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Seaboard Air Line Railroad
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==History== ===Early 19th century=== 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 a twice-daily train from Portsmouth to [[Suffolk, Virginia]], 17 miles away.{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} 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 the '''Seaboard Road'''.{{citation needed|date = December 2015}} 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 the 176-mile route from Portsmouth to Raleigh.{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} Both railroads were built to {{Track gauge|56.5in|allk=on}}, rather than the {{Track gauge|5ft|lk=on}} 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 [[break of gauge|change of cars]].{{citation needed|date = December 2015}} The R&G takeover also gave 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 a rail line, "...between Deep River, at or near the Coalfields, [[Moncure, North Carolina|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 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. ===Civil War and Reconstruction=== 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 the Seaboard Inland Air Line to connect Georgia and South Carolina to [[Portsmouth, Virginia]] (in the Hampton Roads area across from [[Norfolk, Virginia]]).<ref>Richard White, The Republic for which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 1865–1896 (Oxford University Press 2017) pp. 225–226</ref> 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 (1868–1878)|Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad]] after 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.<ref>White p. 226</ref> Together 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 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) 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. ====The ''air line'' name==== {{Further|Air-line railroad}} [[Image:Seaboard straight as a plumb line ad.jpg|thumb|300px|right|"Straight as a [[plumb line]]": Seaboard Air Line Railway advertisement illustrating the "quickest train service via the shortest route" to Florida, 1902.]] In 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 the railroad proposed the creation of "Seaboard Airlines," but this idea was struck down by the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] as violating federal [[United States antitrust law|anti-trust legislation]].{{citation needed|date = December 2015}} 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 was actually a railroad did investors lose interest.<ref name='Ross 1968'>{{cite book | last = Ross | first = Walter S. | title = The Last Hero: Charles A. Lindbergh | publisher = Harper & Row | year = 1968 | location = New York | pages = 170–171 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qwKOfZPn9IYC&q=%22seaboard+air+line%22+stock+lindbergh&pg=PA171 | isbn = 9781419138119}}</ref> ===Late 19th century=== The railroads' prosperous operations of the 1850s, hauling passengers as well as valuable cargos of cotton, tobacco and produce from the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] to the tidewater port of [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]], were interrupted by the [[Civil War (U.S.)|Civil War]], during which bridges and tracks of both railroads were destroyed at various times by [[Union army|Union]] or [[Confederate army|Confederate]] troops. Prosperity returned after 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.{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} 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. [[Image:1896 SAL.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Map of the Seaboard Air-Line System in 1896, showing connecting routes prior to the 1900 amalgamation into a single corporation.]] ====The Seaboard Air-Line System==== By 1881, 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.<ref name="Railroad1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.trains.com/ctr/default.aspx?c=a&id=61 |title=Classic Trains Magazine – Railroading History, Train Travel, Steam Locomotives – Fallen Flags: P-S<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-date=2008-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422194115/http://www.trains.com/ctr/default.aspx?c=a&id=61 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 the 1890s, the system prided itself on offering excellent passenger service between [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]] and the [[Northeastern United States|northeast]]. A daily coach and [[Pullman (car or coach)|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, Maryland|Baltimore]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] and [[New York, New York|New York]]. The system's premier train, however, was the ''Atlanta Special'', running in daily service between Atlanta and Washington, using the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad|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 Railroad|Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina]] completed the laying of track from Norlina to Richmond, thereby providing an all-Seaboard route from Atlanta to Richmond. [[Image:SAL depot Hamlet ca 1915.jpg|thumb|350px|left|Seaboard depot and hotel, about 1915, at the important junction of [[Hamlet, North Carolina]], where two main SAL routes crossed.]] 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 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 (Seaboard Air Line Railroad)|main line]], to [[Cheraw, South Carolina]]. In 1895, the Seaboard took control of the Palmetto Railway and extended the tracks to [[Columbia, South Carolina|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 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.<ref name="nyt1">{{cite news |title=The Seaboard Air Line Deal |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/01/06/102497279.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=January 6, 1899 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref name="nyt2">{{cite news |title=Seaboard Air Line Transfer |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/02/07/102409194.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=February 7, 1899 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref> Immediately, Williams and his financial backers sought to expand into the Florida market. ====Seaboard predecessors in Florida==== 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]].<ref name="Turner 2008">Turner, Gregg M. (2008) A Journey into Florida Railroad History. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. {{ISBN|978-0-8130-3233-7}}</ref> That same year, the [[Florida Railroad]] opened from [[Fernandina Beach, Florida|Fernandina]], just north of Jacksonville, southwest to [[Cedar Key, Florida|Cedar Key]] on the [[Gulf Coast]]. In 1863, the [[Pensacola and Georgia Railroad]] (P&G) completed a line running east from [[Quincy, Florida]], through [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] to Lake City, where it connected with the FA&GC.<ref name="Turner 2008" /> In 1868, the P&G and the FA&GC were acquired by [[carpetbagger]]s, 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 (1868-1882)|Florida Central Railroad]] — was consolidated in 1870.<ref name="Turner 2008" /> Meanwhile, in 1871, the Florida Railroad was reorganized as the Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Company.<ref name="Turner 2008" /> 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, Florida|Ocala]] and [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] from a junction with the main line at [[Waldo, Florida|Waldo]], and another running from Ocala to [[Wildwood, Florida|Wildwood]].<ref name="Turner 2008" /> In 1881, [[Edward Reed (naval architect)|Sir Edward Reed]] acquired the Atlantic, Gulf and West India and its subsidiaries and reorganized them as the Florida Transit Company.<ref name="Turner 2008" /> 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]].<ref name="Turner 2008" /> In 1883, Reed reorganized the Florida Transit Company as the Florida Transit and Peninsular Railroad.<ref name="Turner 2008" /> Then, in 1884, Reed brought both 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).<ref name="Turner 2008" /> In late 1892, the FC&P began construction of a new line running north from a junction near Jacksonville to [[Savannah, Georgia]].<ref name="nytfcp1">{{cite news |title=New Railroad in Florida |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/12/13/106089868.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=December 13, 1892 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref> The FC&P had that same year already leased the [[South Bound Railroad]], which ran north from Savannah to [[Columbia, South Carolina]].<ref name="nytfcp1" /> 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.<ref name="nytfcp1" /><ref name="nytfcp2">{{cite news |title=Florida Central and Peninsular |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/12/22/109715659.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=December 21, 1893 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref><ref name="nytfcp3">{{cite news |title=Shorter Line to Florida |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/12/24/109716058.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=December 24, 1893 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref> This direct entrée into Florida did not escape 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.<ref name="nytfcp4">{{cite news |title=News of the Railroads: Sale of the Florida Central |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/04/23/120264975.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=April 23, 1899 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref> ===Early 20th century=== [[Image:SAL logos 1900-1916.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Two early logos used in advertising by the Seaboard, from about 1900 and 1916, respectively. These foreshadow the design of the famous "Through the heart of the South" logo, displayed at the top of this article.]] [[Image:Seaboard Air Line RW 1926.jpg|thumb|Preferred share of the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company, issued 19. February 1926]] 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 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.<ref>http://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1258&context=honors-theses Harris, Robert B., "The life of Major James Henry Dooley" (1936). Honors Theses.Paper 262. pp9-10 "In 1889 he was one of the organizers and directors of the great Seaboard Airline Company" "During the years 1900, 1901, and 1902, Mr. Dooley was chairman of the executive council of the Seaboard Airline Railway Company"</ref> On June 3, 1900, through service from [[New York, New York|New York]] to [[Tampa, Florida]], was inaugurated, with trains operated by the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] from New York to [[Washington, D.C.]]; by 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 Railway|Atlantic, Suwannee River and Gulf]] railroads. In 1903, the FC&P, which had been controlled through stock ownership and operated separately under a lease agreement, was formally consolidated within the Seaboard.<ref name="nytfcp5">{{cite news |title=Seaboard Merger Move |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/07/22/102015229.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=July 22, 1903 | page=3 |access-date=June 2, 2011}}</ref> 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 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 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 the [[Panic of 1907]], the railroad went into receivership and Ryan was ousted.<ref name="nytreceiver">{{cite news |title=Pritchard Names Seaboard Receivers |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/01/03/104713617.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=January 3, 1908 | page=5 |access-date=June 6, 2011}}</ref> [[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 [[Wallis, Duchess of Windsor|Duchess of Windsor]] – became the majority stock owner of the Seaboard.<ref name="nytwarfield1">{{cite news |title=Southerners Buy Seaboard |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/06/07/100538313.pdf |work=[[New York Times]] |date=June 7, 1912 |access-date=June 6, 2011}}</ref> By 1915, the railroad had recovered. However, along with most other U.S. railroads, the Seaboard was [[Nationalisation#United States|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. ====Warfield and the South Florida expansion==== {{See also|Seaboard-All Florida Railway}} [[Image:West Palm Beach SAL 002.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Street side of the 1925 [[West Palm Beach (Tri-Rail station)|SAL passenger station]] in [[West Palm Beach, Florida]], now used by both [[Amtrak]] and the [[Tri-Rail]] regional rail line.]] With an influx of tourists traveling to rapidly developing Florida, the Seaboard enjoyed a prosperous decade in the 1920s.<ref name='Solomon 2005'>{{cite book | last = Solomon | first = Brian | title = CSX | publisher = MBI Publishing Company | year = 2005 | pages = 32–34 | isbn = 978-0-7603-1796-9 }}</ref> 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, Florida|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, the extension ran through [[Indiantown, Florida|Indiantown]], which Warfield planned to make the new southern headquarters of the Seaboard.{{sfnp|McIver|1994|p=198}} The extension was constructed in record time, and opened in January 1925. Later in 1925, Warfield constructed the [[Gross Cutoff|Gross-Callahan Cutoff]], which allowed time-sensitive trains to bypass congested Jacksonville, and built the [[Valrico Subdivision|Valrico Cutoff]], which provided a direct route from Tampa to West Palm Beach. Warfield also leased the [[Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway]], which ran from central Florida to [[Boca Grande, Florida|Boca Grande]], as well as the [[East and West Coast Railway]] between [[Arcadia, Florida|Arcadia]] and [[Manatee|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, Florida|Miami]] and another from Arcadia to [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]] and [[Naples, Florida|Naples]]. Groundbreaking for the Miami extension took place in [[Hialeah, Florida|Hialeah]] in January 1926, and by December 1926, the line was open for freight. From January 7 through January 9, 1927, Warfield took a large faction of dignitaries on a special run of the luxurious ''[[Orange Blossom Special (train)|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]]. [[Image:SAL Florida 1936.jpg|thumb|300px|left|1936 system map of SAL's Florida operations, showing extension of routes into South Florida built in the 1920s.]] Warfield had the West Palm Beach architectural firm of Harvey & Clarke, led by [[Gustav Maass (architect)|Gustav Maass]], design a series of now historic [[Mediterranean Revival architecture|Mediterranean Revival]] stations in [[West Palm Beach (Tri-Rail station)|West Palm Beach]], Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, [[Delray Beach Seaboard Air Line Railway Station|Delray Beach]], [[Deerfield Beach (Tri-Rail station)|Deerfield Beach]], [[Fort Lauderdale (Tri-Rail station)|Fort Lauderdale]], [[Hollywood (Tri-Rail station)|Hollywood]], and [[Hialeah Seaboard Air Line Railway Station|Hialeah]], as well as in [[Naples Seaboard Air Line Railway Station|Naples]] and Fort Myers. In April 1927, Warfield completed a push of the Miami extension even further south to [[Homestead, Florida|Homestead]], and had his architects erect a [[Homestead Seaboard Air Line Railway Station|Mediterranean Revival station]] there as well. ====The Great Depression and World War II==== 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.{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} 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 (U.S.)|Southern Railway]].{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} In addition, Warfield's expansion down the west coast of Florida was seen as an unnecessary extravagance due to the presence of the ACL in the same area.{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} 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 [[receivership|receiver]].{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} With loans obtained from 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 the extension.<ref name="Turner 1999">Turner, Gregg M. (1999) Railroads of Southwest Florida. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7385-0349-5}}</ref> 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 the deficit of the whole railroad had been in the Depression year of 1933.<ref name="Welsh 1994"/> In May 1945, all of the Seaboard properties were sold under foreclosure at an auction sale to bondholders for $52 million.{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} In 1946, the railroad was reorganized as the '''Seaboard Air Line ''Railroad''.'''{{sfnp|Prince|2000}} ===Later 20th century=== Quick to recognize the cost savings of [[diesel locomotive|diesel]] power over [[steam locomotive|steam]] in the postwar period, the Seaboard dieselized all of its mainline trains by 1953. In the same decade, the railroad installed [[Centralized traffic control|CTC]] signaling across most of its system, generating further savings of time and money, as well as improved safety.<ref name="Solomon 2005"/> 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]].<ref name="cbo">[http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=4571&type=0&sequence=3 Chapter 2, "A Brief History of Amtrak"] in ''The Past and Future of U.S. Passenger Rail Service'', September 2003, Congressional Budget Office.</ref> In 1960 SAL reported 9910 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 484 million passenger-miles, not including Gainesville Midland and Tavares & Gulf.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} As 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.<ref name="Railroad1"/> On July 1 of that year, SAL and ACL merged to form [[Seaboard Coast Line Railroad]] (SCL).<ref>{{cite book |last=Lennon |first=J |title =Establishing Trails on Rights-of-Way |publisher =[[United States Department of the Interior]] |location =[[Washington, D.C.]] |page =49 }}</ref> The seeming redundancy of 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 (Amtrak train)|Silver Star]]'' alongside a former Coast Line streamliner, the ''[[Champion (train)|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 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.<ref name="Railroad2">[http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=286 TRAINS Magazine – Railroad News, Web Cam, Railroading Video – CSX Transportation<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The Family Lines name and logo were dropped when all of the Family Lines merged on December 29, 1982, to form the [[Seaboard System]].<ref name='Trains 060206'>{{cite web|url=http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=286 |title=CSX Transportation |access-date=May 23, 2008 |last=Van Hattem |first=Matt |date=June 2, 2006 |work=Trains magazine }}</ref> On July 1, 1986, the Seaboard System's name was changed to [[CSX]] Transportation. Subsequently, the Chessie System was merged into CSX Transportation on August 31, 1987.<ref name="Railroad2"/>
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