Editing Seaboard Air Line Railroad (section)

====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}}