Editing Seaboard Air Line Railroad (section)

===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}}