Carolina Southern Railroad(reporting markCALA) was located off of Main Street in Conway, South Carolina, and was one of the few remaining train depots/lines in South Carolina. The railroad was originally erected in late 1886 and the first train steamed into the Conway Depot in December 1887. R.J. Corman Railroad Group took over the operations in 2015.
The Carolina Southern Railroad Co. owned and operated several box cars, passenger cars as well as the City of Myrtle Beach Club Car. The City of Myrtle Beach Club Car travels along Highway 501, crosses the Intracoastal Waterway and finally stopped at City of Myrtle Beach Train Depot located on 852 Broadway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Carolina Southern Railroad was a member of the Carolina Rails system with connections that run from Whiteville, North Carolina, to Mullins, South Carolina, and also from Chadbourn, North Carolina, to Conway. Carolina Southern railroad was also responsible for operation of the Waccamaw Coast Line Railroad, which is a railway that runs from Conway to Myrtle Beach.
The railroad had over 95 miles of track, 11 engines, 10 cars, and the ability to transport freight materials in excess of 16,000 to 1.7 million tons or more.[1]
History
The company in the late 1980s, as the Mid-Atlantic Railroad, began operating two former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad branch lines. One was a portion of the now abandoned ACL line between Wilmington, North Carolina, and Whiteville, North Carolina, and the other was operated by the Waccamaw Coast Line from Conway, South Carolina, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Commodities carried by the railroad are hot carbon dioxide (bottled), coal, wood products, stone, grain, agricultural chemicals, and processed food. Accessible to the line are industrial parks in Whiteville, North Carolina as well as east of Conway South Carolina. The railroad connects with CSX Transportation at Mullins.
In November 1985, Horry County, South Carolina purchased the Seaboard System Railroad line from Conway to Myrtle Beach. In 10/1987 the company was leased to the Waccamaw Coast Line Railroad for operations. In September 1996, the county decided to sell, and Carolina Southern, which began leasing the railroad line from the county, was the only bidder. The county turned down Carolina Southern's three bids, and by 1998, the city of Myrtle Beach showed interest.[2][3]
In 1987, the South Carolina Department of Transportation declared the section east of the Pine Island Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway to be unsafe. The state spent $4.2 million to restore the 50-year-old bridge, which reopened in summer 1997, pending implementation of Amtrak High Speed Rail service connecting at Florence, S.C. The first train crossed the bridge June 22, 2001, but Carolina Southern, still leasing from the county, had to spend $900,000 to bring the section east of the waterway up to the standards needed for regular service.[4][5][6]
Downfall
Though restored in the 1990s, much of the railroad was not in operation several decades later due to needed repairs. Carolina Southern Railroad was under a voluntary shutdown due to several bridges along the rail line requiring maintenance. The shutdown caused Carolina Southern to lay off nearly if not all of its employees, due to failing Federal Railroad Administration bridge inspections. On May 24, 2011, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) did a bridge inspection on both the Carolina Southern and Waccamaw Coastline Railroad (the Horry County portion of rail). A total 52 out of 187 bridges were inspected. and out of those inspected, seven bridges had critical defects. Carolina Southern voluntarily ceased operation on May 26, 2012, in order to hire a certified bridge engineer in order to inspect the critical bridges and prepare a plan for repairs and based on the engineer's recommendations, Carolina Southern made the required repairs to the problem bridges and resumed operations on August 8, 2011. On August 24, 2011, the FRA conducted another bridge inspection and at that time recommended the CSR cease operations until all of the bridges were repaired.[7]
The county later applied for a federal grant, with plans to spend $7.5 million on the county's rail line.[8] However, the TIGER grant application failed, leaving Horry County and Carolina Southern seeking other funding methods to upgrade their tracks.[9] In February 2012, Carolina Southern announced that they would again seek funding through a different TIGER grant level to get the most important problems fixed.[10] The railroad sold off some of its older passenger equipment to an Iowa short line due to lack of use or need for passenger equipment. As a freight railroad, the passenger cars were strictly for show and used only occasionally for company events.[7][11][12]
On August 23, 2012, MyHorryNews reported that First Federal Bank was suing the owners of Carolina Southern Railroad because of unpaid debt of over $1 million. First Federal filed the lawsuit on August 7 against Ken Pippin; the debt stems from a 2008 loan that was provided by what was then Plantation Federal Bank. Pippin claimed that the debt problems had already been dealt with.[13][14]
Officials from government and business considered it critical to have the presence of rail transportation not only to support current jobs, but to also facilitate expansion of existing businesses, the location of new businesses and the growth of jobs. Carolina Southern currently owns 93 miles of track in the counties with 2 being in South Carolina and 1 in North Carolina. After being shut down more than a year, the company had spent $400,000 on the seven bridges that had the worst problems, according to Jason Pippin, the railroad's general manager, and work had been completed on three of the bridges. He estimated that the work to repair the other four unsafe bridges would cost $1.5 million.[15][16]
On September 29, 2012, it was announced that a committee was formed to find new ways to get the service back online; it consisted of members from Columbus County, North Carolina, Marion County, South Carolina and Horry County, South Carolina.[15] On October 8, 2012, at a meeting in Loris, South Carolina, Carolina Southern owner Ken Pippin said that he did not have the money to make all the necessary improvements. The minimum amount that would be needed to get the railroad up and running again was estimated at $1.5 million and further improvements could add up beyond $12 million. Pippin, with the help of Horry County, had applied for federal grants, but had been turned down twice. Some of the committee members asked Pippin if he would be willing to sell the rail line and Pippin told WBTW that was not what he wanted; it was a family business that inherited a lot of problems, but they were able to cure those, and he was sure that they would be able to cure these.[17][18]
Possible sale
Several months later, the committee heard from a company that was interested in buying the line, according to committee co-chairman Doug Wendel. Wendel said the Pippin family had essentially abandoned the line, something Ken Pippin disputed. Wendel told the committee that the service is essential to the local area and went on to say that a lot of land along the line could be used by manufacturers if the railroad were up and running.[19]
In May 2013, Norfolk Southern sued Carolina Southern for nearly $180,000 in unpaid rent on rail cars. This was increased to over $740,000 when Carolina Southern's attorney said the rail cars could not be returned. Also in 2013, Horry County declared Carolina Southern to be in default and cancelled its contract. The county had yet to sue for the $150,000 the railroad owes. County records showed that, while Ken Pippin was found in default on $400,000 in debt secured by a condominium, he owned three other condos worth $879,000.[20] In February 2015, a federal judge ordered that Norfolk Southern be paid $103,826 plus the cost of moving the cars.[dead link][21]
On March 6, 2014, an article posted on the My Horry News website stated that Carolina Southern could be bought by Palmetto Railways, a division of the state Department of Commerce, though according to local officials, getting all parties involved to agree on a price could be difficult. Wendel said a private purchaser would be more desirable.[22]
On April 30, 2014, The Sun News reported that the two state committee trying to get Carolina Southern back in operation decided that it would need its own appraisal of Carolina Southern Railroad, The state did an appraisal for Carolina Southern due to the possible Palmetto Railways deal, but refused to share the appraisal with the committee, according to co-chairman Doug Wendel. The state did have its own appraisal done as it was considering purchasing Carolina Southern and making it a part of the state-owned Palmetto Railways. Pippin wanted to maintain ownership of seven miles of track around Mullins that freight into and out of the rest of the line would need toll travel to get to the national rail system. [23][24]
On May 15, 2014, My Horry News announced that the owners of Carolina Southern Railroad delayed their plans to abandon tracks, so that state and local leaders could line up the money to buy the struggling railroad.[25]
On July 23, 2014, it was reported that Carolina Southern Railroad agreed to begin the progress to abandoning all but seven miles of its track that are located in South Carolina and Columbus County. Area governments and Carolina Southern also announced a settlement that provides for a sale of the railroad, either at a price negotiated among the parties or one that is set by the Surface Transportation Board, asked the next day to dismiss with prejudice their complaint relating to Carolina Southern.[26][27][28][29]
On August 6, 2014, it was reported that Carolina Southern Railroad could be under new management within six months. Committee co-chairmen Wendel and Dennis Worley planned to meet September 8 with the Pippins. Since Horry County would provide most of the money, County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus would also be there.[30][31][32]
On August 20, 2014, it was reported that more work could be needed between North and South Carolina before a purchase of Carolina Southern. The problem was that any legislation in North Carolina was dependent on South Carolina passing the same law and that was not likely to happen until at least January.[33]
On September 17, 2014, it was announced that most of the details on a possible purchase had been worked out; Wendel said the sale was to be complete by year end.[34] It appeared the railroad would be purchased jointly by both North and South Carolina, but leased to a private operator.[35][36]
On October 2, 2014, it was learned by Waccamaw Publishers that Santee Cooper was involved, with the possibility of the utility using the railroad easements to run natural gas pipelines from North Carolina into South Carolina.[37]
On October 6, 2014, Columbus County approved $1.8 million in incentives for the rail line over a 10-year period.[38][39] The next day Horry County Council approved $1.8 million in tax incentives but did not say where the money would come from. Lazarus said that while the rail line ran through Marion County, they were not financially involved in the project.[40][41][42][43]
Sale to R.J. Corman Railroad Group
R.J. Corman Railroad Co. filed papers with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board in January 2015 indicating completion of a sale of all but one mile of the railroad near Whiteville as of February 11, with the railroad expected to reopen "sometime during the summer."[44] In a complaint filed March 6, 2015, Corman asked that Ken Pippin be required to sell Carolina Southern. Attorney Bill Hanna Jr. said the two state committee and Pippin had come to an agreement, and the committee assigned the agreement to Corman. Pippin denied any deal had been made.[45]
The $13.9 million sale was to be complete by August 2015. Corman expected $2 million in work and another six months before operations resume.[46] With 1600 employees in 23 states and a construction operation, Corman would be able to make the necessary upgrades. Pippin intended to keep the depot in Conway and said Carolina Southern would be a separate company. Corman planned for the railroad to deal with more businesses.[47]
On August 17, 2015, it was announced that R.J. Corman Railroad Co. had closed on the multimillion-dollar purchase of Carolina Southern. Officials from Corman told media that the company had already taken possession of Carolina Southern on August 17 and that the company has already moved equipment into place two weeks before the deal was officially sealed in order to return the railroad to operation as soon as possible.[48][49]
On April 6, 2016, the first train ran on the former Carolina Southern line in Horry County[50] after $3 million in upgrades. However, trains could only run 10 MPH. On February 4, 2019, the county and R.J. Corman broke ground on $17.5 million in further upgrades funded in part by a $9.8 million TIGER grant. By 2022, trains should be able to run at 25 MPH.[51]
Related Research Articles
Horry County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 351,029. It is the fourth-most populous county in South Carolina. The county seat is Conway.
Bucksport is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 876 at the 2010 census. It is a rural port on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at the merger point with the Waccamaw River. The port has some services available for boaters and is also home to the Bucksport Restaurant.
Conway is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in 2010 census. It is the county seat of Horry County and is part of the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. It is the home of Coastal Carolina University.
Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous 60-mile (97 km) stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its year-round population was 35,682 as of the 2020 census.
The Grand Strand is an arc of beach land on the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, United States, extending more than 60 miles (97 km) from Little River to Winyah Bay. It is located in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the NE South Carolina coast.
Carolina Forest is a census-designated place (CDP) in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 23,342.
South Carolina Highway 31 (SC 31), also known as the Carolina Bays Parkway, is a 28.097-mile (45.218 km) six-lane, limited-access highway that parallels the Intracoastal Waterway around Myrtle Beach. The first phase opened on December 17, 2002, completing a 22-mile (35 km) link between U.S. Route 501 (US 501) and SC 9. The second phase opened in March 2005, running from US 501 southwest to S.C. Highway 544. The third phase opened on November 7, 2019, extending to SC 707. While usually referred to only as the Carolina Bays Parkway, the highway is also dedicated the John B. Singleton Parkway in memory of John B. Singleton, a former Myrtle Beach City Council member and police commissioner.
Waccamaw Corp. was a home furnishings business that started in 1977 as Waccamaw Pottery, a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina based pottery company founded by George Bishop that sold pottery and crafts.
Robert Edge Parkway is a connection highway in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It begins at U.S. Route 17 (US 17) and Main Street, crosses the Intracoastal Waterway, has an interchange with South Carolina Highway 31 (SC 31) or the Carolina Bays Parkway, and terminates at an intersection with SC 90. The project consisted of upgrading Firetower Road, adding a new interchange for SC 31, expanding Main Street in North Myrtle Beach to accommodate the increase in traffic, and a 1,000-foot bridge (300 m) over the Intracoastal Waterway which includes a 10-foot-wide path (3.0 m) for walkers and bicycles. Formerly known as the Main Street Connector, the road has been named for Robert Edge Sr., the first mayor of North Myrtle Beach starting in 1968. For twelve years before that, Edge was the mayor of Crescent Beach, one of the four towns which, through Edge's efforts, became North Myrtle Beach. The road opened September 3, 2009.
South Carolina Highway 707 (SC 707) is a 12.645-mile (20.350 km) state highway in Georgetown and Horry counties, in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of South Carolina, in the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. It begins at U.S. Highway 17 Business in Murrells Inlet to US 17 across from Farrow Parkway near Socastee, South Carolina.
South Carolina Highway 22 (SC 22), also known as the Conway Bypass and Veterans Highway, is a four lane freeway that connects US 501 north of Conway, South Carolina, to US 17 in Myrtle Beach. The road was opened to traffic on May 4, 2001, six months ahead of schedule. There is speculation that it could become part of Interstate 73 in the future. The road largely meets Interstate Highway standards, but in order to support increased Interstate traffic, its shoulders would need to be expanded to standard width.
The Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad was an American railroad of central Maryland built in the 19th century. The railroad, the second to serve Annapolis, ran between Annapolis and Clifford along the north shore of the Severn River. From Clifford, just north of the present day Patapsco Light Rail Stop, it connected with the B&O's Curtis Bay branch so that trains could travel to Baltimore. In 1921, when it was called the Annapolis and Baltimore Short Line, it was purchased by the larger Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway (WB&A), and then emerged from the WB&A's 1935 bankruptcy and closure as the Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad. B&A electric passenger operation between the two cities continued until 1950, at which time the rail line became solely a freight carrier, operating buses for passenger service. Freight service to Annapolis continued until June 1968 when the Severn River Trestle was declared unsafe. In the 1980s, the line was completely shut down. The right-of-way now serves as part of Baltimore's light rail system and as the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail.
Harrelson Boulevard is a four-lane highway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, named for Myrtle Beach's first mayor Dr. W. Leroy Harrelson Sr., who was elected to office in 1938. It starts at U.S. 17, and goes to Myrtle Beach International Airport and runs near Coastal Grand Mall. The highway is also the southern terminus for Grissom Parkway. It replaced the two-lane Jetport Road.
The Southern Evacuation Lifeline (SELL) is a proposed 28-mile (45 km) limited-access highway in Horry County, South Carolina, in the United States. The project is currently underfunded, expecting to cost around $600 million, and issues with the route itself still remain, as it would travel directly next to several wildlife preserves.
The Waccamaw Coast Line Railroad was a 14.1-mile (22.7 km) short-line railroad division of the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad, extending from a connection with the Carolina Southern Railroad, another division of that company, at Conway to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The line was opened in 1900 by the Conway Coast and Western Railroad, a predecessor of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The Seaboard System Railroad sold the line to Horry County in November 1984, and it was operated by the Horry County Railway until October 1987, when the WCLR took over. The Carolina Southern Railroad acquired the WCLR in September 1995, and operated until both its lines and WCLR's line ceased operations. In 2015, RJ Corman took control of the Carolina Southern and all of its trackage and rehabilitated it as the R.J. Corman Carolina Lines.
Interstate 73 (I-73) is a proposed Interstate Highway in the US state of South Carolina. When completed, it will connect the Grand Strand area with the state's Interstate system.
Road Improvement and Development Effort or RIDE is a plan for road projects in Horry County, South Carolina, including Carolina Bays Parkway, Veterans Highway and Robert Grissom Parkway. The first phase, costing $1.1 billion, was being paid for by hospitality taxes. The second phase, called RIDE II, was being paid for through a one-cent sales tax approved by Horry County voters November 7, 2006. RIDE III was being planned as of 2013 and voters approved a penny tax in 2016.
Myrtle Beach Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot is a historic train station located at Myrtle Beach in Horry County, South Carolina. It was built in 1937 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and is one-story rectangular building was constructed with the standard ACL bi-level floor plan that has a raised freight room with steps leading down to the lobby/office area. It features exterior architectural detailing reflecting Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Mission stylistic influences.
The Conway Seashore Railroad was a South Carolina railroad that operated in the early 20th century. It ran from Conway, South Carolina southeast to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Wilmington, Chadbourn and Conway Railroad was a Southeastern railroad that operated between Chadbourn, North Carolina and Conway, South Carolina near the end of the 19th century.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
