ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY, a Virginia corporation which operates in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. It is the outgrowth of the gradual consolidation of more than 8o separate railroad corporations and the construction and purchase of a large amount of additional mileage connecting therewith. The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Company, chartered by the State of Virginia in 1836, was the basic or parent company, into which the other railroads were merged and consolidated. The first step was taken in 1898, when this company absorbed the property of the Petersburg Railroad Company, another Virginia corporation, chartered in 183o, and changed its name to Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company of Virginia, with less than i oo m. total mileage. In 1900, the Company absorbed the property of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company, chartered by the State of North Carolina in 1834, and of other companies, and again changed its name to Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. Upon this merger the railroad lines of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company were extended from Richmond and Norfolk, in Virginia, to Charleston and Columbia, in South Carolina, with branch and feeder lines extending throughout eastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina, with a total mileage of about 1,76o miles. In 1902 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company acquired the Plant System, extending from Charleston, S.C., to Tampa, Fla., and Montgomery, Ala.. with many branch lines. This purchase gave the Atlantic Coast Line a total of 4,138 miles. Additional track constructed and acquired had brought the total mileage up to 5,146 in The territory served by the Atlantic Coast Line is one of the largest and most important producers in the United States of perishable fruits and vegetables, and this railway line ranks among the leading carriers of these commodities. Passenger travel is important also because of the large number of tourists that annually visit Florida and other points in the southeastern States. The Atlantic Coast Line operates a number of trains, both seasonal and year-long, designed to encourage this traffic. The capitaliza tion of the Company on Aug. 31, 1935 consisted of common stock 823,427 shares, with a par value of $82,342,700; preferred stock 1,967 shares, with a par value of $196,700; funded debt out standing, $151,727,930; total (G. B. E.)