During the Seaboard Air Line merger with the Atlantic Coast Line, was there any effort put forth by the Southern Railway to purchase ACL or SAL lines giving it market share in the State of Florida? Did the ICC ever consider give the Southern any concessions allowing it to compete directly with the new SCL? Today, NS really does not have much of a rail presence in Florida compared to that of CSX which has lines into both the Tampa and Miami markets.
Railroad Forums
Southern Railway and the SCL Merger
- Discussion relating to the NS operations. Official web site can be found here: NSCORP.COM.
Since I'm not near my library this is coming from memory. In the sanctioned, premerger ACL historical tome, Building a Great Railroad : A History of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, toward the end of the book where it discusses the pending merger it may be found the petition to the ICC from the Southern Railway for one of the lines from southern Georgia to Tampa. The ICC rejected this petition and the State of Florida has lived with the consequences ever since.