Warrenton Railroad: Serving Warrenton, NC (1884-1985)

Last revised: November 4, 2026

The Warrenton Railroad was a three-mile line from Warren Plains to the county seat of Warrenton, North Carolina. The General Assembly chartered it on January 28, 1871, to close the gap the Raleigh & Gaston had left when that railroad was built past the town. The first train reached Warrenton on November 8, 1884. The railroad closed in late 1985.

Warrenton Railroad 45-tonner No. 7, built as United States Navy No. 65-00104, about to cross County Road 1322 at Warren Plains, North Carolina, in September 1985. Warren Calloway photograph.

On this page: The charter · The first train · Three miles · A diesel, and the last years · At a glance

The charter

The Raleigh & Gaston was organized in the 1830s to connect Raleigh with the Roanoke. The finished railroad did not enter Warrenton. Michael Dunn, who rode the short line for a story in 1961, wrote that the town had turned the main line away, and that the completed road passed no closer than three miles. The station that served the county seat was at Warren Plains.

Chapter 49 of the public laws of 1870–71, ratified on January 28, 1871, incorporated the Warrenton Railroad Company. Eleven men, any three of them, could open subscription books at Warrenton. The capital was not to exceed $15,000, in shares of $50. The railroad was to run from some point in or near the town to some point at or near the Warrenton depot on the Raleigh & Gaston, in Warren County. When $6,000 had been subscribed, the subscribers became the company. A majority of the stockholders could later raise the capital to $25,000. William J. White was one of the eleven men named to open the books.

The same act let the town commissioners subscribe, after an election, for as much as double the sum taken by individuals, and in no case for more than $10,000. They had one year from the ratification to call that election. Bonds of the town, issued to pay the subscription, could run no more than twenty years, at no more than 8 percent.

That year produced no railroad. On February 10, 1877, a second act gave the town a narrower authority. The commissioners could subscribe $3,000 to the stock, and endorse $3,000 of bonds of the company, if a majority of the qualified voters agreed. The bonds of the company were to be secured by a mortgage on all of its property and franchises. None of the bonds were to go out unless they brought at least ninety cents on the dollar. The act let the railroad run through the town and keep a depot there. It also let the company operate by steam, or by horses or mules, or by both.

The company afterward told the state railroad commission that it had been organized on April 21, 1876. The return cites the act of February 10, 1877.

The first train

The grading started and then stopped. Dunn, in a Greensboro Daily News story reprinted by the Warren Record on August 25, 1961, wrote that $2,000 went into grading and ties, and that the ties were later sold for firewood. Neighboring Oxford had built a branch of about twelve miles, and the comparison was hard to ignore. The Warrenton project was revived in 1883. Bonds were sold to two ladies in New England. Dunn wrote that the bonds proved a sound investment. O. P. Shell, who drove the hack from town out to the depot at Warren Plains, offered to build a station near the courthouse and to manage the line. The ground is nearly level, and the grading was easy.

November 8, 1884, is the day he gave for the first train. A woodburning engine came into Warrenton with two coaches. Shell rode the vestibule as conductor. Dunn wrote that Shell stayed out there because he was afraid the train would leave the track. The train stayed on it. The same day, the town heard that Grover Cleveland had won the presidency.

The railroad prospered on a very small scale. A new station and yard were built on a tract on the outskirts of town in 1907, and warehouses followed. From early years the dividends were counted on in the town budget. By the time of the Dunn visit the town owned three-quarters of the capital stock.

Three miles

The Second Annual Report of the North Carolina Board of Railroad Commissioners, for the year ending December 31, 1892, prints the description the company itself returned. The railroad ran from Warrenton to Warren Plains, a station on the Raleigh & Gaston. The distance, including side track, was three and one-half miles. Road, equipment, and permanent improvements had cost $16,770. Capital stock was $12,350. Gross earnings were $4,364.71. J. M. Gardner was secretary-treasurer. The return also names W. J. White and C. A. Cook, both of Warrenton.

A station table in the same report measures the run itself. Plains is mile 0. Warrenton is mile 3. The three miles and the three and one-half miles are two figures in one book. The longer one includes side track.

Dunn, almost seventy years later, still called it a three-mile railroad, and he called it the shortest railroad in North Carolina. The common stock he was told about was $66,000. In the four decades before his visit, he wrote, earnings had failed to cover the annual dividend only six times. In the last two years of the 1950s, only about a third of the short lines in the state had stayed entirely in the black. The Warrenton was one of them.

A diesel, and the last years

There was no turntable and no wye. The steam engines ran backward out to Warren Plains and forward into Warrenton. Dunn wrote that they carried pilots, and large lights on the tenders, for that reason. The company had owned a succession of four steam locomotives. In 1946 it bought a Navy-surplus diesel. The diesel could be ready on short notice, with a small crew and a car or two, and the old habit of running backward for half of every trip mattered less. There was no caboose. Passenger service was cut and then dropped in 1926, and the coach and baggage car were discarded.

In 1961 the weekday job was still a morning round trip of about an hour, and an afternoon trip to Warren Plains when the traffic called for it. The traffic could be a single car. Outbound loads were pulpwood and tobacco. Inbound cars brought gravel and building materials. Along the way the engine set out fertilizer, and cotton at a mill across the highway. Stephen Rodwell was superintendent, agent, and engineer. The track ran almost straight beside the road to Warren Plains, through front yards. At the junction the diesel pushed its cars onto the interchange in front of the yellow Seaboard depot, for four daily Seaboard trains.

The name on that main line changed with the years. It was the Raleigh & Gaston in the 1892 report, the Seaboard Air Line when Dunn rode the branch, and later the Seaboard Coast Line. In the last years the trains on the main line were Seaboard System trains.

The photograph above shows where the work still was in September 1985. General Electric 45-tonner No. 7, built as United States Navy No. 65-00104, is about to cross County Road 1322 at Warren Plains. The Warrenton Railroad closed in 1985.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Headquarters	Warrenton, North Carolina
Chartered	January 28, 1871. Chapter 49, public laws of 1870–71
Organized	April 21, 1876, as the company reported it
Town aid, 1877	$3,000 of stock, and endorsement of $3,000 of bonds. Act of February 10, 1877
Opened	November 8, 1884. Woodburning engine and two coaches
Route	Warren Plains to Warrenton
Length	3 miles, Plains to Warrenton, in the 1892 station table. 3½ miles, including side track, in the company return
Cost, 1892 return	$16,770 for road, equipment, and permanent improvements
Connection	Raleigh & Gaston, then the Seaboard Air Line, the Seaboard Coast Line, and the Seaboard System
Passenger service	Dropped in 1926
Locomotives	A succession of four steam locomotives. A Navy-surplus diesel, bought in 1946. No. 7, a GE 45-tonner built as Navy 65-00104, was at work in September 1985
Closed	1985

Sources

Public Laws of the State of North Carolina, 1870–71, chapter 49, ratified January 28, 1871. Eleven men to open the books. Capital not exceeding $15,000, in shares of $50, and a later ceiling of $25,000. Road from in or near Warrenton to at or near the Warrenton depot on the Raleigh and Gaston. Company formed when $6,000 was subscribed. Town subscription, after an election within one year, not exceeding $10,000. Town bonds at not more than 8 percent, and not longer than twenty years.
Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina, 1876–77, chapter 87, ratified February 10, 1877. Town subscription of $3,000, and endorsement of $3,000 of company bonds, if a majority of the qualified voters agreed. Bonds not to be issued under ninety cents on the dollar. Mortgage of all property and franchises. Authority to run through the town, to keep a depot there, and to operate by steam or by horses or mules, or by both.
North Carolina Board of Railroad Commissioners, Second Annual Report, for the year ending December 31, 1892 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, 1893). Organized April 21, 1876, the return citing the act of February 10, 1877. Warrenton to Warren Plains, on the Raleigh and Gaston. Distance, including side track, three and one-half miles. Cost of road, equipment, and permanent improvements, $16,770. Capital stock $12,350. Gross earnings $4,364.71. Secretary-treasurer J. M. Gardner. The return also names W. J. White and C. A. Cook of Warrenton. Station table: Plains 0, Warrenton 3.
Michael Dunn, “Warrenton Railroad Is Shortest — But It Pays Off,” Greensboro Daily News, reprinted in the Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.), August 25, 1961, page 11. Dateline Warrenton, March 11. The town had turned the Raleigh and Gaston away, and the main line passed no closer than three miles. $2,000 spent on grading and ties, the ties later sold for firewood, the work revived in 1883, and bonds sold to two ladies in New England. First train November 8, 1884, a woodburning engine and two coaches, with O. P. Shell as conductor. New station and yard on the outskirts in 1907. Town owned three-quarters of a capital stock of $66,000. Passenger service dropped in 1926. A succession of four steam locomotives, no turntable and no wye, and a Navy-surplus diesel bought in 1946. Stephen Rodwell, superintendent, agent, and engineer. Interchange at the Seaboard depot in Warren Plains, and four daily Seaboard trains.
Mark Pace, “Warren County Historical Tidbits: On Warrenton Railroad,” October 4, 2016, quoting J. D. Lewis for operation from 1884 until a closing in 1985. The September 1985 photograph shows No. 7 still at work at Warren Plains. The mileage in this article is the 1892 commission report.

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