Columbia and Sumter Railroad

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Columbia and Sumter Railroad
Overview
Dates of operation1866–1870
Successor Wilmington and Carolina Railroad
Technical
Track gauge 5 ft (1,524 mm)

The Columbia and Sumter Railroad was a railroad in South Carolina running between those two cities that began operating immediately after the American Civil War. It later became part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad network. The railroad is still in service today and it is now operated by CSX Transportation as their Eastover Subdivision. [1]

Contents

History

Columbia Union Depot S-l1600 (7).jpg
Columbia Union Depot

The Columbia and Sumter Railroad was chartered by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1866, shortly after the American Civil War. It only briefly operated as an independent railroad before it was sold to the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad (the successor to the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad) in 1870. [2] [3]

The Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta lasted until 1898 when it was absorbed into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. [4] The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad operated the line for many years as their Sumter—Columbia Line and they operated both passenger and freight service. Sumter was a major hub for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. By 1902, passenger trains began operating to Columbia's newly-built Union Station along with the Southern Railway. [5] [6]

In the 1950s, the Atlantic Coast Line was operating a daily local passenger train on the line and two daily through freight trains. A additional local freight train also ran the line six days a week at the same time. [7]

The Atlantic Coast Line became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) in 1967 after merging with their rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL). The Seaboard Coast Line adopted the Seaboard Air Line's method of naming their lines as subdivisions and company gave the line its current designation, the Eastover Subdivision. By 1971, only freight trains were operating on the line. [8]

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.

Current operations

CSX still operates the Eastover Subdivision today. It connects with CSX's S Line (Columbia Subdivision) and a couple of Norfolk Southern Railway (the successor to the Southern Railway) lines in Columbia. The Eastover Subdivision notably serves a Sylvamo paper mill near Eastover. [1]

Historic stations

MilepostCity/LocationStation [7] Connections and notes
AKA 332.0 Sumter Sumterjunction with:
AKA 338.3 Cane Savannah
AKA 342.0 Wedgefield
AKA 344.3Foxvillejunction with Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad (SOU)
AKA 346.2Malta
AKA 350.3Acton
AKA 352.7 Eastover Eastover
AKA 359.2Congaree
AKA 365.6Lykes
AKA 368.5Sims
AKA 372.0Andrews
AKA 374.9 Columbia Columbia Union Station junction with:

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References

  1. 1 2 "CSX Florence Division Timetable" (PDF). Multimodalways.org. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  2. ↑ "South Carolina Railroads - Columbia & Sumter Railroad". Carolana. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Wikipedia, WikiProject Trains, ICC valuations, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
  4. ↑ "South Carolina Railroads - Wilmington, Columbia & Augusta Railroad". Carolana. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Florence Bacher Myers (May 1973). "Union Station" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
  6. ↑ "Union Station, Richland County (401 S. Main St., Columbia)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
  7. 1 2 Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Northern Division Timetable (1949)
  8. ↑ Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Florence Division Timetable (1971)
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