Seaboard Air Line
Wilmington to Atlanta
Introduction
Today, we see CSX, NS, BNSF, etc. all over the country, and few younger fans are aware of the extensive regional operations which were their predecessor railroads. A case in point was the Seaboard Air Line, which operated from Richmond, Virginia, to Florida and Alabama, and most points in between. An important portion of the SAL was its line from the deepwater port of Wilmington, North Carolina, to the most important railroad terminal in the south, Atlanta, Georgia. Along the way, the line crossed the busiest SAL mainline, Richmond - Jacksonville, Florida.
This crossing took place at Hamlet, North Carolina, and was the operational focal point of the entire SAL. Today, the line is of major importance to successor CSX, and we'll examine it in detail. At this time, the entire distance from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Athens, Georgia, approximately 368 timetable miles, is complete.
Other Tours
WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE: From a particular starting point, each segment of this coverage will allow you to follow the instructions given, drive to a railfan site, then to the next, etc. etc. Traffic levels and patterns will be given, and the photographic/ lighting considerations for each site will usually be mentioned. You'll be told about Area Attractions, such as tourist and historic sites, as well as hotels and restaurants which are trackside or otherwise worthy of note. In short, you'll be able to plan an entire family or railfan-only outing or even a vacation from this guide, as it is completed in the months to come.
WHAT YOU WILL NOT FIND HERE: This is a railfan guide, not a photo collection. There are already many excellent and enjoyable railroad photo sites available, and one more really wouldn't add much value to the general railfan. Besides, photos take up a lot of memory, and your humble Webmaster has to pay for memory.
You will not find fancy graphics, as this is a tour guide, not an exhibition of HTML or graphics expertise. You'll be able to load these pages quickly and print them without waiting a week for each page to print. Also, you'll conserve toner in the process.
Contributors
Major contributors to this effort include:
Fred Burton -- Tour guide: Waxhaw, North Carolina - Carlisle, South Carolina
Peter Furnee -- CSX logo
Tony Hill, Retired Frograil webmaster and tour guide, Wilmington - Waxhaw, and Carlisle - Elberton.
If you'd like to contribute to this effort, please contact me at webmaster@frograil.com, and let me know what you'd like to do. We'll work together: You supply the data/info, and I'll do the HTML stuff and upload it. You'll get a chance to review the fruits of your efforts before the general public sees the finished product, so you can let me have your corrections, additions and changes.
SEGMENTS
- Wilmington NC -- Hamlet Terminal (Completed)
- Hamlet Terminal (Completed)
- Hamlet Terminal -- Greenwood, SC (Completed)
- Greenwood -- Atlanta (Completed from Greenwood - Athens, GA)
Contact me at: webmaster@frograil.com