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Carolina Central Railroad

Seaboard Air Line Railroad 416, formerly Carolina Central Railroad 26
Overview
Locale	North Carolina
Dates of operation	1855 (1855)–1900 (1900)
Predecessor	Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad
Successor	Seaboard Air Line Railroad
Technical
Length	152 miles (245 km)

The Carolina Central Railroad, was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1855 as the Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad and was renamed the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad shortly after. It was reorganized as the Carolina Central Railway in 1873. It built 152 miles (245 km) of track, in two unconnected sections, in the southern part of North Carolina. The company was again reorganized as the Carolina Central Railroad in 1880. In 1900, the Carolina Central Railroad was merged into the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Its lines are now owned by CSX Transportation.

History

Formation and early years

The Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad was incorporated on February 13, 1855, but the name was changed soon after to the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad. The company intended to build a railway line from Wilmington, North Carolina, on the Atlantic Ocean, to Rutherford County, North Carolina, via Charlotte, North Carolina.

The company completed a 112-mile (180 km) line from Navassa, outside Wilmington, to Rockingham, in 1861. This line included a 78.8-mile (126.8 km)-long segment of straight track between Laurel Hill and East Arcadia, the longest such line in the United States. Separately, the company built a 31-mile (50 km) from Charlotte to Lincolnton, in the direction of Rutherford County. The outbreak of the American Civil War prevented any further construction from taking place. In 1870 an additional 7 miles (11 km) opened between Rockingham and Pee Dee, on the Pee Dee River, leaving the a 63-mile (101 km) gap between the two sections of the railroad.

When the east end of the line in Navassa was completed in 1861, it ran just north of Royster Road to its terminus at the Cape Fear River just south of the Interstate 140 bridge (both road locations as of 2023). In 1866, the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad created the Wilmington Railway Bridge Company as a joint venture with the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad to build a bridge over the Cape Fear River. The bridge, which was jointly owned by both railroads, was completed in 1867 allowing both railroad to extend into central Wilmington.

The company entered receivership in 1872 and was sold in 1873 to the Carolina Central Railway, which in 1874 completed the connection between Wilmington and Charlotte. The railroad finally reached Rutherford via a new extension of the line in 1877. Another change in corporate identity occurred in 1880, when the Carolina Central Railway became the Carolina Central Railroad, controlled by a predecessor of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.

In 1896, a branch was built from Ellenboro south to Caroleen and the Henrietta Mill.

The Carolina Central Railroad was ultimately merged into the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1900.

Seaboard Air Line years

Wilmington and Monroe Subdivisions
Overview
Status	Segments still operating under CSX
Owner	Seaboard Air Line Railroad
Termini	Wilmington, North Carolina Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Technical
Line length	304.3 mi (489.7 km)
Electrification	No

The Seaboard Air Line Railroad operated the line as their Wilmington Subdivision east of Hamlet and as their Monroe Subdivision west of Hamlet to Rutherfordton. The branch to Caroleen was known as the Caroleen Subdivision. The line would be the Seaboard Air Line's only line to the port city of Wilmington, which by then was the headquarters and a major hub of their main competitor, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.

The Seaboard built their historic Hamlet station at the junction with the main line in Hamlet which would become a major junction for the company. In the 1950s, the company was running a local passenger train from Wilmington to Charlotte daily. At the same time, Seaboard's Silver Comet, The Cherry Blossoms, and The Capitol ran the line daily from the main line at Hamlet to Monroe, where they turned down the Abbeville Subdivision toward Atlanta. On the Wilmington Subdivision, a through-freight train ran daily along with separate local freight trains which ran three days a week. On the Monroe Subdivision, the Tar Heel, a named freight train ran from Hamlet to Bostic daily along with separate local freight trains.

Seaboard discontinued its local passenger train from Wilmington to Charlotte in 1958, ending its passenger service to Wilmington.

Later years

In 1967, the Seaboard Air Line merged with its rival, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). The merged company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). Seaboard Coast Line continued operating the line as the Wilmington Subdivision and Monroe Subdivision. The Silver Comet was discontinued the following year.

In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System, creating the CSX Corporation. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation. CSX extended the Monroe Subdivision name from Monroe to Abbeville as it is today and truncated the Abbeville Subdivision to Abbeville. The former Monroe Subdivision west of Monroe towards Charlotte, North Carolina is now the Charlotte Subdivision.

Current operations

Today, the former Carolina Central Railroad is still in service from Wilmington to Bostic and is still operated by CSX Transportation.

Wilmington Subdivision

v t e Wilmington Subdivision
Legend
CSX Hamlet Terminal Subdivision SE 254.3 East Junction CSX Andrews Subdivision SE 259.1 Laurinburg Laurinburg and Southern Railroad SE 275.9 Maxton fmr. Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Ry. (ACL) ← to Bennettsville · to Hope Mills → SE 278.4 Alma SE 285.7 Pembroke CSX A Line (South End Subdivision) SE 291.3 Lowe SE 297.1 Lumberton Duart Spur SE 310.8 Bladenboro SE 318.9 Clarkton SE 327.1 Rosindale SE 338.8 East Arcadia Davis Yard SE 360.3 Navassa Malmo Spur Cape Fear River fmr. Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Ry. (ACL) to Fayetteville SE 364.2 Wilmington fmr. Wilmington & Weldon RR (ACL) to Contentnea fmr. Wilmington, New Bern & Norfolk RR (ACL) to New Bern

The segment from Wilmington to East Junction in Hamlet is still operated as CSX's Wilmington Subdivision. It is now the only remaining rail line serving Wilmington, North Carolina since all former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad lines to Wilmington have since been severed.

East Junction to Monroe

The line from East Junction in Hamlet west to Pee Dee is now the east-west segment of CSX's Hamlet Terminal Subdivision. From Pee Dee west to Monroe is still known as the Monroe Subdivision, which now continues beyond Monroe down to Abbeville on the former Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railway.

Charlotte Subdivision

v t e Charlotte Subdivision
Legend
CSX Monroe Subdivision SF 306.2 Monroe SF 313.1 Stouts I-485 SF 319.5 Matthews SF 326.2 Rama SF 330.2 Charlotte NS Charlotte District I-277 I-77 SF 331.7 Freedom Pinoca Yard SF 337.3 Thrift Catawba River CSX Terrell Subdivision Charlotte Western Railroad SF 341.8 Mount Holly SF 348.6 Stanley SF 362.3 Lincolnton SF 372.4 Cherryville SF 383.7 Shelby SF 391.8 Lattimore SF 398.2 Ellenboro SF 403.8 Bostic CSX Blue Ridge Subdivision to Rutherfordton (abandoned)
Note: Not to scale

The line from Monroe though Charlotte to Bostic is now CSX's Charlotte Subdivision. The Charlotte Subdivision now terminates at CSX's Blue Ridge Subdivision (a former Clinchfield Railroad line) in Bostic. It connects to the Terrell Subdivision and the Charlotte Western Railroad in Mount Holly.

Terrell Subdivision

The line from Mount Holly, North Carolina to Terrell, North Carolina is called the Terrell Subdivision. The line runs for a total of 23.2 miles (37.3 km). At its southern end the line continues north from the Charlotte Subdivision and at its northern end the line comes to an end at Marshall Steam Station, owned by Duke Power.

West of Bostic

In the 1980s, CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway consolidated their parallel lines between Forest City and Rutherfordton. In the 1990, this remaining track and track from Forest City to Bostic was sold to the Thermal Belt Railway. Track from Forest City to Rutherfordton was abandoned in the early 2000s and is now part of the Thermal Belt Rail Trail. Track from Bostic to Forest City is still in place but has not been used since 2013.

Historic stations

References

1. ^ Manual (1874), p. 346.
2. ^ Prince (2000), p. 23.
3. Schachtman, Benjamin (December 11, 2017). "The little project that could? Rail realignment could transform the region, for a price". Port City Daily. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
4. ^ ICC (1932), p. 652.
5. ^ Kernan, Charles (1988). Rails to Weeds: Searching Out the Ghost Railroads Around Wilmington (PDF). pp. 5, 8–9.
6. "North Carolina Railroads - Carolina Central Railroad". Carolana. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
7. ^ Seaboard Air Line Railroad Virginia Division Timetable (1955)
8. ^ Seaboard Air Line Railroad Georgia Division Timetable (1955)
9. Goolsby, Larry (2010). "The ACL Moves to Jacksonville". Lines South. 27 (3). White River Productions: 14–21.
10. "Seaboard Air Line, Table 38". Official Guide of the Railways. 91 (3). National Railway Publication Company. August 1958.
11. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Raleigh Division Timetable (1972)
12. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Atlanta Division Timetable (1970)
13. Seaboard Air Line timetable, December 15, 1967, Table 21 -in service
14. ^ CSX Florence Division Timetable
15. "Carolina Central Railway". NCPedia. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
16. "Charlotte Western Railroad". ncrailways.org. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
17. "North Carolina's Thermal Belt Rail Trail". Rails to Trails Conservancy. Retrieved 6 July 2023.

Further reading

• American Railroad Manual for the United States and the Dominion. United States: American Railroad Manual Company. 1874.
• Interstate Commerce Commission (1932). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States: Valuation reports. United States: U.S. Government Printing Office.
• Prince, Richard E. (2000) . Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives, and History. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33695-8.

• Defunct North Carolina railroads
• Railway companies established in 1855
• Railway companies disestablished in 1873
• American companies established in 1855