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Seaboard Air Line The Route of Courteous Service by William Griffin Jr HardCover
Seaboard Air Line The Route of Courteous Service by William Griffin Jr
Hard Cover
Copyright 1999
222 pages
CONTENTS
2 Introduction and Acknowledgments
4 A Brief History of the Seaboard
26 The Glory Days of Seaboard Steam
52 The Diesel Era
94 Passenger Service
138 Passenger Train Equipment
160 Freight Service
190 Freight Train Equipment
210 SAL Color Album
222 Bibliography
While this book was being completed, it occurred to me that it has been over thirty years since the corporate identity of the Seaboard Air Line Railway came to an end as a result of its 1967 merger with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Could so many years have passed since that day when I drove over to the SAL's Commerce Street Station in my hometown of Petersburg, Virginia, to witness the last run of my favorite passenger trains?
No, my favorite trains weren't members of the Seaboard's grand "Silver Fleet" of streamliners. Rather, they were the Passenger, Mail and Express trains - Nos. 3 and 4. Unlike most of the streamliners that passed through the Old Dominion at night, Locals 3 and 4 operated during daylight hours. Southbound No. 3 was scheduled in Petersburg at 1:00 pm and passed near my grandmother's home at Alberta, Virginia, about an hour later. Northbound No. 4 passed through Alberta at about 11:00 am and reached Petersburg before noon. They were great trains to watch and - as long as you were only traveling the forty miles between Petersburg and Alberta -they were great trains to ride. Besides, they were the only Seaboard trains that stopped in Alberta.
So on Friday morning, June 30, 1967, I drove over to the Commerce Street Station to say goodbye to my old friends. They arrived, conducted their business, and then left town -never again to return under the flag of the Seaboard Air Line Railway. At 12:01 am the following morning the new Seaboard Coast Line Railroad came into existence. Later that day, SCL logo decals were applied to the noses of the SAL and ACL diesels. The new Company was still named "Seaboard," but things would never be the same again. The SCL discontinued the operation of Nos. 3 and 4 in April the following year. The old Commerce Street station was taken out of service in 1972 and the building was sold in 1977. Ten years later, the SCL's successor company - CSX Transportation - abandoned much of the SAL's old Virginia Division, including the trackage between Petersburg and Alberta.
There was very little fanfare to herald the demise of the Seaboard Air Line. Press coverage at the time tended to focus on the new company that had been created by the merger. I doubt that there were very many of us at trackside that fateful day in 1967 when the Seaboard passed into history.
However, in the years that have ensued, the SAL's admirers have grown in both number and enthusiasm - including many who never personally observed the railroad in operation. This book is for those Seaboard enthusiasts. For those of you who knew the Seaboard, I hope that it will help you to remember the glory of days past. For future generations, I hope that it will pique your interest and make you want to learn even more about this remarkable and innovative railroad.
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