The Greenville and Northern Railroad was a

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

formerly operating between Travelers Rest and

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

, . The railroad was part of the

Pinsly Railroad Company Pinsly Railroad Company, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, is a short line railroad holding company. It is one of the oldest such companies in the United States, and has owned railroads continuously since its founding in 1938. Pinsly's sole rail ...

after 1957 before being purchased by

RailTex RailTex was a transportation holding company that specialized in owning and operating short line railroads across North America. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the public company was a leader in making unprofitable lines shed by Class I railroads ...

in 1997. Operations ended in February 1998 and the railroad was abandoned in 2005.

History

The

Carolina, Knoxville and Western Railway The Carolina, Knoxville and Western Railway was a South Carolina railroad that existed in the latter half of the 19th century. The Carolina, Knoxville and Western Railway was formed in 1887 to build a line from Augusta Georgia to Knoxville, Tenne ...

completed construction of the railroad north out of Greenville in 1887, reaching

Marietta Marietta may refer to: Places in the United States *Marietta, Jacksonville, Florida *Marietta, Georgia, the largest US city named Marietta *Marietta, Illinois *Marietta, Indiana *Marietta, Kansas *Marietta, Minnesota *Marietta, Mississippi *Mar ...

in November 1888 and River Falls in March 1899. The railroad was not successful and was abandoned until 1904 when the Greenville and Knoxville Railroad was formed to reopen the line. In 1914 the railroad once again reorganized as the Greenville and Western Railroad, and rechartered as the Greenville and Northern in 1920. After being cut back to Travelers Rest the remaining line was purchased by the

in July 1957. Primary traffic included scrap, cotton waste, vermiculite, peat moss, paper, lumber, and chemicals, generating approximately 2,000 carloads in 1993. Annual carloads over the line declined from 1,642 in 1994 to 1,066 by 1996. The railroad interchanged with

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

at Greenville near the end of its life, as well as numerous predecessor railroads to both companies. On April 24, 1997, the

Carolina Piedmont Railroad The Carolina Piedmont Railroad is a class III railroad and subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. operating in the Upstate region of South Carolina. From an interchange with CSX Transportation at Laurens the railroad runs to the northwest, termin ...

acquired the entire line from Greenville to Travelers Rest and on May 28, 1999,

Greenville County Greenville County is located in the state of South Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 525,534, making it the most populous county in the state. Its county seat is Greenville. The county is also home to the ...

purchased the Greenville and Northern from the Carolina Piedmont Railroad. The railroad was abandoned in 2005 and was converted for use as the

Swamp Rabbit Trail The Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail is a multi-use rail trail in Greenville County, South Carolina, that largely follows the bed of a former railroad that had been nicknamed after the indigenous swamp rabbit. South-to-north the current trail b ...

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

which opened in 2009.

References

Defunct South Carolina railroads Railway companies established in 1920 Railway companies disestablished in 1997 Companies based in Greenville, South Carolina {{SouthCarolina-transport-stub