In May 1920, the predecessor Norfolk Southern Railroad leased the Durham and South Carolina Railroad, which became its Durham branch. This would be the largest the NSRR would become: a route of 942 miles (1,516km). At the end of 1970, the successor Norfolk Southern Railway operated 624 miles (1,004km) of road with 801 miles (1,289km) of track; that year it reported 710 million ton-miles of revenue freight.
On November 1, 1899, the N&S bought the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad, running east from Norfolk to Virginia Beach on the Atlantic Ocean. An extension parallel to the oceanfront took the line north from Virginia Beach to Cape Henry in 1902, but two years later the N&S bought the competing Chesapeake Transit Company which had a line from Norfolk to Cape Henry via the Lynnhaven Inlet area and hence to Virginia Beach, and abandoned its duplicative trackage between Cape Henry and Virginia Beach. The importance of passenger rail service to the Oceanfront area to Virginia Beach's resort growth in the late 19th and early 20th century was eclipsed only in 1922 by the construction of the paved Virginia Beach Boulevard roadway between the Oceanfront area and Norfolk.
The Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina Railroad was organized in 1903 and renamed the Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad in 1905. In 1906, it built a line from the end of the N&S at Washington south to Bridgeton, as well as a completely separated line from Raleigh east to Zebulon.
On November 24, 1906, the Norfolk and Southern Railway was formed as a consolidation of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad with the Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad and several other companies:
The company again entered receivership in 1908, and in a 1910 reorganization returned to the 1883 name: Norfolk Southern Railroad. That same year it built a long branch from Chocowinity (also known as Marsden) on the main line south of Washington west to the isolated section to Raleigh at Zebulon (that became the main line to Charlotte via Raleigh, while the old line to New Bern became a branch). Several shorter branches also opened that year - from Bayboro south to Oriental, from Pinetown on the main line east to Bishops Cross on the line to Belhaven, and from Mackeys east to Columbia (as well as a trestle across the Albemarle Sound between Mackeys and Edenton).
The Egypt Railroad was chartered June 14, 1890, and opened October 15, 1891, running a short distance from Colon on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad main line west to Cumnock. It was leased to the Raleigh and Western Railway, another short line continuing west from Cumnock to Harpers Crossroads, on September 6, 1893. The company entered receivership in 1907 and operations west of Cumnock were suspended in 1908. The Egypt Railroad was reorganized April 1, 1910, as the Sanford and Troy Railroad.
The Durham and Charlotte Railroad was chartered March 2, 1893, and planned to connect the two cities named with the railroad. On July 15, 1896, it bought the Glendon and Gulf Railroad, running from Gulf (west of Cumnock) southwest to Glendon. After reaching Elise (Robbins) in 1899, the Durham and Charlotte Railroad was building towards Star. The company endured several years of litigation over the right-of-way with a Wright Tramway, which was built in 1896. The tramway was removed in 1901 and the Durham and Charlotte Railroad was then built to Star by 1902. Some time after 1900 it bought the former Raleigh and Western Railway right-of-way and rebuilt the line from Cumnock to Gulf, and built an extension from Star southwest to Troy.
In November 1911, the NSRR formed the Raleigh, Charlotte and Southern Railway (RC&S) as a consolidation of several smaller companies; the RC&S was merged into the NSR in fall 1912. The RC&S was made up of the Sanford and Troy Railroad, Durham and Charlotte Railroad, and the following lines:
At the time, only the Raleigh and Southport Railway connected to the other NSRR lines. In 1914 the NSRR built a line from Varina on the former R&S southwest to Colon and from Mount Gilead west to Charlotte, giving it a continuous line, using the former S&T, D&C and branch of the A&A from Colon to Mount Gilead.
Another receivership came in 1932, and in 1935 it defaulted on its lease of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, which was reincorporated November 16 of that year. Many branch lines were abandoned or sold during that period, such as the local lines in Suffolk, Virginia, which were sold to the Virginian Railway in 1940. On January 21, 1942, the company was reorganized for the last time as the Norfolk Southern Railway. In 1954, the railroad retired its last steam locomotive from revenue service.
On January 1, 1974, the Southern Railway bought the Norfolk Southern Railroad and merged it into the Carolina and Northwestern Railway, but kept the Norfolk Southern Railway name. In 1982 the Carolina and Northwestern name was brought back to free up the Norfolk Southern name for the planned merger of the Southern Railway with the Norfolk and Western Railway. The new Norfolk Southern Railway was formed in 1982. While the name had once represented simply the Virginia and North Carolina based railroad which ran south from Norfolk to Charlotte, it was now a combination of the names of the two merged Class I railroads.
Norfolk Southern still owns the main line from Gulf (near Cumnock) northeast to Raleigh. The part from Gulf west to Charlotte (as well as the branch to Aberdeen) is now the Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway, the part from Edenton north to Norfolk is now the Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad, and the Belhaven-Pinetown branch as well as the Plymouth-Raleigh segment is now operated by the Carolina Coastal Railway. The line between Plymouth and Edenton has been removed,[1] with the famous Albemarle Sound Trestle having been demolished in the late 1980s.
The company had passenger service on several of its lines in 1932. Notable was the twice a day in each direction service from Norfolk Terminal Station to Union Depot in Raleigh. For a time, the night trains to and from Raleigh bore the name, Midnight Express.[2] At Raleigh passengers could change to a timed connection train to Charlotte. This line served the major towns of northeastern North Carolina, including Elizabeth City, Washington, Greenville and Wilson.[3] Additionally, the railroad operated trains to a number of North Carolina coastal destinations, including Columbia, Belhaven and Beaufort.[4] In 1902, the Chesapeake Transit Company opened an electric interurban line from Norfolk to Virginia Beach and then north four miles to Cape Henry. In 1904, this line merged with the Norfolk Southern [5] and was referred to as the NS Electric Division. Eventually the trolley was dropped and a gas electric "doodlebug" took over.[6] On May 15, 1940 the NS moved its main line train service from Norfolk Terminal station to Berkley Station at 701 Main Street, on the south side of Norfolk.[7]
By 1943, the NS was listing replacement bus service on its lines with the exception of the main line Norfolk to Raleigh and the Virginia Beach Electric Division, the latter now called the 'Virginia Beach Division.'[8] Beach passenger service using the gas electric "doodlebug" lasted until 1947 when the company ended service east of Norfolk. All passenger trains ended service on January 31, 1948.[9] Mail and express runs continued for several more years.[10]
As a part of the current Norfolk Southern Railway's 30th anniversary in 2012, the company painted 20 new locomotives in predecessor schemes. NS #8114, a GE ES44AC locomotive, was painted in the original Norfolk Southern paint scheme.
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The company operates 19,420 route miles (31,250 km) in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montréal route of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Norfolk Southern Railway is the leading subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation.
The Norfolk and Western Railway, commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America". In 1986, N&W merged with Southern Railway to form today's Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Southern Railway was a class 1 railroad based in the Southern United States between 1894 and 1982, when it merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) to form the Norfolk Southern Railway. 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 as "The Route of Courteous Service", was an American railroad that 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 Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D) Company was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894, first in the U.S. state of Virginia, and later on 3,300 miles (5,300 km) of track in nine states.
The Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad is a short-line railroad that operates 68 miles (109 km) of track from Chesapeake, Virginia to Edenton, North Carolina.
The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad (W&W) name began use in 1855, having been originally chartered as the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in 1834. When it opened in 1840, the line was the longest railroad in the world with 161.5 miles (259.9 km) of track. It was constructed in 4 ft 8 in gauge. At its terminus in Weldon, North Carolina, it connected with the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad and the Petersburg Railroad. The railroad also gave rise to the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina, the midpoint of the W&W RR and the railroad intersection with the North Carolina Railroad.
The South Carolina Rail Road Company was a railroad company that operated in South Carolina from 1843 to 1894, when it was succeeded by the Southern Railway. It was formed in 1844 by the merger of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company (SCC&RR) into the Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Company. It was built with a track gauge of 5 ft.
The Washington to Atlanta Main Line is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway that runs through the southeastern United States.
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 Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad (A&A), known locally as "Page's Road," was the conglomeration of two previous railroads built by the Page family of Aberdeen, North Carolina, at the turn of the 20th century. The railroad ran 56 miles (90 km) to connect its namesake cities with a 20.75-mile long (33.39 km) branch connecting Biscoe to Troy and Mount Gilead and another branch connecting West End to Jackson Springs.
Raleigh Union Station is an intermodal transit station in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Train service began the morning of July 10, 2018. Its main building serves as an Amtrak train station, while a future adjacent building will serve as the bus terminus for GoTriangle. The station is located at the Boylan Wye, a railroad junction used by CSX and Norfolk Southern, and adjacent to the Depot Historic District in downtown Raleigh.
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.
Mackeys Ferry, a.k.a. Mackeys, is an unincorporated community in Washington County, North Carolina, United States. Mackeys Ferry is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region and is located at the mouth of the Mackeys Creek on the south side of the Albemarle Sound.
Virginia Beach, Virginia's development is tied to the establishment of a transportation infrastructure that allowed access to the Atlantic shoreline.
The Carolinian is a daily Amtrak passenger train that runs between New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina, with major stops in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Cary, Durham, and Greensboro. The 704-mile (1,133 km) service is the longest state-supported route in the Amtrak system. Northbound trains leave Charlotte at breakfast time and arrive in New York in the early evening, while southbound trains leave New York during the morning rush and arrive in Charlotte in the evening.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Norfolk—Rocky Mount Line was one of the company's secondary main lines running from the company's main line in Rocky Mount, North Carolina northeast to a point just outside of Norfolk, Virginia. Despite its name, it terminated at Pinners Point in Portsmouth, Virginia. Bus and ferry service connected passengers to Norfolk.
↑ Cox, Jim. Rails Across Dixie, McFarland and Col., Inc., 2011, p. 282. ISBN9781476666013.
↑ "Norfolk Southern Railroad, Table 7". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 64 (9). February 1932.
↑ "Norfolk Southern Railroad, Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 10a, 12". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 64 (9). February 1932.
↑ State of Virginia Department of Historic Resources: sign posted at the former station site at Cape Henry
↑ "Norfolk Southern Railroad, Table 14". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 64 (9). February 1932.
↑ "Norfolk Southern Railroad, Table 7". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 71 (7). June 1941.
↑ "Norfolk Southern Railroad, Table 1; NS reporting from its 1943 timetables". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 78 (12). May 1946.
↑ Cox, Jim. Rails Across Dixie, McFarland and Col., Inc., 2011, p. 282. ISBN9781476666013.
↑ "Norfolk Southern Railroad, freight only". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 82 (3). August 1949.
Railroads in italics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
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