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 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 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. 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==