The Portsmouth Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line owned by

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. ...

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 ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The line connects CSX's network with the port city of

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

. The Portsmouth Subdivision was historically operated by the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad 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 ...

, a CSX predecessor.

Route Description

The eastern terminus of the Portsmouth Subdivision is in its namesake city,

. From Portsmouth, it runs southwest to Garysburg, North Carolina on the

Roanoke River The Roanoke River ( ) runs long through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the App ...

, a distance of 75.8 miles. It passes through

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and Boykins and crosses into

just southwest of Branchville. In North Carolina, it continues southwest to Garysburg, North Carolina. The Portsmouth Subdivision currently terminates between Garysburg and the

at a connection with line CSX's A Line (

North End Subdivision The North End Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Virginia and North Carolina. The line runs from Richmond, Virginia, to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, for a total of 123.2 miles. At its north end the line continues south f ...

). When the Seaboard Air Line operated the line, the Portsmouth Subdivision did not connect with the A Line but instead continued parallel to it across the Roanoke River into

Weldon, North Carolina Weldon is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,655 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area. History In 1752, Daniel Weldon purchased 1,273 acre ...

. In Weldon, it passed underneath the A Line (the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

's main line at the time) at the historic two-level Weldon Union Station. From Weldon, it continued east to Roanoke Rapids. Track from Weldon to Roanoke Rapids is still in service and it is now CSX's Roanoke Rapids Spur. The line historically continued from Roanoke Rapids west to Norlina, where it connected with the Seaboard Air Line's

main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

History

Formation

The first segment of the line was built in 1835 by the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad, which would be renamed the

Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad The Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad was organized in 1833 (as the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad) to extend from the area of the rapids of the Roanoke River at its fall line near Weldon, North Carolina to Portsmouth, Virginia, across the Elizabet ...

. The Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad ran from Portsmouth to

. The line from Roanoke Rapids to Norlina opened in 1840 and was built by the

Raleigh and Gaston Railroad The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was a Raleigh, North Carolina, based railroad opened in April 1840 between Raleigh and the town of Gaston, North Carolina, on the Roanoke River. It was North Carolina's second railroad (the Wilmington and Weldon Rai ...

. In 1852, the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was extended from Roanoke Rapids east to Weldon. Its connection from Roanoke Rapids north to Gaston was permanently severed during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The extension to Weldon connected with the Seaboard and Roanoke Railway, essentially making a continuous line. The extension to Weldon also provided a connection with the

Petersburg Railroad The Petersburg Railroad ran from Petersburg, Virginia, south to Garysburg, North Carolina, from which it ran to Weldon via trackage rights over the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (later eliminated with a new alignment). History Founding In 183 ...

and the

Wilmington and Weldon Railroad The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad (W&W) name began use in 1855, having been originally chartered as the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in 1834. At the time of its completion in 1840, the line was the longest railroad in the world with of track ...

, both of which later became the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. In 1900, the

, and other railroads were merged into a single company named the Seaboard Air Line Railway (later known as the

Seaboard Air Line years

The Seaboard Air Line designated the line from Norlina to Portsmouth as the Portsmouth Subdivision (while the Raleigh and Gaston's track from Norlina to

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

became Seaboard's

). The Seaboard operated passenger and freight service over the line. Though the 1950s, Seaboard ran a daily passenger train (which also carried mail) and a daily through freight train. A separate local freight train ran three days a week at the time.Seaboard Air Line Railroad Virginia Division Timetable (1955)
/ref>

Later years

In 1967, the SAL merged with its rival, the

(ACL), whose main line crossed the Portsmouth Subdivision in Weldon. The merged company was named the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

(SCL). The line remained largely intact after the merger. However, SCL severed the bridge over the Roanoke River to consolidate the river crossings on the A Line's parallel bridge (the ex-ACL main line) effectively truncating the Portsmouth Subdivision to its current terminus in Garysburg. Ruins of the Portsmouth Subdivision's bridge over the river are still standing next to

US 301 U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic States. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Mar ...

in Weldon.Google Satellite Imagery
/ref> The remaining track from Weldon to Norlina was then redesignated as the Roanoke Rapids Subdivision.Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Rocky Mount and Raleigh Division Timetable (1975) In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated und ...

, creating the

CSX Corporation CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger. T ...

. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into

, who continues to operate today.

Historic Seaboard Air Line stations

References

{{Attached KML CSX Transportation lines Seaboard Air Line Railroad Rail infrastructure in North Carolina Rail infrastructure in Virginia