Miami (1926), the Florida East Coast Railway handled SAL trains from Jacksonville to Miami. Thereafter, Seaboard split most major southbound trains at Wildwood , just north of Coleman , with one section going to Tampa and west coast points, and
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#17327981409761584-610: The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Washington to Richmond; and by the Seaboard from Richmond to Tampa, an arrangement that lasted until the creation of Amtrak in 1971. On July 1, 1900, the Seaboard formally assumed operation of the Georgia and Alabama, the FC&;P and the Atlantic, Suwannee River and Gulf railroads. In 1903, the FC&P, which had been controlled through stock ownership and operated separately under
1656-678: The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad . Predecessor railroads dated from the 1830s and reorganized extensively to rebuild after the American Civil War . The company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia , until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia . The Seaboard Air Line Railway Building in Norfolk's historic Freemason District still stands and has been converted into apartments. At
1728-599: The Seaboard Road . Meanwhile, the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad had begun construction on November 1, 1836, with the first scheduled service between its endpoints beginning on March 21, 1840. After the American Civil War , this was advertised as the Inland Air-Line Route . By 1853, the Raleigh and Gaston had connected with the Seaboard and Roanoke at Weldon, thus offering travelers through service on
1800-604: The South Bound Railroad , which ran north from Savannah to Columbia, South Carolina . Thus, when the FC&P finished construction in late 1893, it had 1,000 miles of rail and a new "air line" extending straight from a connection with the Richmond and Danville Railroad in South Carolina into Jacksonville, resulting in not only a saving of several hours of travel time, but also connecting New York and Tampa. This direct entrée into Florida did not escape
1872-430: The 176-mile route from Portsmouth to Raleigh. Both railroads were built to 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge , rather than the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge favored by most other railroads in the South; therefore, cars of both roads could run on the entire route, eliminating the need for travelers or freight to make a change of cars . The R&G takeover also gave
1944-608: The 1890s, the system prided itself on offering excellent passenger service between Atlanta and the northeast . A daily coach and Pullman train, the S.A.L. Express , ran from Atlanta to the Seaboard Road's depot and wharf at Portsmouth, where passengers could transfer to steamships for direct passage to Baltimore , Philadelphia and New York . The system's premier train, however, was the Atlanta Special , running in daily service between Atlanta and Washington, using
2016-801: The Atlantic, Gulf and West India and its subsidiaries and reorganized them as the Florida Transit Company. The following year, Reed acquired the JP&;M along with its subsidiary, the Florida Central, both of which he combined together as the Florida Central and Western Railroad . In 1883, Reed reorganized the Florida Transit Company as the Florida Transit and Peninsular Railroad. Then, in 1884, Reed brought both
2088-534: The Civil War, and tried to work with African American legislators to acquire (and rebuild) railroads further South. As it had before the Civil War, Virginia paid millions to get railroads rebuilt and commerce moving through its cities. Charges of corruption against Scott, and resentment against northern and black workers led to volatile situations in many areas. Eruptions of Ku Klux Klan violence centered on railroads through interior North and South Carolina. Together
2160-555: The Florida Central and Western and the Florida Transit and Peninsular under the umbrella of a single entity, the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, which instantly became the largest railroad in Florida. In 1886, the company was reorganized as the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P). In late 1892, the FC&P began construction of a new line running north from a junction near Jacksonville to Savannah, Georgia . The FC&P had that same year already leased
2232-620: The Florida Railroad was reorganized as the Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Company. Through two new subsidiaries, the Peninsular Railroad and the Tropical Florida Railroad, the Atlantic, Gulf and West India opened two new lines, one running to Ocala and Tampa from a junction with the main line at Waldo , and another running from Ocala to Wildwood . In 1881, Sir Edward Reed acquired
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2304-633: The Florida market. In 1860, the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad (FA&GC) completed construction of a line running west from Jacksonville, Florida , to Lake City, Florida . That same year, the Florida Railroad opened from Fernandina , just north of Jacksonville, southwest to Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast . In 1863, the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad (P&G) completed
2376-584: The Miami extension took place in Hialeah in January 1926, and by December 1926, the line was open for freight. From January 7 though January 9, 1927, Warfield took a large faction of dignitaries on a special run of the luxurious Orange Blossom Special , beginning at Arcadia and proceeding south to Naples, then doubling back over to the east coast and proceeding south from West Palm Beach to Miami . Warfield had
2448-2215: The NRHP in Gaston County, North Carolina Clarkton (SAL station) Colon (SAL station) Conway (SAL station) Creedmore (SAL station) Ellenboro (SAL station) Franklinton (SAL station) Gibson (SAL station) Gumberry (SAL station) Hamlet (SAL station) ( Hamlet, North Carolina ) Henderson (SAL station) Hoffman (SAL station) Kelford (SAL station) Latimore (SAL station) Lumberton (SAL station) Matthews (SAL station) Maxton (SAL station) Monroe (SAL station) Pendelton (SAL station) Polkton (SAL station) Union Station (Raleigh, North Carolina) Roanoke Rapids (SAL station) Rockingham (SAL station) Sanford (SAL station) Southern Pines (SAL station) Vaughan (SAL station) Wadesboro (SAL station) Waxhaw (SAL station) Weldon (SAL station) South Carolina [ edit ] Abbeville (SAL station) Calhoun (SAL station) Camden (SAL station) Charleston (SAL station) Cheraw (SAL station) Chester (SAL station) Clinton (SAL station) Columbia (SAL station) Darlington (SAL station) Denmark (SAL station) Elgin (SAL station) Estill (SAL station) Fairfax (SAL station) Florence (SAL station) Greenwood (SAL station) Jamestown (SAL station) Lamar (SAL station) Livingston (SAL station) Lugoff (SAL station) Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot in McBee North, South Carolina (SAL station) Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot in Patrick Prichard (SAL station) Sycamore (SAL station) Timmonsville (SAL station) Woodford (SAL station) Virginia [ edit ] Broad Street Station (Richmond) Richmond Main Street Station Seaboard Coastline Building (Portsmouth) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by
2520-480: The Northeast, Terminal Station was the gateway to the sunshine. The Atlanta Convention Bureau released a postcard in the 1920s that claimed that Terminal Station was served by 86 trains per day. The train shed that had originally been built alongside the head house was torn down in 1925. The Southern Railway built an office building next door to the station at 99 Spring Street that is still standing, although
2592-469: The P&R control of the Raleigh & Augusta Air-Line Railroad which the former road controlled. This was the first time "Air Line" appeared as part of a Seaboard predecessor. The R&AA-L began as the Chatham Railroad, chartered by the state on February 14, 1855 (from the 1877 booklet, "History Of The Raleigh & August Air-Line Railroad" compiled by Walter Clark, Attorney At Law) to build
2664-489: The R&;G, P&R, and R&AA-L formed the backbone of the future Seaboard Air Line. Moncure Robinson's son John M. Robinson acquired financial control of the trio in 1875. As a marketing tactic they were collectively known as the "Seaboard Air-Line System." The name initially had no legal authority, although that changed as Robinson continued to extend southward. The first known official use of "Seaboard Air Line" appeared when
2736-706: The Seaboard Inland Air Line to connect Georgia and South Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia (in the Hampton Roads area across from Norfolk, Virginia ). They worked with Confederate general turned Republican political boss William Mahone to work against the conglomeration of railroads reorganized by Thomas A. Scott, who had moved up the ranks of the Pennsylvania Railroad, took control of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad after
2808-645: The Seaboard System's name was changed to CSX Transportation. Subsequently, the Chessie System was merged into CSX Transportation on August 31, 1987. The "Old Bay Line," as the Baltimore Steam Packet Company was commonly known, operated steamships between Norfolk, Virginia , and Baltimore, Maryland , carrying mail and freight as well as passengers and vehicles on the overnight run. The Seaboard and Roanoke acquired
2880-573: The Seaboard and Roanoke, the Raleigh and Gaston, and others were operating as a coordinated system under the Seaboard Air-Line System name for marketing purposes, combining the nicknames of the two principal roads. In 1889, the Seaboard leased the still-unfinished Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railway , providing a link from Monroe, North Carolina , (on the Seaboard line to Charlotte, North Carolina , acquired in 1881) to Atlanta, Georgia , (completed in 1892). During its heyday in
2952-592: The Seaboard. In the first half of the 20th century, Seaboard, along with its main competitors Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , Florida East Coast Railway and Southern Railway , contributed greatly to the economic development of the Southeastern United States , and particularly to that of Florida . Its trains brought vacationers to Florida from the Northeast and carried southern timber, minerals and produce, especially Florida citrus crops, to
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3024-556: The Southern eventually moved their local offices to another building in Atlanta. On 17 May 1938 a five-story Terminal Hotel, that had been built across the street from Terminal Station, burned in a disaster that claimed 27 lives. The station head house was renovated in 1947 just after World War II . After Terminal Station closed in June 1970, Southern continued to operate its Southern Crescent and Piedmont passenger trains using
3096-629: The West Palm Beach architectural firm of Harvey & Clarke, led by Gustav Maass , design a series of now historic Mediterranean Revival stations in West Palm Beach , Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach , Deerfield Beach , Fort Lauderdale , Hollywood , and Hialeah , as well as in Naples and Fort Myers. In April 1927, Warfield completed a push of the Miami extension even further south to Homestead , and had his architects erect
3168-442: The days before air travel, air line was a common term for the shortest distance between two points: a straight line drawn through the air (or on a map), ignoring natural obstacles (i.e., " as the crow flies "). Hence, a number of 19th-century railroads used air line in their titles to suggest that their routes were shorter than those of competing roads: see list at Air-line railroad . The Seaboard never owned an airplane. In 1940
3240-434: The deficit of the whole railroad had been in the Depression year of 1933. In May 1945, all of the Seaboard properties were sold under foreclosure at an auction sale to bondholders for $ 52 million. In 1946, the railroad was reorganized as the Seaboard Air Line Railroad . Quick to recognize the cost savings of diesel power over steam in the postwar period, the Seaboard dieselized all of its mainline trains by 1953. In
3312-518: The end of 1925 SAL operated 3,929 miles of road, not including its flock of subsidiaries; at the end of 1960 it reported 4,135 miles. The main line ran from Richmond via Raleigh, North Carolina , Columbia, South Carolina , and Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida , a major interchange point for passenger trains bringing travelers to the Sunshine State. From Jacksonville, Seaboard rails continued to Tampa , St. Petersburg , West Palm Beach and Miami . Other important Seaboard routes included
3384-443: The extension ran through Indiantown , which Warfield planned to make the new southern headquarters of the Seaboard. The extension was constructed in record time, and opened in January 1925. Later in 1925, Warfield constructed the Gross-Callahan Cutoff , which allowed time-sensitive trains to bypass congested Jacksonville, and built the Valrico Cutoff , which provided a direct route from Tampa to West Palm Beach. Warfield also leased
3456-403: The extension. By aggressive marketing and technological innovations that drew travelers to the line, such as the highly popular Silver Meteor streamliner, introduced in 1939, Seaboard managed to regain its financial footing. The economic boom of World War II also helped replenish the railroad's coffers. In 1944, the Silver Meteor alone turned a profit of over $ 8 million, nearly as much as
3528-401: The federal government's Reconstruction Finance Corporation , the railroad set about modernizing its equipment with new steam freight locomotives and new and rebuilt passenger cars. In 1942, to cut expenses, the SAL abandoned a 27-mile section of its then only 15-year-old Fort Myers-Naples extension between South Fort Myers and Naples, along with sections of two other little-used branch lines from
3600-405: The majority stock owner of the Seaboard. By 1915, the railroad had recovered. However, along with most other U.S. railroads, the Seaboard was nationalized during the railroad crisis brought on by World War I and was run by the United States Railroad Administration from December 28, 1917, to March 1, 1920. With an influx of tourists traveling to rapidly developing Florida, the Seaboard enjoyed
3672-463: The much smaller Peachtree Station , commonly known as Brookwood Station and built as a suburban station, as their only stop in Atlanta. The only other passenger train remaining at that time that had been using Terminal Station, the Nancy Hanks, used a makeshift ticket office and waiting room in the Southern office building next door. Terminal Station was razed in 1972, and the Richard B. Russell Federal Building , built in 1979, currently occupies
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#17327981409763744-416: The name stems from combining the most common short forms of the two railroads' names: the public and the railroads themselves for many years had referred to SAL as "Seaboard" and ACL as "Coast Line." On May 1, 1971, SCL turned over all its passenger operations to the newly formed Amtrak , which continued to operate the profitable Silver Meteor and Silver Star alongside a former Coast Line streamliner,
3816-465: The northern states. The complex corporate history of the Seaboard began on March 8, 1832, when its earliest predecessor, the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad was chartered by the legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina to build a railroad from Portsmouth, Virginia , to the Roanoke River port of Weldon, North Carolina . After a couple of months of horse-drawn operation, the first locomotive-pulled service on this line began on September 4, 1834, with
3888-422: The notice of John Skelton Williams and his financial backers. In April 1899, only two months after assuming formal control of the various railroads in the Seaboard system, the Williams syndicate purchased a majority stock interest in the FC&P for $ 3.5 million. On April 14, 1900, the Seaboard Air Line Railway was incorporated, comprising 19 railroads in which it owned all or most of the capital stock. Williams
3960-529: The other going to Miami. Northbound, the process was reversed, with west and east coast sections joining at Wildwood to continue their journey. The term heavyweight refers to trains consisting of passenger cars with all-steel construction, considered a great improvement in safety over the all-wooden or wood-and-steel cars of the 19th century. By 1910, nearly all major railroads were replacing their wooden passenger fleets with cars of heavyweight construction. Terminal Station (Atlanta) Terminal Station
4032-471: The railroad proposed the creation of "Seaboard Airlines," but this idea was struck down by the Interstate Commerce Commission as violating federal anti-trust legislation . During a spate of interest in aviation shares on Wall Street following Charles A. Lindbergh 's trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, Seaboard Air Line shares actually attracted some investor curiosity because of the name's aviation-related connotations; only after noticing that Seaboard Air Line
4104-418: The railroad's success in years to come. In the last two decades of the 19th century, the pieces of the route to Florida began to fall into place. Between 1885 and 1887, the Palmetto Railroad , later reorganized as the Palmetto Railway , had built southward from Hamlet, North Carolina, on the Seaboard main line , to Cheraw, South Carolina . In 1895, the Seaboard took control of the Palmetto Railway and extended
4176-566: The same decade, the railroad installed CTC signaling across most of its system, generating further savings of time and money, as well as improved safety. However, like all American railroads, Seaboard saw a decline in revenues, especially in passenger traffic, from the 1950s into the 1960s, in the face of growing competition from airlines, trucking companies and the Interstate Highway System . In 1960 SAL reported 9910 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 484 million passenger-miles, not including Gainesville Midland and Tavares & Gulf. As
4248-483: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seaboard_Air_Line_Depot&oldid=1189042099 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Incomplete lists from September 2008 Short description
4320-401: The system was pushing towards Atlanta. It had already acquired the Georgia, Carolina & Northern Railway which intended to reach that city from Monroe, North Carolina. Construction began in 1887 and was completed as far as Inman Park, east of Atlanta, by 1892. However, an ordinance prevented it from reaching the city directly. To circumvent this issue the Seaboard Air Line Belt Railroad (SALB)
4392-413: The three roads offered a competitive network serving several important cities. The South was also blossoming into an industrial giant in the area of cotton, agriculture/farming, textiles, and manufacturing. The American Civil War devastated railroads, particularly in former Confederate territories including Virginia and North Carolina. After the war, Moncure Robinson and Alexander Boyd Andrews organized
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#17327981409764464-399: The tracks to Columbia . Also in 1895, the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway , a Savannah-to-Montgomery route, was bought by a syndicate that included the Richmond bankers John L. Williams and Sons. John Skelton Williams , a son of John L. Williams, became president of the line, renaming it the Georgia and Alabama Railway . In January 1899, the Williams syndicate offered to purchase
4536-413: The usual "running" repairs on locomotives. Unfortunately, the new 2,600-mile railroad did not prosper as expected in its early years. Thomas Fortune Ryan, who had opposed the Williams syndicate when it purchased the controlling interests in the various Seaboard companies, succeeded in assuming control of the railroad in 1904. Ryan's policies, however, proved disastrous for the Seaboard's finances. Following
4608-532: The war, with the efficiently managed Seaboard Road showing a profit even during the Panic of 1873 , and paying stockholders an annual dividend of 8 percent for many years. In 1871, the Raleigh and Gaston acquired the Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line Railroad, which, however, reached only to Hamlet, North Carolina . When the R&G and its subsidiary fell into financial straits in 1873, the Seaboard's president, John M. Robinson, acquired financial control of them, becoming president of all three railroads in 1875. By 1881,
4680-436: The west coast of Florida was seen as an unnecessary extravagance due to the presence of the ACL in the same area. In December 1930, the Seaboard again entered bankruptcy following the collapse of the Florida land boom and the onset of the Great Depression . The United States District Court in Norfolk, Virginia—which would oversee the railroad for the next 14½ years—appointed Powell as a receiver . With loans obtained from
4752-437: The western part of the upper South and the Midwest. For example, the Southern's timetables listed SAL routes for train destinations south of Jacksonville Union Station , the gateway hub for trains from the Midwest and the Northeast to Florida destinations, examples being the Southern's Kansas City-Florida Special , Ponce de Leon and Royal Palm . Additionally, the Southern and the SAL railroads pooled their operations for
4824-425: Was actually a railroad did investors lose interest. The railroads' prosperous operations of the 1850s, hauling passengers as well as valuable cargos of cotton, tobacco and produce from the Piedmont to the tidewater port of Portsmouth , were interrupted by the Civil War , during which bridges and tracks of both railroads were destroyed at various times by Union or Confederate troops. Prosperity returned after
4896-439: Was chartered in 1892 to build an 8-mile branch and a connection with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis at Howells. From there the SALB utilized trackage rights over the Dixie Line to reach the downtown area. Just prior to this event Robinson would link Rutherfordton and Wilmington, North Carolina via Charlotte and Hamlet by acquiring the Carolina Central Railroad in 1883. Rail service between these cities opened in 1887. In
4968-403: Was named president of the Seaboard as well. In 1941, the Chesapeake Steamship Company, jointly owned by the Atlantic Coast Line and the Southern , was merged into the Old Bay Line. Due to the decline of business with the rise of interstate highways and air travel, the steamship company was liquidated in 1962. The SAL had a cooperative relationship with the Southern Railway for traffic to
5040-448: Was the first president of the new corporation, which advertised its north–south route as the "Florida-West India Short Line." James H. Dooley , veteran of several rail mergers in the South, helped organize the SAL and served as chairman of SAL's executive council. On June 3, 1900, through service from New York to Tampa, Florida , was inaugurated, with trains operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York to Washington, D.C. ; by
5112-432: Was the larger of two principal train stations in downtown Atlanta , Union Station being the other. Opening in 1905, Terminal Station served Southern Railway , Seaboard Air Line , Central of Georgia (including the Nancy Hanks to Savannah ), and the Atlanta and West Point . The architect was P. Thornton Marye , whose firm also designed the Fox Theater and Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta, as well as
5184-511: Was used by such well-known trains of the time as the Crescent , Man o' War , Nancy Hanks , Ponce de Leon , and Silver Comet . A veritable rail-travel crossroads of the American south-east, it was a critical railroad link between the warm climate of Florida and the Gulf Coast , and the rather colder, more densely populated states of the north-east and mid-west. For many residents of
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