The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Class I railroad In the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, st ...

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 The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

to form the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate li ...

. Much of the original ACL network has been part of CSX Transportation since 1986. The Atlantic Coast Line served the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, 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 The Petersburg Railroad ran from Petersburg, Virginia, south to Garysburg, North Carolina, from which it ran to Weldon via trackage rights over the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (later eliminated with a new alignment). History Founding In 183 ...

between

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

and a point near

Weldon, North Carolina Weldon is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,655 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area. History In 1752, Daniel Weldon purchased 1,273 acre ...

, founded in 1830. A route between Richmond, Virginia and Petersburg was built by the

Richmond & Petersburg Railroad The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad moved passengers and goods between Richmond and Petersburg from 1838 to 1898. It survived the American Civil War and eventually merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1900. History The Richmond and Pe ...

, which was founded in 1836. In 1840 the

Wilmington and Weldon Railroad The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad (W&W) name began use in 1855, having been originally chartered as the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in 1834. At the time of its completion in 1840, the line was the longest railroad in the world with of track ...

, at the time known as the Wilmington and Raleigh and renamed in 1855, completed a route between Weldon and

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

. From Wilmington, the

Wilmington and Manchester Railroad The Wilmington and Manchester Railroad was a railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina before, during and after the American Civil War. It received its charter in 1846 and began operation in 1853 from Wilmington, North Carolina, extend ...

began operations in 1853 to Florence, South Carolina, where the Northeastern Railroad operated to Charleston, South Carolina. In 1871, the W&W and the W&M (renamed the Wilmington, Columbia & Augusta) began using the Atlantic Coast Line name to advertise the two lines. An investor from Baltimore,

William T. Walters William Thompson Walters (May 23, 1820 – November 22, 1894) was an American businessman and art collector, whose collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum. Early life Walters was born on the Juniata River in Liverpool, Penn ...

, gained control of these separate railroads after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and operated them as a network of independent companies. 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. In 1898, as the companies moved towards combining themselves into a single system, the lines in Virginia were combined into the new Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company of Virginia, and the lines in North Carolina underwent a similar process in 1899, becoming the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company of North Carolina. In 1899 or 1900, due to a regulatory climate in Virginia that was better suited to the company than that in other states, the ACL of Virginia took control of the other lines and subsequently shortened its name to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company.

Forming the ACL by mergers

In 1898 the Petersburg Railroad and the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad formally merged, and two years later the combined company took control of the ACL's routes south of Virginia as well as the

Norfolk & Carolina Railroad Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

, which operated from Norfolk, Virginia to

Tarboro, North Carolina Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 10,721. It is the county seat of Edgecombe County. Th ...

. 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 The Plant System named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western ...

, which operated numerous lines within Florida and Georgia. This same year the ACL took control of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad as well as the

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, ...

, though the two were never merged into the ACL and were operated independently. The ACL acquired the

East Carolina Railway The East Carolina Railway was a short-line railroad that ran from 1898 to 1965. Originating in Tarboro, North Carolina the East Carolina Railway interchanged at Farmville, North Carolina with the original Norfolk Southern Railway (former), Norfol ...

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 The Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad was organized in 1926 to replace the bankrupt Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway. The AB&C was controlled by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which owned a majority of the stock. In 1944 it report ...

, which it purchased in 1927, though the AB&C was not merged into the ACL until 1945.

Later history

By the early 1900s the railroad had largely reached its final configuration and began to focus on upgrading its physical plant. By the 1920s the railroad's main line from Richmond, Virginia to Jacksonville, Florida had been double-tracked, which benefited the railroad during the 1920s when Florida boomed. In 1928 the ACL completed a line between

Perry, Florida Perry is a city in Taylor County, Florida, United States. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 7,017. It is the county seat. The city was named for Madison Perry, fourth Governor of the State of Florida and a Confe ...

and Drifton, near

Monticello, Florida Monticello ( ) is the only city in Jefferson County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,506 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Jefferson County. The city is named after Monticello, the estate of the county's namesake, Thomas ...

, the last link of the new "

Perry Cutoff The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Perry Cutoff (which was part of the company's Thomasville—Dunnellon Line) was a historic rail line in northern Florida running from Monticello southeast to Perry. The line provided a shortcut for rail traffic ...

". 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 Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

'' from December 1928 to 1957 when it was rerouted to Jacksonville. 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. During World War II ACL's passenger traffic increased 200% and freight traffic 150%. The railroad provided a submarine-proof alternative to coastal shipping, and it also served the fast-emerging military industry in the Southeast. In 1942, Champion McDowell Davis (nicknamed "Champ") became president of the ACL after starting with the railroad in the 1890s as a messenger boy. 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 signalling systems and improvements to freight yards. The railroad spent at least $268 million in upgrading its physical plant during this period. In 1956 the railroad moved its headquarters, which had been sited at and adjacent to Wilmington, North Carolina's

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. Jacksonville was selected from three candidate cities, the other two being

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

and Charleston, South Carolina. Construction of the new office complex was finished in July 1960, with the move from Wilmington completed over the following weeks.

Merger

As early as October 1958 the ACL and competitor

had discussed the possibility of a merger, initiating extensive studies on the potential unified system. The results showed that the merger could save considerable money through savings incurred and reduced expenditures to the amount of $38 million annually. On August 18, 1960, the merger was approved by shareholders of both railroads. In 1963, a merger between the two companies was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, however, petitions for reconsideration were filed leading to a court decision to remand the approval of the merger on May 13, 1965, citing the

Clayton Antitrust Act The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...

. Following another round of court decisions in 1966, the merger was allowed to proceed, and did so on July 1, 1967. The result was the creation of the

Seaboard Coast Line The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

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 Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. 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 Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

and as far south as

Everglades City, Florida Everglades City (formerly known as Everglades) is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States, of which it is the former county seat. As of the 2010 census, the population is 400. It is part of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Stati ...

at its height.

Traffic

Freight

During its early years, the ACL handled mostly seasonal agricultural products, but by World War II its freight traffic had become more diverse. During the 1950s, around 44% of all freight traffic consisted of manufactured and miscellaneous items, while bulk traffic like coal and phosphates also expanded during this time. During the 1950s, the ACL acquired some 13,000 new freight cars, to be used on high-speed trains offering reduced running times compared to earlier equipment. This allowed the railroad to remain competitive in the face of competition from the

Interstate highway system The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

Passenger

The ACL's passenger traffic consisted almost entirely of Florida-bound traffic, largely from the Northeast, but also from the Midwest via trains that were operated by multiple railroads and handled by the ACL at their southern ends. In 1939, in response to the Seaboard's popular new streamliner, the ''

Silver Meteor The ''Silver Meteor'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line R ...

'', the ACL launched its first streamlined train, the all-coach ''Champion''. ACL invested heavily in its passenger fleet after World War II but passenger revenue fell from $28.5 million in 1946 to $14.1 million in 1959. Until its 1967 merger the railroad continued to maintain and improve its passenger service, even replacing old stations with new.

Major passenger trains

All of ACL's New York - Florida trains ran on the Pennsylvania Railroad north of Washington, D. C., then via the

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad comp ...

from Washington to Richmond. Tampa/St. Petersburg trains used ACL rails south of Richmond all the way to their destinations. Trains for Miami ran on the Florida East Coast Railway from Jacksonville to Miami, but after passenger service on the FEC effectively ended with a long-lasting strike in 1963, ACL transferred its Miami-bound trains to Seaboard rails at

Auburndale, Florida Auburndale is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 13,507 at the 2010 census. According to the U.S. Census estimates of 2019, the city had a population of 16,650. It is part of the Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida Metropo ...

. New York-Florida routes: *''

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

'' (New York - Tampa/St. Petersburg, and New York - Miami) *''Everglades'' (New York – Jacksonville) *''

Florida Special ''Florida Special'' is a 1936 American comedy film directed by Ralph Murphy and written by David Boehm, Marguerite Roberts, Laura Perelman and S. J. Perelman. The film stars Jack Oakie, Sally Eilers, Kent Taylor, Frances Drake, Claude Gilling ...

'' (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 The Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was the most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record by pressure, with winds of up to 185 mph (297 km/h). The fourth tropical cyclone, third tropical storm, second hurricane, and sec ...

.) *''Miamian'' (Washington – Miami) *''Vacationer'' (New York – Miami) Midwest-Florida routes: *''

City of Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at t ...

'' (Chicago-Miami) *''

Dixie Flagler The ''Dixie Flagler'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) between Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. It began in 1939 as the ''Henry M. Flagler'', a regional service between Miami and Jacksonville, ...

'' (Chicago-Miami) *'' Dixie Flyer'' (Chicago-Miami; shortened in final four years to Atlanta-Jacksonville) *''Dixie Limited'' (Chicago-Jacksonville) *''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

'' (Cincinnati-Jacksonville) *''

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

'' (Chicago-Jacksonville) *''

South Wind A south wind is a wind that originates in the south and blows in a northward direction. Words used in English to describe the south wind are auster, buster (a violent south gale), föhn/foehn (alps), ghibli (Libya with various spellings), friage ...

'' (Chicago-St. Petersburg/Miami) *''

'' (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 ''The Palm Beach Story'' is a 1942 screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallée. Victor Young contributed the musical score, including a fast-paced variati ...

'', main character Gerry Jeffers (

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...

) boards the ''Florida Special'' (ACL's premier, winter-only train) in New York City's

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

.Dirks, Tom. "The Palm Beach Story (1942),"
''Filmsite'' movie review, accessed 23 Feb. 2012