Chesapeake & Nashville (1905)

Company History: The CH&N was established in 1905 by phosphate magnate Peter Bradley and built a railroad north from the deep water port of Boca Grande, Florida about a hundred miles into the phosphate mining region of Bone Valley. Connections were made along the way with Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line. CH&N’s passenger service made Boca Grande a destination for tourists. Bradley leased the CH&N to Seaboard Air Line in 1925 and sold it to them the following year. Seaboard used the CH&N as a jumping off point for thier new line to Fort Myers and Naples. Today, the CH&N route from South Mulberry to Arcadia is operated by CSX. The rest of the route to Boca Grande has been abandoned.

Successor/Parent History: 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 Norfolk, Virginia, until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia. The Seaboard Air Line Railway Building in Norfolk's historic Freemason District still stands and has been converted to luxury apartments.

At the end of 1925 SAL operated 3,929 miles of road, not including its flock of subsidiaries; at the end of 1960 it reported 4,135 miles. The main line 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 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 20th 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 brought vacationers to Florida from the Northeast and carried southern timber, minerals and produce, especially Florida citrus crops, to the northern states.

Wikipedia.