Sorry if this has been asked before but I could not find anything on it in the Q&A archives.

Was the "modern" Seaboard Air Line known as "railroad" or "railway"? I have seen both on timetables, advertisements, signs.... and was unsure which was corect. Also, sometime in the 1940s/1950s, the public timetables at least referred to the Seaboard Railroad (no Air Line).

Did any of thsis have to do with receivership or was it merely changing/inconsistent marketing?

Tom Randall

-- Tom Randall (tkrandall@mindspring.com), July 05, 2001

Answers

Tom: I'll give you the "short" answer. In 1915 the SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY COMPANY was formed by the merger of several small railroads in the Carolinas into the SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY which had been put together by John S. Williams. In 1930 the SAL RWY Co. went into receivership. Sixteen years later in 1946 the reorganized SAL RAILROAD came into existence by buying the assests of the SAL RWY Co. So...TT or other documents prior to 1946 will use the term RAILWAY and documents after 1946 will use the term RAILROAD. The SAL also referred to itself as simply "SEABOARD." If you want a longer more technical answer then see any of the great books about the Seaboard! Hope this helps clear the confusion.

-- Richard Stallworth (ThisIsR@aol.com), July 05, 2001.