Founding of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad

Founding of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. . , The Seaboard Air Line Railroad's origins reached back to 8 March 1832, when the Portsmouth and Roanoke railroad was chartered to connect Weldon, North Carolina, with Portsmouth, Virginia. It was reorganized in 1846 as the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, and later renamed the Seaboard Air Line System., During the 1890s, the Seaboard Air Line System developed a passenger service between Atlanta and the northeast, with its headquarters in Portsmouth, Virginia. The Seaboard Air Line also developed a rail line from New York to Florida, building the Main Street Station in downtown Richmond and several segments of new line to create a solid north/south route through central Virginia. This allowed the company to stop using the competitors' lines throughout the Richmond to Petersburg corridor. The Seaboard tracks ran along the east side of the City of Richmond, near Shockhoe Bottom. To avoid vehicle and pedestrian issues, the lines were elevated through much of Richmond, especially south of Main Street Station. A spur of the Atlantic Coast line, located just north of the Appomattox River, ran west of the main Seaboard Line to reach the growing suburb of Ettrick., [Caption:] , Timetables issued by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the Seaboard Railway., Logos used by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad., Left: Map of present-day VSU campus showing the historic route of Seaboard Air Line Railway, Courtesy of VSU and Commonwealth Architects