Seaboard Air Line Railway - $1,000 Bond (Uncanceled)

$1,000 5% Uncanceled Gold Bond printed by American Bank Note Company, New York. All coupons remain. Very Rare!

The Seaboard Air Line Railroad (reporting mark SAL), which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad whose corporate existence extended from April 14, 1900 until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The company was headquartered in Portsmouth, Virginia until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia. The main line of the Seaboard ran from Richmond via Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida, a major interchange point for passenger trains bringing travelers to the Sunshine State. From Jacksonville, Seaboard rails continued to such popular tourist destinations as Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach, and Miami. Other important Seaboard routes included a line from Jacksonville via Tallahassee to a connection with the L&N at Chattahoochee, Florida for through service to New Orleans; a line to Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama connecting with the main line at Hamlet, North Carolina; and a line from the main at Norlina, North Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia, the earliest route of what became the Seaboard. In the first half of the twentieth century, Seaboard, along with its main competitors Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Florida East Coast Railway, and Southern Railway, contributed greatly to the economic development of the Southeastern United States, and particularly to that of Florida. Its primary revenues derived from bringing vacationers to Florida from the Northeast and carrying southern timber, minerals, and produce, especially Florida citrus crops, to the northern states.