Editing Seaboard Air Line Railroad (section)

===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>