Seaboard Air Line Passenger Service

Book excerpt: Before the coming of Amtrak in 1971, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad was long recognized as having some of the best long-distance passenger trains in the country. Billing itself as “the Route of Courteous Service” Seaboard took great pride in running trains that the public would like the first time and would want to ride again and again. This book focuses on the last decades of Seaboard’s existence. The 1930s through the late 1950s in particular witnessed many dramatic changes – the replacement of steam with diesels, the ascendancy of lightweight trains, and the last hurrah of the once-familiar local passenger train. This is a chronological account, although special treatment has been given to Seaboard’s lightweight trains, other named trains and locals.