Seaboard Air Line Railway Seaboard Air Line Railway was created in the 1880s by the consolidation of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, which dated back to the earliest decades of American railroads, and other lines in the Carolinas into a single system. Eventually, over 100 lines would be incorporated into the SAL. Seaboard’s lease of the Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railway in 1889 gave it a connection to Atlanta. The line between Lyons, Ga. and Montgomery, Ala. had been built by the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway in the early 1890s. In May, 1895, the SA&M was sold under foreclosure to the Georgia and Alabama Railway, a new company organized by Seaboard's John Skelton Williams. In 1896, Williams bought the Abbeville and Waycross Railroad, which ran from Abbeville to Ocilla, and absorbed it into the Georgia and Alabama. In 1899, Seaboard bought the 1017-mile Florida, Central and Peninsular Railroad, a key part of which was a line from Savannah to Jacksonville. On July 1, 1900, the entire system was consolidated and reorganized as the Seaboard Air Line Railway, a 2600-mile network stretching from Virginia to Florida. The Seaboard Air Line name had been used previously, but as a marketing name rather than the name of the company. SAL bought the Lawrenceville to Loganville line from the Georgia, Carolina, and Northern Railway in 1901. A connection from Atlanta to Birmingham was built in 1904 by an SAL subsidiary, the Atlanta & Birmingham Air Line Railway. SAL absorbed the A&BAL shortly after completion of the line. Above: SAL lettering in backrest of bench at Elberton's old Seaboard depot. On December 31, 1917, operations began on a new Savannah-Charleston line. Much of the Seaboard’s freight traffic that formerly passed through Columbia, S.C. was diverted to the new line. Seaboard gained control of the Georgia, Florida & Alabama in 1928 and leased it on December 23, 1930. The company was reorganized as Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1946. Its main offices were in Norfolk, Virginia. By the middle of the twentieth century the system comprised 4146 miles of railroad: 1558 in Florida, 846 in Georgia, 736 in South Carolina, 630 in North Carolina, and the remainder in Virginia and Alabama. The company employed nearly 18,000 people. In 1951 it transported 43 million tons of freight and 1,465,186 passengers using 399 diesels, 213 steam locomotives, 24,000 freight cars, and 490 passenger cars. SAL absorbed the Macon, Dublin & Savannah Railroad (Macon to Vidalia) in 1958. SAL merged with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967 (nearly a decade after merger talks were announced) to form Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Seaboard Coast Line Industries and Chessie System merged in 1980 to form CSX Corporation. Abandonments: Lawrenceville-Loganville abandoned 1932. (See Seaboard System Railroad, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, and CSX for other abandonments.) Suggested Reading: William E. Griffin, Jr. Seaboard Air Line Railway; the Route of Courteous Service. Lynchburg, VA: TLC Publishing, 1999. Robert Wayne Johnson. Through the Heart of the South; the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Story. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1995. Albert M. Langley Jr., W. Forrest Beckum, Jr., and C. Ronnie Tidwell. Seaboard Air Line Railway Album. North Augusta, S.C.: Union Station Publishing, 1988. Lines South. Magazine of the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railroads Historical Society, Inc. Richard E. Prince. Seaboard Air Line Railway; Steam Boats, Locomotives and History. Published by Richard E. Prince in Green River, Wyoming, 1966. Reprinted March 2000 by Indiana University Press. 1906 timetable, Columbus-Albany line (50K)  1932 map (122K) Most of the former SAL main line down the Georgia coast was abandoned by CSX in 1986-88. These two views show the end of the tracks at Riceboro in Liberty County. (Photos by Jamey Smith.) More info at: Atlantic Coast Line & Seaboard Air Line Railroads Historical Society     Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home