Wilmington and Manchester Railroad

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Wilmington and Manchester Railroad
Original route (click to enlarge)
Overview
Dates of operation1853–1870
SuccessorWilmington and Carolina Railroad
Technical
Track gauge5 ft (1,524 mm)

The Wilmington and Manchester Railroad was a railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina before, during and after the American Civil War. It received its charter in 1846 and began operation in 1853 from Wilmington, North Carolina, extending west to the now-defunct town of Manchester, South Carolina (just west of Sumter). The track gauge was 5 ft (1,524 mm).[1]

Route[]

The 173 miles (278 km) route was built to haul South Carolina cotton to the Port of Wilmington, which was attempting to compete with the Port of Charleston.[2] The railroad would go on to become a major shipper of naval stores and cotton.[3]

History[]

American Civil War[]

The line was devastated at the end of the war, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman dispatched some 2,500 federal troops from the South Carolina coast to locate locomotives and rolling stock that the Confederates were hiding in the state's hinterland.[4] In April 1865, the force, under Gen. Edward E. Potter located nine locomotives and approximately 200 cars, many belonging to the Wilmington and Manchester, near Manchester, SC, and destroyed them.

Bankruptcy[]

Gen. William MacRae took over as superintendent in January 1866 and helped get the line back in operating order. However, the Wilmington and Manchester declared bankruptcy in 1870. The railroad was reorganized as the short-lived Wilmington and Carolina Railroad and again as the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad.

Later Years[]

The line was formally merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) in 1898. The line from Florence to the junction with the Fayetteville Cutoff became part of the Atlantic Coast Line's main line.[5]

The Atlantic Coast Line became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967 after merging with their former rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. 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.

CSX still operates the former ACL main line segment (which is now the CSX's A Line). The line from Mullins to Whiteville is now operated by the R.J. Corman Railroad Group[6]

Station Listing[]

State Milepost[7] City/Location Station[8] Connections and notes
NC AC 244.5 Wilmington Wilmington junction with Wilmington and Weldon Railroad (ACL)
AC 246.6 Yadkin Junction junction with Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway (ACL)
AC 249.3 Navassa Navassa junction with:
  • Carolina Central Railroad (SAL)
  • Wilmington, Brunswick and Southern Railroad
AC 255.4 Malmo
AC 262.1 Delco
AC 273.0 Bolton Bolton
AC 280.0 Lake Waccamaw Lake Waccamaw
AC 284.5 Hallsboro
AC 290.2 Whiteville Whiteville
AC 297.2 Chadbourn Chadbourn junction with:
Grist
AC 303.2 Cerro Gordo Cerro Gordo
AC 309.2 Fair Bluff Fair Bluff
SC AC 318.2 Nichols Nichols
AC 324.4 Mullins Mullins junction with North and South Carolina Railway (SAL)
AC 332.8 Marion Marion
AC 341.2
A 280.1[a] 		Pee Dee junction with Fayetteville Cutoff (ACL)
A 283.1 Winona
A 286.3 Mars Bluff
A 292.7 Florence Florence Amtrak Silver Meteor, Palmetto
station rebuilt in 1910
junction with:
AK 298.2 Ebenezer
AK 304.6 Timmonsville Timmonsville
AK 310.2 Cartersville
AK 313.9 Lynchburg Lynchburg
AK 322.9 Mayesville Mayesville
AK 332.0 Sumter Sumter junction with:
High Hills of Santee Manchester
Sumter Junction junction with South Carolina Railroad

Notes[]

  1. ^ The line's milepost numbers from Wilmington to Pee Dee continue from the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. East of Pee Dee, milepost numbers continue from the Fayetteville Cutoff.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Confederate Railroads - Wilmington & Manchester
  2. ^ South Carolina Railroad History, Wilmington and Manchester Railroad
  3. ^ South Carolina Railroad History, Wilmington and Manchester Railroad
  4. ^ The Golden Rule in 19th-Century South Carolina: Labor People and their Parallel Government
  5. ^ Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Northern Division Timetable (1949)
  6. ^ "Carolina Lines". R.J. Corman Railroad Group. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  7. ^ a b Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Rocky Mount & Raleigh Division Timetable (1975)
  8. ^ "North Carolina Railroads: Passenger Stations & Stops" (PDF). Jim Fergusson's Railway and Tramway Station Lists (North Carolina). Retrieved 5 June 2020.
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