| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | North Carolina |
| Dates of operation | 1854–1989 |
| Successor | North Carolina Railroad Company |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Previous gauge | 5 ft (1,524 mm) |
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company was incorporated under act of the North Carolina Legislature, ratified December 27, 1852, and was organized on January 20, 1854. [1]
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company constructed 96.1 miles (154.7 km) of 5 ft (1,524 mm) [2] gauge railroad line between Morehead City, North Carolina, and Goldsboro, North Carolina, through New Bern, North Carolina. The leasehold had been acquired by Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which in turn had secured it from the Atlantic and North Carolina Company, the original lessee, when the latter was absorbed in the consolidation which formed the Norfolk Southern Railway Company.
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company was built by divisions, largely, if not wholly, under contract, at various times prior to the summer of 1858. Operation of the approximately 96.1 miles (154.7 km) railroad line between Morehead City, North Carolina on the Crystal Coast by the Atlantic Ocean, and Goldsboro, North Carolina, began on or about June 1, 1858.
The railroad line suffered considerable damage during the American Civil War. A First Sinking Fund Mortgage dated February 29, 1868, in the amount of $1.5 million was placed on the property in order to finance the rehabilitation of the line.
In addition to the line of railroad, the Atlantic and North Carolina company also owned the Atlantic Hotel built at Morehead City in 1880 to replace the original Atlantic Hotel which had been built at Beaufort, North Carolina, in 1859 by Josiah Pender and destroyed by a hurricane in 1879. [3]
The line of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company was leased to a predecessor of Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company (1906) and its successor in reorganization, Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (incorporated in Virginia, May 2, 1910), until the lease was forfeited in 1934 for non-payment of rent. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) authorized Norfolk Southern Railroad's (of 1910) abandonment of operations of the Atlantic and North Carolina. [4] The ICC found that Atlantic and North Carolina rightfully resumed operation of the line after the default. [5]
The Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company was leased to the Atlantic and East Carolina Railroad Company, effective August 1, 1939, under authority granted by the ICC. [6]
The Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company had been chartered under the general corporation laws of North Carolina on June 19, 1939, with charter power to lease and operate the line of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company. The issues of stock by the Atlantic and East Carolina were authorized by the ICC. [7] The ICC also approved the new Atlantic and East Carolina Railway's lease of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad. [8]
In 1942, the ICC authorized the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company to issue certain promissory notes to purchase 1.43 miles (2.30 km) of spur track from Havelock, North Carolina, to a United States reservation under construction (Camp Lejeune) from its lessee, Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company, because Atlantic and North Carolina considered the spur to be an essential part of its line. [9] Atlantic and East Carolina had organized the Cherry Point Railroad Company for the purpose of constructing the spur.
In this period passenger services changed from running under the name of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad [10] to the name of Atlantic and East Carolina Railway, in accordance with the leasing change. [11] [12] The railroad offered a once a day train from Goldsboro Union Station to Morehead City. [13] The final Atlantic and East Carolina Railway service would end by 1951. [14] The departures and arrivals at Goldsboro were timed to accommodate a local Southern Railway overnight train (#111/#112, in final years, #11/#112) to parts in central and western North Carolina, comparable to the North Carolina section of the Carolina Special. [15]
In 1957, the ICC authorized the acquisition of the stock of Atlantic and East Carolina Railroad Company (the lessee operating company) by Southern Railway Company. [16]
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company was merged into North Carolina Railroad Company on September 29, 1989.
The Surface Transportation Board, successor agency to the Interstate Commerce Commission, approved North Carolina Railroad Company's agreement granting to Norfolk Southern Railway Company exclusive local and overhead freight trackage rights to operate over its entire line of railroad between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Morehead City, North Carolina. [note 1]
Norfolk Southern Railway Company agreed to grant to its wholly owned subsidiary, Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company, local and overhead trackage rights to operate over the former Atlantic and North Carolina portion of North Carolina Railroad's line between Goldsboro, North Carolina, and Morehead City, North Carolina. [18] That portion of line extends between mileposts EC-0.0+/- and EC-94.7+/-, a distance of approximately 94.7 miles (152.4 km) in Carteret, Craven, Jones, Lenoir, and Wayne Counties. The exemption was effective on August 19, 1999, and the trackage rights operations began on September 1, 1999. The purpose of the trackage rights was to allow Norfolk Southern Railway and Atlantic and East Carolina Railway to continue as the providers of local and overhead freight service on the respective North Carolina Railroad Company lines, as they had previously done under the expired leases.
In September 2003, Norfolk Southern Railway Company and Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company filed a verified notice of exemption under the Surface Transportation Board's corporate family class exemption to merge Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company into Norfolk Southern Railway Company, with Norfolk Southern Railway Company as the surviving entity as early as October 6, 2003. [19]
The Georgia Southwestern Railroad is a Class III short line railroad company that operates over 234 miles (377 km) of track in southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama. Beginning in 1989 as a division of the South Carolina Central Railroad on a pair of former CSX Transportation lines, the railroad has since undergone a number of transformations through abandonments and acquisitions, before arriving at its current form. The railroad was formerly a RailAmerica property before going independent, and in 2008 it was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community. The railroad was featured in the January 2012 issue of Trains Magazine. It is referenced in the How It’s Made episode “Railway Bridge Ties”, showing it crossing a curved bridge.
The Norfolk Southern Railway was the final name of a railroad that ran from Norfolk, Virginia, southwest and west to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1974, which merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1982 to form the current Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Wisconsin Northern Railroad is the trade name employed by Progressive Rail to operate 62.3 miles (100.3 km) of railroad in northern Wisconsin and began operations on November 29, 2004.
The Iowa Northern Railway is a Class III shortline railroad operating in the U.S. state of Iowa.
The Yadkin Valley Railroad is the trade name of the Piedmont and Atlantic Railroad and is a shortline railroad operating two lines leased from the Norfolk Southern Railway originating out of Rural Hall, North Carolina for a distance of 93 miles (150 km). The railroad began operation in 1989 and is currently a subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways.
The North Carolina Railroad is a 317-mile (510 km) state-owned rail corridor extending from Morehead City, North Carolina, to Charlotte. The railroad carries over seventy freight trains operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway and eight passenger trains daily. The railroad works with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Department of Transportation on capital improvement projects.
The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad is a short-line railroad that operates freight trains in Western New York and Northwest Pennsylvania, United States. The company is controlled by the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad, with which it does not connect. It started operations in 2001 on the Southern Tier Extension, a former Erie Railroad line between Hornell, NY and Corry, PA, owned by the public Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Steuben Southern Tier Extension Railroad Authority (STERA). Through acquisitions and leases, the line was extended from Corry to Meadville, PA in 2002 and to Oil City, PA in 2006. In 2007, the WNY&P leased and sub-leased portions of the north–south Buffalo Line, a former Pennsylvania Railroad line mostly built by a predecessor of the defunct Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway. The two lines cross at Olean, NY.
Gulf & Ohio Railways is a holding company for four different short-line railroads in the Southern United States, as well as a tourist-oriented passenger train, and locomotive leasing and repair service through Knoxville Locomotive Works. Gulf & Ohio maintains its corporate headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Pine Belt Southern Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating on two disconnected track segments in east central Alabama. Upon its start in 1995 the railroad ran over a branch from Nuckols to Hurtsboro, Alabama. In 1996 a second branch was acquired, extending from Roanoke, Jct., near Opelika, to Lafayette, Alabama. Together the lines totaled 42.4 miles (68.2 km) and the railroad was controlled by Richard Abernathy.
The Youngstown and Southeastern Railroad is a short-line railroad subsidiary of Midwest & Bluegrass Rail that operates freight trains between Youngstown, Ohio and Darlington, Pennsylvania, United States. The line is owned by the Columbiana County Port Authority, leased to the Eastern States Railroad, which is owned by the line's primary shipper, and contracted out to the YSRR. Freight is interchanged with CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway at the Youngstown end.
The Winamac Southern Railway is a short-line railroad in northern Indiana, United States, operated under lease by the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway. It owns two lines radiating from Logansport to Kokomo and Bringhurst, and formerly a third to Winamac, all former Pennsylvania Railroad lines acquired from Conrail in 1993. It hauls mainly outbound grain and inbound agricultural supplies, connecting with the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway at Logansport and with the Central Railroad of Indianapolis at Kokomo. Until 2009, the Central Railroad of Indianapolis operated the company as agent.
The Youngstown Belt Railroad is a part of the Ohio Central Railroad System, which was bought by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 2008, serving the area northwest of Youngstown, Ohio. It began operations in 1997, mainly on ex-Erie Railroad trackage owned by the affiliated Warren and Trumbull Railroad (W&T), which acquired the "Lordstown Cluster" from Conrail in 1996. It also leases a short ex-Baltimore and Ohio Railroad segment from CSX Transportation, formerly operated by the W&T.
The West Tennessee Railroad is a shortline railroad in the Southern U.S., connecting Corinth, Mississippi, to Fulton, Kentucky, via western Tennessee. The company began operating in 1984 on a portion of the former Mobile and Ohio Railroad (M&O) main line between Jackson and Kenton, Tennessee. It significantly expanded operations in 2001 through the lease, from the Norfolk Southern Railway, of the ex-M&O south to Corinth and a former main line of the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) north to Fulton, as well as a branch from Jackson to Poplar Corner. All of these lines were part of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG) prior to its 1980s program of spin-offs, during which Gibson County purchased the Jackson-Kenton line and the Southern Railway acquired the Corinth-Fulton line and Poplar Corner branch.
The Warren and Trumbull Railroad is a part of the Ohio Central Railroad System, which was bought by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 2008, operating three lines in and near Warren. It began operations in 1994 on a line formerly operated by CSX Transportation, and expanded in 1996 on two ex-Conrail lines.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The Morehead and South Fork Railroad is a terminal switching railroad serving the port facilities of Morehead City, North Carolina and Radio Island with 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of track. Created in 2005 as a successor to Carolina Rail Services, the railroad was initially a Gulf & Ohio subsidiary before a change of contract in 2010 transferred operational responsibility to the Carolina Coastal Railway.
The Maine Northern Railway Company Limited is a 258 mi (415 km) U.S. and Canadian short line railroad owned by the New Brunswick Railway Company, a holding company that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited.
The Delmarva Central Railroad is an American short-line railroad owned by Carload Express that operates 188 miles (303 km) of track on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The railroad operates lines from Porter, Delaware to Hallwood, Virginia and from Harrington, Delaware to Frankford, Delaware along with several smaller branches. The DCR interchanges with the Norfolk Southern Railway and the Maryland and Delaware Railroad. The railroad was created in 2016 to take over the Norfolk Southern Railway lines on the Delmarva Peninsula. The DCR expanded by taking over part of the Bay Coast Railroad in 2018 and the Delaware Coast Line Railroad in 2019. In April of 2021, it also owns the line of Taneytown, Maryland, where the Taneytown and Thurmont Railroad currently operates with a wood burning steam engine since November of 2021.
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