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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Jacksonville, FL andRichmond, VA |
| Reporting mark | SCL |
| Locale | Southeastern United States |
| Dates of operation | 1967–1983 |
| Predecessor | Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Seaboard Air Line Railroad |
| Successor | Seaboard System (an operating company ofCSX Corporation) |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
| Length | 9,809 miles (15,786 km) (July 1967) |
TheSeaboard Coast Line Railroad (reporting markSCL) was aClass I railroad company operating in theSoutheastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over byAmtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create theSeaboard System in 1983.
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.
The Seaboard Coast Line emerged on July 1, 1967, following the merger of theSeaboard Air Line Railroad with theAtlantic 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 theSoutheast, facing competition primarily from theSouthern.[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 ofAmtrak 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 thePiedmont 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 theLouisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) in 1971, and also bought theDurham and Southern Railway from the Duke family in 1979. In 1978, SCL was approached by theSouthern Pacific Railroad (SP) and entered negotiations for a potential transcontinental merger, with the L&N being used to connect the two railroads.[6][7] In May of that year, then-SCL president Prime Osborn III personally called off the merger, but SCL still sold some of their stock to the SP.[6][7]
On November 1, 1980,CSX Corporation was created as a holding company for theFamily Lines andChessie System Railroad. Effective January 1, 1983, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad becameSeaboard System Railroad after a merger with theLouisville and Nashville Railroad andClinchfield Railroad. For some years prior to this, the SCL and L&N had been under the common ownership of a holding company,Seaboard Coast Line Industries (SCLI), the company's railroad subsidiaries being collectively known as theFamily Lines System which consisted of the L&N, SCL, Clinchfield and West Point Routes. During this time, the railroads adopted the same paint schemes but continued to operate as separate railroads.
In 1983, CSX combined the Family Lines System units as theSeaboard System Railroad and laterCSX Transportation when the former Chessie units merged with the Seaboard in December 1986.[8]
Juice Train is the popular name for famousunit trains ofTropicana freshorange juice operated byrailroads in theUnited 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 fromBradenton, Florida toKearny, New Jersey, in theNew 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.[16]
Today it is no longer operated by SCL successorCSX Transportation, a victim of CSX’sPSR operating philosophy. Tropicanarefrigerated boxcars are still transported between Florida and New Jersey, however they are now mixed in withIntermodal trains. In the past, the Juice Trains have been the focus of efficiency studies and awards as examples of how modern rail transportation can compete successfully against trucking and other modes to carry perishable products.
Immediately following the 1967 merger, the newly created SCL network had 1,232 locomotives. The vast majority of the ACL roster containedEMD (Electro-Motive Division ofGeneral Motors) locomotives in addition to someGeneral Electric (GE) andAlco models as well asBaldwinswitchers, while the SAL rostered mainly EMD and Alco diesels in addition to some GE models and Baldwin switchers.[17] Both railroads had purchased new freight locomotives in the 5 years leading up to the merger. Among the first new locomotives purchased by the Seaboard Coast Line were 28GE U33B locomotives, acquired in 1967 and 1968. These were followed by 108GE U36B locomotives between 1970 and 1972.[2] From EMD, SCL purchasedSD45 locomotives in 1968, with more to follow in 1971.SD45-2 locomotives were added in 1974.GP40 andGP40-2 locomotives were added to the fleet between 1968 and 1972 for use on through freights and other high priority freight trains. All former SAL locomotives ran for many years in the "Split-image" scheme, still in full SAL paint, but relettered and renumbered SCL. Two GP-7's 915 & 981 went from pure SAL to SCL Black without being in split-image and GP-7 944 and RS-3 1156 were never painted black, and retained their SAL paint until retired in 1976. The last operating SCL locomotive in SAL paint was GP-40 1559, former SAL 644, and was repainted at Hamlet, NC in March 1976 according to records. There were former P&N locomotives that retained their P&N scheme from 1969 until 1977, only RS-3's 1250 & 1256 and S-4 230 ever were repainted SCL black.
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 ofGE U18B andEMD 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 intoGP16 models at the Uceta shops.
In the years leading up to the creation of theSeaboard System in 1983, SCL began acquiring the next generation of locomotives from EMD and GE. These orders includedGE B23-7 locomotives in 1978 and 1980, including theGE BQ23-7 variant, of which only 10 were built and all belonged to SCL.[2][17]EMD GP38-2 units were added in 1979 and 1980, and 5EMD GP40-2 locomotives also delivered in 1980. Six axleGE C30-7 andEMD SD40-2 units were added to the roster between 1979 and 1980.
On May 21, 2024, CSX unveiledGE ES44AH No. 1967 (ex-CSXT 3062), being repainted at the CSX paint shops inWaycross,GA. The unit is designed with the cab staying in YN3C and the long hood being painted in the SCL black and yellow. It was numbered #1967 in homage to the year the Seaboard Coastline was created.
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