Charleston & Western Carolina Railway

1917 map of the railroad
Overview
Locale	Georgia andSouth Carolina
Dates of operation	1896–1959
Successor	Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Length	341 miles (549 km)

TheCharleston and Western Carolina Railway (C&WC) was formed in 1896 to operate the lines of the formerPort Royal and Augusta Railway (PR&A) and thePort Royal and Western Carolina Railway (PR&WC). The PR&A and PR&WC had originally been part of theCentral of Georgia Railroad but theSouth Carolina Legislature had forced the railroad to give up the subsidiary lines. TheAtlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) took over the C&WC in 1897 but operated it as a subsidiary until 1959 when the ACL fully absorbed it. Much of the original system is still in use by ACL successorCSX Transportation.

When the Charleston & Western Carolina Railway was created in 1896, it combined two existing railroads, thePort Royal and Augusta Railway and thePort Royal and Western Carolina Railway into a single entity. The oldest portion of the line, the PR&A, ran fromPort Royal toAugusta, a distance of 112 miles (180 km) following its completion in 1873. It was financed by theGeorgia Railroad of Augusta, which sought to extend its own network and gain access to a port on the east coast. Fearing its port atSavannah would be compromised by any expansion of the facilities at Port Royal, theCentral of Georgia Railway took control of the Port Royal & Augusta in 1881.^[1]

The Central of Georgia sought to expand into the western portion of South Carolina in order to funnel traffic through their lines out of Augusta. In order to accomplish this goal, the Central leased theAugusta and Knoxville Railroad in 1883, which owned a 68 miles (109 km) line from Augusta to Greenwood. Shortly thereafter, the Central financed construction of three new lines; the first was an extension from Greenwood to Spartanburg, 66 miles (106 km) completed in 1885, the second a branch fromMcCormick toAnderson, 58 miles (93 km), and a final branch fromLaurens toGreenville, 36 miles (58 km). In 1886, all of these branches including the Augusta & Knoxville were merged to create thePort Royal and Western Carolina Railway.^[2] Financial trouble in 1894 caused the Central of Georgia to lose control of both companies.^[1]

Finally, in 1896, the Charleston & Western Carolina Railway was organized to consolidate both railroads into a single entity. The result was a 341 miles (549 km) railroad network covering most of western South Carolina. In 1897, theAtlantic Coast Line took control of the C&WC and operated the railroad as an independent company.

The C&WC operated passenger train service between Augusta and Port Royal, with a major transfer stop atYemassee, South Carolina. At the Yemassee passengers could transfer to ACL trains to Savannah and to Charleston.^[3] Passenger service ended between 1954 and 1957.^[4]

The ACL formally absorbed the C&WC in 1959.^[1] From there, the trackage of the former C&WC moved through the merger tree, first to theSeaboard Coast Line in 1967, followed by theSeaboard System in 1983, and finallyCSX Transportation in 1986. Most of the original C&WC system survives under CSX Transportation, which includes theAugusta Subdivision,McCormick Subdivision, and theSpartanburg Subdivision. The remains of the former Laurens to Greenville branch survives as theCarolina Piedmont Railroad.

• Defunct South Carolina railroads
• Passenger rail transportation in Georgia (U.S. state)
• Passenger rail transportation in South Carolina
• Railway companies established in 1896
• Railway companies disestablished in 1959
• Former Class I railroads in the United States
• Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
• Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads
• American companies disestablished in 1959
• American companies established in 1896

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata