Seaboard Coast Line

The SCL was a short-lived conglomerate formed by the marriage of two of the Southeast's largest and most profitable railroads, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line. Mergers, if planned and implemented correctly can save a railroad millions of dollars in the long term and this was the very reason behind the Seaboard Air Line and ACL discussing the option seriously, as early as the late 1950s. While the two companies were fierce competitors, similar to the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central who would also merge during the same period, the difference between the PRR/NYC and SAL/ACL partnerships was that the ACL and SAL spent many years planning their new system in an effort to ensure the marriage would go smoothly. As an independent carrier the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad would last a mere five years.

American-Rails.com

Launched in July of 1967, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was born of a merger between two parallel lines on the eastern seaboard: the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line. Both roads had been important traffickers between Florida, the Carolinas, and points northward. The resulting merger produced a railroad nearly 10,000 miles in length. Later, under the ownership of a new holding company, the SCL became part of the "Family Lines Systems" -- railroad subsidiaries including the Louisville & Nashville, the Clinchfield, and the West Point Routes. By 1983, SCL was known as the Seaboard System Railroad, was officially merged with its fellow Family Lines partners, and together they would eventually be joined with the Chessie System to produce CSX Transportation.