The Augusta and Summerville Railroad( reporting mark AUS) is a railroad in Georgia, United States.
It was chartered in 1866 and operated until 1888 using horses to pull rail cars over a 7-mile route. [1] Eventually the horses were retired and the A&S ended up operating a 3-mile railroad to provide connections between other railroads.
Between 1897 and 1900, the A&S was sold jointly to the Southern Railway, the Central of Georgia Railway, the Charleston and Western Carolina Railway and the Georgia Railroad.
The A&S is currently operated as a switching line jointly owned by CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. [2]
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States. With headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, the company operates 19,420 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montréal route of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and previously on CN from Buffalo to St. Thomas. NS is responsible for maintaining 28,400 miles (45,700 km), with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance. The most common commodity hauled on the railway is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The railway also offers the largest intermodal network in eastern North America.
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.
The Southern Railway was a class 1 railroad based in the Southern United States between 1894 and 1982, when it merged with the Norfolk & Western to form Norfolk Southern. The railroad was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894.
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Predecessor railroads dated from the 1830s and reorganized extensively to rebuild after the American Civil War. The company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia. The Seaboard Air Line Railway Building in Norfolk's historic Freemason District still stands and has been converted into apartments.
The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company also seen as "GARR", was a historic railroad and banking company that operated in the U.S. state of Georgia. In 1967 it reported 833 million revenue-ton-miles of freight and 3 million passenger-miles; at the end of the year it operated 331 miles (533 km) of road and 510 miles (820 km) of track.
The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was the final name of a system of railroads throughout Florida, becoming part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900. The system, including some of the first railroads in Florida, stretched from Jacksonville west through Tallahassee and south to Tampa. Much of the FC&P network is still in service under the ownership of CSX Transportation.
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.
The Atlantic and Western Railway is a Class III short-line railroad operating about 10 miles (16 km) of track in Lee County, North Carolina. Atlantic and Western is part of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. and formerly part of Rail Management and Consulting. It was reorganized in 1927 from the Atlantic and Western Railroad.
The Charleston and Western Carolina Railway (C&WC) was formed in 1896 to operate the lines of the former Port Royal and Augusta Railway (PR&A) and the Port Royal and Western Carolina Railway (PR&WC). The PR&A and PR&WC had originally been part of the Central of Georgia Railroad but the South Carolina Legislature had forced the railroad to give up the subsidiary lines. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) took over the C&WC in 1897 but operated it as a subsidiary until 1959 when the ACL fully absorbed it. Much of the original system is still in use by ACL successor CSX Transportation.
The Riceboro Southern Railway began operations in 2004 operating on about 33 miles of track, some of which is leased from CSX Transportation. The track on which it operates is part of the ex-Seaboard Air Line route from Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida. It runs generally from Ogeechee, Georgia, where the line splits from the CSX Savannah Subdivision, which is the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Savannah-Jacksonville route, and Riceboro. It does not have any of its own locomotives; it uses Georgia Central power.
The Piedmont & Northern Railway was a heavy electric interurban company operating over two disconnected divisions in North and South Carolina. Tracks spanned 128 miles (206 km) total between the two segments, with the northern division running 24 miles (39 km) from Charlotte, to Gastonia, North Carolina, including a three-mile (5 km) spur to Belmont. The southern division main line ran 89 miles (143 km) from Greenwood to Spartanburg, South Carolina, with a 12 mi (19 km) spur to Anderson. Initially the railroad was electrified at 1500 volts DC, however, much of the electrification was abandoned when dieselisation was completed in 1954.
The Carolina Piedmont Railroad is a class III railroad and subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. operating in the Upstate region of South Carolina. From an interchange with CSX Transportation at Laurens the railroad runs 34 miles (55 km) to the northwest, terminating at East Greenville.
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 Augusta–Aiken Railway and Electric Corporation was an electric interurban railroad that operated between Augusta, Georgia and Aiken, South Carolina. Once completed in 1902 the railroad remained in operation until it was abandoned in 1929.
The McCormick Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina. The line runs from Augusta, Georgia, to Greenwood, South Carolina, for a distance of 62.8 miles (101.1 km). At its south end the line continues north from the Augusta Subdivision and at its north end the line continues north as the Monroe Subdivision.
The Georgia Great Southern Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating between Dawson and Albany, Georgia, 24.2 miles (38.9 km). The railroad was partially abandoned in 1994. RailTex consolidated its holdings in the area into the Georgia Southwestern in 1995, and the Georgia Great Southern ceased to exist as a separate railroad.
The Port Royal and Western Carolina Railway (PR&WC) was a railroad company in the southern United States that operated on 229 miles (369 km) of 4 ft 9 in gauge track. It was formed in 1886 by the merger of the Augusta and Knoxville Railroad, Greenwood, Laurens and Spartanburg Railroad, Savannah Valley Railroad and the Greenville and Laurens Railroad, which then joined with Port Royal and Augusta Railway.
The Palmetto Railroad was a Southeastern railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina in the late 19th century.
The Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad was a North Carolina railroad that operated in the second half of the 19th century.
Horse Creek Valley is a geographic area along Horse Creek, a tributary of the Savannah River. It lies within present-day Aiken County, South Carolina. The area is alternately referred to as "Midland Valley". Rising near Vaucluse, South Carolina, Horse Creek enters the Savannah two miles downstream of downtown Augusta, Georgia. Other communities along Horse Creek include Graniteville, Warrenville, Gloverville, Langley, Burnettown, Bath, and Clearwater. While Horse Creek itself is rather insignificant, its potential for water power led to early examples of Southern industrialization, including a textile mill at Vaucluse (1830) and William Gregg's Graniteville Mill (1845). The textile industry continued to play a primary role until the Graniteville Train Derailment and final closure of the Graniteville Mill in 2006.