Cochran is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in Brunswick County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The settlement is located along a former railroad. The

Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad The Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad was a railroad built in the early 1900s. As its name suggests, it ran from Richmond, Virginia south through Petersburg into northern North Carolina. It was a key part of the network of the Seaboar ...

, passing through Cochran from

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

to Ridgeway Junction (today

Norlina, North Carolina Norlina is a town in Warren County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,118 at the 2010 census. Geography Norlina is located at (36.444690, -78.194059). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of ...

), was completed in 1900, at which point it was merged into the

Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

(SAL). By 1914, the population of Cochran was estimate by the railroad to be somewhere around 200. The Seaboard line (dubbed the "S-line" after later mergers) continued to operate until the 1980s, and today Cochran is along the abandoned portion of the CSX

Norlina Subdivision The Norlina Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. State of North Carolina. The line currently runs from Norlina, North Carolina to Raleigh, North Carolina for a total of 51.2 miles. At its north end the line comes ...

References

* Unincorporated communities in Virginia Unincorporated communities in Brunswick County, Virginia {{BrunswickCountyVA-geo-stub