Waycross, GA (RALFAN JOURNAL) – CSX Transportation has today resumed its heritage program with the release of CSXT #1871, an ES44AH locomotive honoring the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The locomotive was painted at the railroad’s shops in the former Coast Line town of Waycross, GA.
While the ACL we all know began officially in 1901, the road’s predecessors had used that name since 1871, hence the number for the unit.
The 1901 Atlantic Coast Line had over five thousand miles of track at the time of its merger with rival Seaboard Air Line in 1967, its rails stretched from Richmond, Virginia to Tampa, Florida.
Like any railroad serving the sunshine state of Florida, the Coast Line had many a passenger train ferrying people to the warm and sunny weather. Among the famous trains to ply ACL rails were the Champion, Florida Special from New York to Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Miami.
ACL also served as a link in the chain for several Midwest trains serving Florida, including the City of Miami, which originated in Chicago in the Illinois Central and then was handed to the Central of Georgia in Birmingham, Alabama and taken to Albany, Georgia where the Coast Line would take over in to Florida.
It wasn’t all about Florida though for the ACL, you may have seen or heard about Amtrak’s Palmetto, which is a service that started on the Coast Line. Running from New York to Savannah, Georgia, the Palmetto also had a section for Augusta, Georgia. I’ll take a guess that section was rather popular in early April.
CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs confirmed in a LinkedIn post that more heritage units are to come.