Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
standard gauge | |
Length | 9,809 miles (15,786 km) (July 1967) |
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The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (
At the end of 1970, SCL operated 9,230 miles of railroad, not including A&WP-Clinchfield-CN&L-GM-Georgia-L&N-Carrollton; that year it reported 31,293 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 512 million passenger-miles.
History
The Seaboard Coast Line emerged on July 1, 1967, following the merger of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The combined system totaled 9,809 miles (15,786 km), the eighth largest in the United States at the time.[1] The railroad had $1.2 billion in assets and revenue with a 54% market share of rail service in the Southeast, facing competition primarily from the Southern.[2] The seemingly redundant name resulted from the longstanding short-form names of these two major Southeastern railroads. For years, SAL had been popularly known as "Seaboard," while ACL was known as "the Coast Line."
Prior to the creation of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, the Seaboard Coast Line provided passenger service over much of its system, including local passenger trains on some lines.[3] Local trains ended when the Amtrak era began.[2][4] Although several named passenger trains survived through the Amtrak era, many were renamed or combined with other services.
The first expansion for the Seaboard Coast Line came in 1969 with the acquisition of the Piedmont and Northern Railway, which operated about 128 miles (206 km) in North and South Carolina.[5] SCL would buy out the remaining shares and gain control of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1971, and also bought the Durham and Southern Railway from the Duke family in 1979.
On November 1, 1980,
In 1983, CSX combined the Family Lines System units as the Seaboard System Railroad and later CSX Transportation when the former Chessie units merged with the Seaboard in December 1986.[6]
Notable SCL services
Passenger Trains
New York - Florida
- Silver Meteor, inaugurated February 2, 1939
- Inherited from SAL. Initially an all-coach train (Pullman sleepers added in 1941), first streamliner to serve Florida, New York to Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami. Trains continued beyond Tampa to Sarasota and Venice. Preserving its reputation as "one of the finest [trains] in the country," [7] the train retained its round-ended observation cars until Amtrak took over operation in 1971. Still in Amtrak service today with updated equipment.[8]
- Silver Star, inaugurated December 12, 1947
- Inherited from SAL. Streamliner, coach and Pullman cars, New York to Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami. Still in Amtrak service, with updated equipment.
- Champion, December 1, 1939 - October 1, 1979
- Inherited from ACL. Streamliner, coach and Pullman cars, New York to Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami. Initially continued by Amtrak, it was discontinued in 1979.
- Gulf Coast Special, 1920's – April 30, 1971
- Inherited from ACL. Coach and Pullman cars, New York – Tampa. The train was not continued by Amtrak in 1971.
- Everglades, 1940's – April 30, 1971
- Inherited from ACL. All-coach, New York – Jacksonville. The train was not continued by Amtrak in 1971.
- Palmland, Winter 1941 – April 30, 1971
- Inherited from SAL. Coach and Pullman cars, New York – St.Petersburg/Miami. The route was cut back to Columbia, South Carolina as the southern terminus by in 1968, and the train was not continued by Amtrak in 1971.[9]
- Sunland, Winter 1948 – December 1968
- Inherited from SAL. Coach and Pullman cars, New York – Tampa/Miami. Connections in Washington to New York and Boston. The route was cut back to Jacksonville, Florida as the southern terminus in February 1968, and later discontinued in December.[10]
Winter Only
- Florida Special, Late 1800's - Spring 1972
- Inherited from ACL. Streamliner, coach and Pullman cars, New York to Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami. Initially continued by Amtrak, it was discontinued after the 1971-1972 winter season.
Miscellaneous
- Silver Comet, May 18, 1947 – October 15, 1969
- Inherited from SAL. Streamliner, coach and Pullman cars, New York – Birmingham via Athens and Atlanta. The train was cut back to Washington – Atlanta only by January 1969, then to Richmond – Atlanta only by May, and finally discontinued October 15, 1969.[11]
- Gulf Wind, July 31, 1949 – April 30, 1971
- Inherited from SAL. Coach and Pullman cars, Jacksonville – New Orleans via Tallahassee, Pensacola and Mobile. Handled jointly by SCL and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, with motive power changed at Chattahoochee. The train was not continued by Amtrak in 1971.[12]
- Tidewater, November 1, 1953 – February 1968
- Inherited from SAL. Streamliner, coach and Pullman cars, Portsmouth, Virginia – Jacksonville, Florida, forwarding cars to the Silver Comet at Hamlet, North Carolina. Ferries would transport passengers between Norfolk and Portsmouth. Coach only by 1968.[13]
- Palmetto, 1944 – 1968
- Inherited from ACL. All-coach, New York – Savannah. The name and route was later revived by Amtrak in 1976 and still operates today.
Juice Train
Juice Train is the popular name for famous unit trains of Tropicana fresh orange juice operated by railroads in the United States. On June 7, 1970, beginning on Seaboard Coast Line railroad, a mile-long Tropicana Juice Train began carrying one million gallons of juice with one weekly round-trip from Bradenton, Florida to Kearny, New Jersey, in the New York City area. The trip spanned 1,250 miles (2,010 km) one way, and the 60 car train was the equivalent of 250 trucks.[14]
Today it is no longer operated by SCL successor
Motive power
Immediately following the 1967 merger, the newly created SCL network had 1,232 locomotives. The vast majority of the ACL roster contained
Gainesville Midland SD-40, retained its SAL paint until 1986 when it was repainted Seaboard System 8300, it had been SBD 0010 and 8300 in SAL style "split-image" for several years prior to that.
SCL supplemented its local freight units with orders of GE U18B and EMD GP38-2 locomotives. Some U18B models contained a shorter, and therefore lighter, fuel tank which proved ideal for light density lines. Most units of this type were assigned to the Carolinas.[2] However, in 1978 the SCL decided not to purchase any more locomotives for local service on secondary mainlines and branchlines, instead aging GP7, GP9, and GP18 locomotives would be rebuilt into GP16 models at the Uceta shops.
In the years leading up to the creation of the Seaboard System in 1983, SCL began acquiring the next generation of locomotives from EMD and GE. These orders included GE B23-7 locomotives in 1978 and 1980, including the GE BQ23-7 variant, of which only 10 were built and all belonged to SCL.[2][15] EMD GP38-2 units were added in 1979 and 1980, and 5 EMD GP40-2 locomotives also delivered in 1980. Six axle GE C30-7 and EMD SD40-2 units were added to the roster between 1979 and 1980.
See also
- Amtrak
- Auto Train
- GP16
- Juice Train
References
- ^ Transport Statistics shows 9306 route-miles operated by SCL itself at the end of 1967, not including numerous subsidiaries.
- ^ ISBN 0-9766201-0-3.
- ^ Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Passenger Schedules, July 1, 1967.
- ^ Harwell, Jeffrey (2008). "Operations In and Around Dothan". Lines South. 25 (1). White River Productions: 4–19.
- ISBN 0-8047-4014-3.
- ISBN 0-7603-1796-8.
- ^ Seaboard condensed timetable, April 25, 1954 http://streamlinermemories.info/South/SAL54TT.pdf
- ^ Amtrak FY19 Ridership
- ISBN 9780939487981.
- ISBN 9780939487981.
- ISBN 9780939487981.
- ISBN 9780939487981.
- ISBN 9780939487981.
- ^ "The Great White Train". The Family Lines Rail System Magazine. 8 (1). Family Lines Railroad: 16–17. 1981.
- ^ ISBN 1-883089-13-1.