About US

The year 2022 marks the 39th anniversary for the ACL & SAL Railroads Historical Society. What began with a feeler ad by Warren Calloway in an issue of Extra 2200 South has grown to over 800 active members both in the United States and abroad.

In July of 1983, Joe Oates, with $375 and 37 charter members, started the Southeastern Railroad Technical Society, along with its fledging, photocopied, 16-page newsletter named Lines South. Warren Calloway was contributing editor, and Larry Goolsby was added as a contributing editor in the second issue published in October of 1983, when Lines South grew to 20 pages. In 1988, with the focus of the group squarely on the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line railroads, their predecessors, and successors, the organization (now several hundred strong) formally adopted the name you see today. In 1993, the group was incorporated in Florida as a not-for-profit organization under IRS 501(c)(3) rules. We've come many mileposts since.

While today our focus continues to be the publication of Lines South, the ACL & SAL Railroads Historical Society is renowned for its strong archive preservation efforts and is a recognized leader among railroad historical societies. We have published many of the books that are found in our company store, we participate in almost every regional railroad hobbyist show, and we support community efforts to preserve rolling stock and structures of the ACL, SAL, and related companies. In 2001, the City of Rocky Mount, North Carolina completed and opened the totally restored former ACL division office and depot structure, and granted us a room on the third floor for our official archive repository.

Since 1998, Lines South has been printed with color covers and pages, and is widely regarded as one of the best publications in our field.