The Atlantic Coast Line began in 1871 as a joint advertising name for two small railroads that wanted to work together. Over time, more railroads were added to the system, but it wasn’t until the late 1890s that they were formally consolidated into a railroad by that name.

Click image to download a 6.8-MB PDF of this timetable, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

A close look at the map in this brochure reveals that each segment of the ACL route is identified by the name of the independent railroad that operated that part of the route. These included, among others, the Savannah, Florida & Western, the Pensacola & Atlanta, the Charlotte & South Carolina, the Cheraw & Darlington, and South Florida railroads. The Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac and the Philadelphia, Washington & Baltimore are also shown as a part of the ACL route, but these were never included in the later Atlantic Coast Line (though ACL was a one-sixth owner of the former).

The timetable shows three trains from Washington to Florida: the Southern Express, the Southern Mail, and the Special U.S. Fast Mail. The Southern Mail, and the Fast Mail divided at Waycross, south of Savannah, with part going to Florida and part to New Orleans. The northern counterparts were the Northern Express, the Northern Mail, and unnamed train no. 45. Only the Northern Mail is shown has having a section from New Orleans.

Except for the Southern Express and train no. 45, all these trains had Pullman sleepers. Although they had Pullman buffet cars for at least part of their routes, the trains stopped for meals several times between Washington and Florida.