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104-545: The Seaboard–All Florida Railway was a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that oversaw two major extensions of the system in the early 1920s to southern Florida on each coast during the land boom . One line extended the Seaboard's tracks on the east coast from West Palm Beach down to Fort Lauderdale and Miami (and later, Homestead ), while the other extension on the west coast extended

208-674: 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

312-535: A branch track was also built south over the Miami Canal , where Seaboard built a freight yard and maintenance shops. The branch crossed the canal on a bascule drawbridge and then turned west at a wye where it entered the yard. By the end of 1927, the line was extended one last time from the yard southwest to Homestead . Passenger service ran on the Homestead Subdivision up until 1929, when it

416-564: 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

520-616: A junction that would be named Iris Interlocking. South of Hialeah, the line turned southeast along the Miami Canal toward downtown Miami. A passenger depot serving Miami was built at 2206 NW 7th Ave in the Allapattah neighborhood. Track would continue beyond the passenger depot south and east into downtown. It crossed the FEC's main line near NW 11th Street and connected with the Miami Municipal Railway, which continued

624-543: 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

728-472: 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

832-646: 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,

936-689: 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

1040-615: 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,

1144-596: 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,

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1248-666: 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

1352-494: 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

1456-515: 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

1560-675: Is now an antique shop. The Biggar freight depot, which was located on the southeast corner of Summerlin Road and Gladiolus Drive in later years, operated as a produce stand named Nancy's Produce until 2006. It was subsequently demolished to make room for the construction of overpasses at that intersection. West Coast Main Line (Fort Myers Subdivision) LaBelle Subdivision Punta Rassa Subdivision Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad ( reporting mark SAL ), which styled itself as "The Route of Courteous Service",

1664-451: Is still standing. There have been proposals in the past to extend Tri-Rail commuter service down the line to Homestead but the idea has yet to make it past the proposal stage. As of 2023, efforts are once again underway to extend Tri-Rail to Homestead. East Coast Main Line (Miami Subdivision) Homestead Subdivision The Seaboard All-Florida Railway's west coast route began at Hull (just northeast of Fort Ogden). It branched off of

1768-527: 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

1872-561: 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

1976-498: The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , who already served the lower east and west coasts of Florida respectively. Today, only the east coast route survives and is now the state-owned South Florida Rail Corridor (which notably hosts Tri-Rail and Amtrak service for South Florida) and the Homestead Subdivision, which is still owned by CSX Transportation . The west coast route was removed in 1952. The Seaboard–All Florida Railway's west coast route commenced operation on January 7, 1927, and

2080-606: The CSX Corporation . The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation . In 1983, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) was looking to start temporary commuter rail service between West Palm Beach and Miami while construction crews widened Interstate 95 and Florida's Turnpike . The state's original plan

2184-688: The Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway which Seaboard acquired in 1926. From Hull, it ran directly south in a nearly straight trajectory to Fort Myers. It crossed the Atlantic Coast Line's Lakeland—Fort Myers Line twice en route to Fort Myers: once in Fort Ogden and once at Gilchrist (just northeast of North Fort Myers). The line connected with a logging railroad operated by the Dowling and Camp Lumber Company near Slater. As

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2288-546: 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

2392-600: 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

2496-587: The Florida Western and Northern Railroad , another Seaboard Air Line subsidiary. The Seaboard-All Florida Railway was organized to extend this line south from West Palm Beach to Miami. When service on the line began, the Seaboard–All Florida Railway from West Palm Beach to Miami (along with track north of West Palm Beach to Coleman) was designated as the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's Miami Subdivision on employee timetables and

2600-570: 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

2704-469: 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

2808-490: 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

2912-610: 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

3016-667: 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

3120-604: 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

3224-430: 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

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3328-608: 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

3432-492: The 1970s, Interstate 95 was built through South Florida, which was mostly built beside the Seaboard tracks between West Palm Beach and Golden Glades . Interstate 595 was completed in 1991 and the line was realigned slightly at the former Port Everglades Junction to accommodate the interchange between I-95 and I-595 . In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System , creating

3536-484: The Atlantic Coast Line's Miami trains. By then, merger talks were underway between the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line. The merger would be complete by 1967 and the new combined company would be named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad . In 1971, all of the Seaboard Coast Line's intercity passenger service was taken over by Amtrak who still operate to Miami on the line today. In

3640-801: 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

3744-534: 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

3848-543: The Dade County Port Authority paid $ 3 million to relocate Seaboard's Hialeah yard to its current location north of Iris Interlocking and reroute the Homestead Subdivision to its current alignment between LeJeune Road and Oleander Junction along the Tamiami Canal and the south side of the airport. In 1958, two large cement plants were built just west of Miami and the Seaboard built spurs from

3952-555: 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

4056-620: 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

4160-633: 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

4264-591: The Fort Myers freight depot and ran just south of Michigan Avenue before turning northeast and continuing just south of and parallel to State Road 80 . It terminated in downtown LaBelle at a depot at Main Street and Seminole Avenue. In the 1940s, a seven-mile spur was built from the LaBelle branch southeast to Buckingham Army Airfield . The 8-mile Punta Rassa branch departed the main line just south of Fort Myers near

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4368-697: The Homestead Subdivision parallels the Don Shula Expressway today. The Lehigh Spur and GPC Spur are also still in service. The GPC Spur still serves the Cemex facility (GPC's former facility) in western Miami-Dade County as well as a Conrad Yelvington plant. The southern half of the line only sees sporadic freight service, and the southernmost 12 miles of the line (south of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum ) has been out of service since March 2019. The Seaboard's Homestead depot

4472-613: The Homestead Subdivision to serve both plants. One spur was built from Oleander Junction west through Doral and Sweetwater to serve the plant built by the Lehigh Portland Cement Company. The other spur ran from Sterling to the plant built by the General Portland Cement Company (GPC) located at Krome Avenue and Kendall Drive . By 1964, Miami's original port was largely replaced by PortMiami on Dodge Island . Tracks east of

4576-584: 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

4680-469: 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

4784-403: The Port Everglades Belt Line Railroad connected the Seaboard line with Port Everglades , which opened in 1928. The Port Everglades Belt Line ran east to the port along the current route of Interstate 595 . South of Hollywood, the line turned southwest through Opa-locka before turning back south through Hialeah . It crossed the Florida East Coast Railway 's Little River Branch in Hialeah at

4888-437: 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

4992-485: The Reilly Brothers Construction company but the building was demolished in August 2020. The Fort Myers freight depot and yard on Michigan Avenue most recently housed Gully's Discount Store Fixtures but it was demolished in early 2023. An apartment complex named "Seaboard Waterside Apartments" is planned to be built on the site of the former freight yard. Along the former Punta Rassa Branch, the former San Carlos freight building (on Pine Ridge Road near San Carlos Boulevard )

5096-435: 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

5200-432: 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

5304-497: 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

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5408-457: 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

5512-412: The Six Mile Cypress Slough. Despite its name, the branch never fully reached Punta Rassa, where President Warfield had also hoped to establish a deep-water port. It actually terminated in Truckland near Iona , just two miles short of Punta Rassa. The branch ran from the main route west along the current route of Six Mile Cypress Parkway , through the center of today's Lakes Park (south of and parallel to

5616-448: 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

5720-442: 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

5824-434: 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

5928-413: The east coast route began service the following day. On each opening day, President S. Davies Warfield rode aboard a special section of the Seaboard's Orange Blossom Special with a number of special guests and dignitaries including Florida Governor John W. Martin . Dorothy Walker Bush , mother of U.S. President George H. W. Bush was also aboard the first train to Miami. The train stopped at points along

6032-415: The east coast route, the west coast route was not as successful and would exist for less than thirty years. The Seaboard Air Line went bankrupt in 1930 after the collapse of the land boom and in 1931, service to Fort Myers and Naples was reduced to a mixed train that operated three days a week. In 1933, only six years after the line opened, passenger service was discontinued entirely on the West Coast. By 1942,

6136-518: 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

6240-460: The end of the wye south of the Miami Canal in 1998. This was the first passenger service south of the Miami Canal since passenger service was discontinued on the Homestead Subdivision in 1929. FDOT completed double-tracking the line from West Palm Beach to Hialeah in 2006. Amtrak continues to operate the Silver Meteor and Silver Star service from New York City to Miami over the line, both of which are former Seaboard passenger services. Today,

6344-443: 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

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6448-479: The extension to Homestead was designated as the Homestead Subdivision . Upon its completion in January 1927, track ran from West Palm Beach south along a route largely paralleling the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), which existed a few miles closer to the coast. The Seaboard line ran just to the west of the central areas of Boynton , Delray , Boca Raton , Deerfield , Fort Lauderdale , and Hollywood . At Port Everglades Junction just south of Fort Lauderdale,

6552-403: 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

6656-401: 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

6760-420: The former right of way is now an unpaved trail called "Seaboard Grade" through the Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area in southeastern Charlotte County. The foundation of one of the railroad's water towers still stands along Seaboard Grade just north of Tucker's Grade. In Fort Myers, Seaboard Street and Palm Avenue run along the former right of way. The John Yarbrough Linear Park runs close to

6864-420: The line a short distance to the city docks at Miami's original port (located at the site of Museum Park ). The Seaboard Air Line ran a number of intercity passenger services to Miami on the line including the Orange Blossom Special , Silver Meteor , Silver Star , the Sunland , the Palmland , and the Cross State Limited . At Hialeah Junction (located less than a mile south of the Hialeah station ),

6968-406: The line and branches were complete, the Seaboard Air Line designated them as the Fort Myers Subdivision , LaBelle Subdivision , and Punta Rassa Subdivision . After opening, the Seaboard's Orange Blossom Special and West Coast Limited provided daily passenger service down the west coast. Mixed train service (both passenger cars and freight combined) was offered from Fort Myers to LaBelle. Unlike

7072-435: The line approached Fort Myers, it crossed the Caloosahatchee River on a long drawbridge just downstream of the original Tamiami Trail Bridge. The pier at Riverside Park in East Fort Myers is located where the bridge crossed the river. In Fort Myers, the passenger depot was located just south of the river at the intersection of Palm Beach Boulevard and East Riverside Drive. Henry Ford , a seasonal Fort Myers resident, used

7176-433: The line has been officially known as the South Florida Rail Corridor. Tri-Rail service began on the South Florida Rail Corridor in January 1989. While initially intended to be temporary, it eventually became a permanent service. CSX continued to maintain and provide dispatching for the line up until 2015, when FDOT took over those responsibilities. Tri-Rail extended service south to a new station at Miami Airport located at

7280-435: The line was abandoned south of Punta Rassa Junction (located at present-day Six Mile Cypress Parkway 's crossing of the Ten Mile Canal in South Fort Myers). The southernmost seven miles of the right of way from Vanderbilt to downtown Naples and the Naples depot ended up being sold to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad . The Atlantic Coast Line subsequently abandoned their branch to Marco Island south of Vanderbilt and extended

7384-445: The line's former right of way next to the Ten Mile Canal south of Fort Myers. A FPL transmission line runs on most of the former route from Mullock Creek to Vanderbilt Beach, and Goodlette-Frank Road still run the rest of the right of way from there to downtown Naples. Today, the Naples passenger depot on Fifth Avenue South is still standing and it is now the Naples Depot Museum . The Fort Myers passenger depot most recently housed

7488-399: The lines for public ovation with nearly 20,000 people attending. The two-day celebration is considered to be one of the largest public relations events in the history of American railroads. The Seaboard Air Line Railroad began serving West Palm Beach in January 1925. Seaboard's line to West Palm Beach, which originated at their main line in Coleman (just south of Wildwood ), was built by

7592-499: 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

7696-416: 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,

7800-527: 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

7904-500: 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

8008-454: The original 1920s Seaboard stations are used by Amtrak and Tri-Rail for service at West Palm Beach , Deerfield Beach , Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood . Though no longer in use, the Seaboard stations at Delray Beach , Opa-locka , and Hialeah are still standing. Hialeah yard is still used by CSX, and it also contains a car maintenance facility and locomotive shop for both Amtrak and Tri-Rail. Amtrak's current Miami station , which replaced

8112-642: The original Seaboard Miami depot in Allapattah in 1978, is located at the south end of the yard. CSX continues to have freight trackage rights on the South Florida Rail Corridor. The original southern end of the line from Hialeah Junction to Downtown Miami is still used by CSX and is now the Downtown Lead. CSX still owns the Homestead Subdivision, which is the southernmost trackage of the entire CSX network. The northern half of

8216-668: 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. Miami Canal 25°55′01″N 80°24′31″W  /  25.91694°N 80.40861°W  / 25.91694; -80.40861 This Miami-Dade County, Florida location article

8320-624: The other side of the canal. At Mullock Creek, another subsidiary, the Naples, Seaboard, and Gulf Railway , continued the line the rest of the way to Naples. From the creek, it headed southeast through Estero (just west of the Koreshan Unity Settlement ) to Bonita Springs. In Bonita Springs, it turned south again before crossing the Imperial River . A passenger depot existed on the south side of Bonita Beach Road (near

8424-539: The park's scenic boardwalk), then southwest along the current routes of Summerlin Road and Pine Ridge Road before turning back north slightly to its terminus at McGregor Boulevard in Truckland. The Punta Rassa branch ended up mostly serving agricultural land and gladiolus fields near Biggar. Power transmission line easements run on some of the former right of way of both the Labelle and Punta Rassa Branches. When

8528-471: 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

8632-618: 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

8736-569: The remaining line down the former Seaboard right of way to the passenger depot. This segment would remain in freight service until 1979. The rest of the west coast SAL route was abandoned and removed by 1952. The Atlantic Coast Line later reconstructed the first mile and a half of the Punta Rassa branch from their main line in the 1960s to briefly serve a rock mine just east of the Tamiami Trail ( US 41 ) (site of Lakes Park). Some of

8840-644: 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

8944-520: The site of First Presbyterian Church). The line then joined the current route of Goodlette-Frank Road near Vanderbilt Beach and headed into downtown Naples, terminating at the Naples passenger depot on Fifth Avenue South. President Warfield had hoped to build a deep-water port in Naples, which was never built. In addition to the main route, two branches existed from Fort Myers to LaBelle and Punta Rassa. The thirty-mile LaBelle branch began just south of

9048-431: The south and Pan American Field (later known as the 36th Street Airport) to the north. In 1949, the Dade County Port Authority merged the two air fields and was officially named Miami International Airport. The railroad still ran through the middle of the airport after the fields were merged. The tracks even crossed a runway and taxiway at grade and trains needed clearance from air traffic control to cross them. In 1951,

9152-533: The station to reach his winter home (the Edison and Ford Winter Estates ) on McGregor Boulevard . Just south of the passenger depot, a separate freight depot was built along Michigan Avenue. From there, the line continued south out of the city along Palm Avenue and the west side of the Ten Mile Canal, closely paralleling the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (which is operated today by Seminole Gulf Railway ) on

9256-645: The station to the original port would eventually be removed. In 1963, the line began hosting the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 's Miami-bound passenger trains. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was the Seaboard Air Line's main competitor in Central Florida and the West Coast of the state. This arrangement was quickly made due to the abrupt discontinuation of passenger service on the Florida East Coast Railway, who previously handled

9360-488: 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)

9464-413: 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

9568-417: The tracks from Fort Ogden south to Fort Myers and Naples , with branches from Fort Myers to LaBelle and Punta Rassa . These two extensions were heavily championed by Seaboard president S. Davies Warfield (who died months after its completion), and were constructed by Foley Brothers railroad contractors. Both extensions also allowed the Seaboard to better compete with the Florida East Coast Railway and

9672-564: 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

9776-413: 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

9880-584: 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,

9984-606: 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

10088-605: 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

10192-536: 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

10296-638: 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 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

10400-685: 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

10504-408: Was downgraded to a freight-only line. The original Hialeah yard and the Homestead Subdivision from the yard to Oleander originally ran though the middle of what is now Miami International Airport . The yard was located at the east end of the current Runway 8R/26L at the time. Prior to 1949, the airport was actually two separate air fields on either side of the tracks, with Miami Army Airfield to

10608-608: 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

10712-448: 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

10816-461: Was to use the more urban Florida East Coast Railway for the service, but FEC declined to grant access to its line as they wanted freight to be their top priority. CSX on the other hand was going through a corporate restructuring in 1985 and was seeking to sell or abandon some of its lines. CSX sold the line from West Palm Beach to Miami Airport in May 1988 to FDOT for $ 264 million. Since the sale to FDOT,

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