South Carolina Railroading and Railfanning In "The Palmetto State"

South Carolina railroading is somewhat unique in featuring mountainous operations to the west and coastal operations to the east, similar to that of its northern Carolina neighbor. While the Palmetto State is usually best known for its white sandy beaches and palm trees its western mountain regions also feature coal drags and stiff grades. South Carolina was home to nearly all of the Southeast’s most recognized railroads and today include successors CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway along with a host of shortlines.

South Carolina railroading has its beginnings dating back to the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, which was chartered in 1827 to connect historic Charleston with Hamburg, 136 miles away. The railroad originally completed a short six-mile stretch west from Charleston in 1830 and earned the distinction of operating our country’s first regularly scheduled passenger train (the railroad opened its entire route by 1833). In the succeeding years South Carolina would become home to all of the Southeast’s most celebrated railroads, save for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

The Clinchfield Railroad is one of the less notable fallen flags, most likely due to its very small size, only a tad over 300 miles at its peak! However, the railroad does hold an important place in railroading history and is best remembered as another of the Appalachian coal haulers, lugging millions of tons of black diamonds from the mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Along with the railroad’s association with coal it also served as a very effective north-south bridge line for traffic of railroads such as the Southern and Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, also known as the ACL or Coast Line, was synonymous with the South and served points from Richmond, Virginia to Florida and east to Birmingham, Alabama. The railroad was also very profitable being that it served direct north-south routes from Florida to Richmond. It also held one of the most unique paint schemes of any Class I of both its day, having a beautiful purple and silver livery with yellow trim. Remembered in the likes of the Southern Railway in later years the ACL was highly respected throughout most of its existence and like the Southern was blessed with excellent management and never faced any serious bankruptcy (and only entered receivership once during the Depression years of the early 1930s) threat up until its merger with the Seaboard Air Line in the late 1960s to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.

The Atlantic Coast Line began its life like many classic fallen flags, put together and shaped through a series of mergers with small railroads. Its earliest predecessor was the Richmond & Petersburg chartered in 1836, and after linking with the Petersburg Railroad the two made a through connection from Richmond to North Carolina. Throughout the 1800s there were numerous smaller lines that would go on to form the Atlantic Coast Line including the Wilmington & Weldon, Wilmington & Raleigh, and North Eastern which served points between South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (including the ports of Wilmington, NC and Charleston, SC).

Like all classic fallen flags, the SAL was derived over the years from several smaller lines which merged together or were later included under the Seaboard banner. The railroad itself has its beginnings dating back originally to the Portsmouth & Roanoke Rail Road, which was chartered in 1832 to connect Portsmouth, Virginia with Wheldon, Virginia, a town that sat along the banks of the Roanoke River (and was reorganized as the Seaboard & Roanoke in 1846). The other original components of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad included the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad (connecting Raleigh and Gaston, NC) and the Raleigh & Augusta Air-Line Railroad (connecting Raleigh and Hamlet, NC which would control both former lines by the 1870s).

Together these three lines formed the backbone of the later Seaboard Air Line system which first began to come together in the latter 19th century when John Robinson took control of the three and merged them as the Seaboard Air Line System. Throughout the rest of the 19th century and for the first part of the 20th century the Seaboard Air Line Railroad expanded north and south throughout the southeast reaching cities such as Richmond, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, Atlanta, Savannah, and points west in Alabama (essentially everywhere rival ACL went!). The railroad also built one of the last major main lines in recent years when it completed an extension to Miami in 1927 (at its peak the railroad was a 4,000+ mile system).

The Southern Railway, forever remembered by its famous slogan, “The Southern Serves the South – Look Ahead, Look South,” was created from a number of smaller railroads, which merged over the years to form the Southern Railway. Perhaps the railroad’s famous green paint scheme was fitting for the railroad as it became the most respected and arguably the best managed railroad of its day before it disappeared into a merger with the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) in 1982 to form today’s Norfolk Southern.

A major reason why the Southern became so successful was because its innovative nature and sound business practices (and the company very much lived up to another slogan it used, “The Southern Gives A Green Light To Innovation”), especially in the railroad's later years. The Southern was quick to adopt new technologies that improved efficiencies such as Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) and began double-tracking lines to improve operations (it would eventually finish double-tracking its entire main line between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.).

Today, South Carolina railroading is predominantly the realm of the successors to the above railroads, Norfolk Southern (Southern) and CSX (ACL, SAL, and Clinchfield). While NS and CSX operate the majority of trackage in the Palmetto State there are a few shortlines in operation some of which include the Carolina Piedmont Railroad, Lancaster & Chester Railway, Pickens Railway and the South Carolina Central Railroad.

In total these railroads operate over 2,000 miles of rail although at its peak South Carolina was home to nearly 4,000 miles. For a more in-depth look at South Carolina railroading, in terms of its route mileage over the years please refer to the chart below.

While South Carolina railroading may no longer feature such stately passenger trains as the Orange Blossom Special, East Coast Champion or the Southerner Amtrak continues to operate a number of trains that predate its existence including the Southern’s venerable Crescent, the ACL’s Palmetto and the SAL’s Silver Star and Silver Meteor.

Lastly, South Carolina railroading also features a few railroad museums and tourist railroads. So, if you are just interested in seeing museums or are just tired of live freight railroading the Palmetto State is home to three; the Lancaster and Chester Railway Company (which includes a museum at its main headquarters, the Railroad Historical Center and the South Carolina Railroad Museum (which also features excursion trains).

All in all, South Carolina railroading features a diversity of operations depending on which side of the state you visit from the Port of Charleston to coal country around Spartanburg.