Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Much of the original ACL network has been part of CSX Transportation since 1986.

The Atlantic Coast Line served the Southeast, with a concentration of lines in Florida. Numerous named passenger trains were operated by the railroad for Florida-bound tourists, with the Atlantic Coast Line contributing significantly to Florida's economic development in the first half of the 20th century.

At the end of 1925, ACL operated 4,924 miles of road, not including its flock of subsidiaries; after some merging, mileage at the end of 1960 was 5,570 not including A&WP, CN&L, East Carolina, Georgia, Rockingham, and V&CS. In 1960, ACL reported 10,623 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 490 million passenger-miles.

History

Early history

The earliest predecessor of the ACL was the Petersburg Railroad between Petersburg, Virginia, and a point near Weldon, North Carolina, founded in 1830. A route between Richmond, Virginia, and Petersburg was built by the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, which was founded in 1836. In 1897–98, most of the South Carolina lines in Walters' system were consolidated under the name of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company of South Carolina.

Forming the ACL by mergers

thumb|left|1914 map of the lines through Florida

In 1898, Petersburg Railroad and the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad formally merged, and two years later the combined company took control of the ACL's routes south of Virginia and the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad, which operated from Norfolk, Virginia to Tarboro, North Carolina. These mergers created an ACL system reaching from southern Virginia to South Carolina and Georgia. Other small acquisitions took place in 1901, and in 1902 the ACL took over the Plant System, which operated numerous lines within Florida and Georgia. The ACL acquired the East Carolina Railway in 1935, running south from Tarboro to Hookerton, although the 12-mile extension to Hookerton was abandoned in 1933.

The ACL's last major acquisition was the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad, which it purchased in 1927, though the AB&C was not merged into the ACL until 1945.

Upon the formal incorporation of the ACL in 1900, an assessment was made of its repair and maintenance facilities. The oldest inherited shop site was at Wilmington, North Carolina, which dated to 1840. The shops in Florence, South Carolina were a bit more modern, having been upgraded in 1883. However, the sprawling ACL system needed larger and more modern facilities to handle locomotive overhauls and freight car building. By the 1920s the two largest shop sites were at South Rocky Mount, North Carolina and Waycross, Georgia, each of which employed about 2,000 workers. To handle extensions into Florida, in 1926 the ACL established the Uceta shops and yard outside of Tampa, Florida at a cost of $2 million.

Later history

thumbnail|right|Atlantic Coast Line headquarters, Jacksonville, Florida.

By the early 1900s the railroad had largely reached its final configuration and began to focus on upgrading its physical plant. This created a more direct route between Chicago and Florida's west coast and bypassing Jacksonville, one which passed through Macon, Albany, and Thomasville, the route followed by ACL's passenger train Southland from December 1928 to 1957 when it was rerouted to Jacksonville.

thumb|250px|1910 advertisement for ACL trains from New York to Florida

During the Great Depression ACL's freight traffic declined by around 60%, but the railroad survived the 1930s without declaring bankruptcy; its success in this regard has been attributed to its leadership and careful financial practices, as well as owning the Louisville and Nashville, which remained strong through the Depression. He immediately began an improvement program that finished in the mid-1950s, including the rebuilding of several hundred miles of track, the installation of modern signaling systems and improvements to freight yards.

Merger

As early as October 1958

Lines

The backbone of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was its main line, which ran nearly 900 miles from Richmond, Virginia to just south of Tampa, Florida. By 1952, the company operated over 5,000 miles of track including the main line and numerous secondary lines and branch lines. The network extended as far west as Birmingham, Alabama and as far south as Everglades City, Florida at its height.

Traffic

thumb|right|250px|ACL #501, an [[EMC E3, pulled the Champion and now resides at the North Carolina Transportation Museum.]]

Freight

During its early years, the ACL handled mostly seasonal agricultural products, but by World War II its freight traffic had become more diverse.

Champion (New York - Tampa/St. Petersburg, and New York - Miami)
Everglades (New York – Jacksonville)
Florida Special (New York – Miami/St. Petersburg) (winter only; a rival to Seaboard's Orange Blossom Special)
Gulf Coast Special (New York – Tampa/Ft. Myers/St. Petersburg)
Havana Special (New York – Key West, prior to the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.)
Miamian (Washington – Miami)
Vacationer (New York – Miami)

Midwest-Florida routes:

City of Miami (Chicago-Miami)
Dixie Flagler (Chicago-Miami)
Dixie Flyer (Chicago-Miami; shortened in final four years to Atlanta-Jacksonville)
Dixie Limited (Chicago-Jacksonville)
Flamingo (Cincinnati-Jacksonville)
Seminole (Chicago-Jacksonville)
South Wind (Chicago-St. Petersburg/Miami)
Southland (Cincinnati—St. Petersburg/Ft. Myers/Miami; sole year-round passenger train to bypass Jacksonville and run through the western side of Florida)

Other routes:

Palmetto (New York – Savannah, S.C./Augusta, Ga./Wilmington, N.C.)
Tar Heel (New York and Norfolk -Wilmington)

In popular culture

In Preston Sturges' 1942 comedy The Palm Beach Story, main character Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) boards the Florida Special (ACL's premier, winter-only train) in New York City's Pennsylvania Station.