The South Carolina Central Railroad is a

class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

that operates of former

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. ...

trackage in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Originally a

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 ...

subsidiary upon its start in 1987, the railroad passed to

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

following their acquisition of RailTex in 2000 and passed to the

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

Railroad upon its acquisition of RailAmerica. Primary commodities include steel, chemicals, trash, and plastics, amounting to about 30,000 carloads in 2008. Interchange is made with CSX at

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

History

Both routes that comprise the South Carolina Central were of

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 ...

and Atlantic Coast Line heritage. The oldest segment originally ran from Cheraw through

Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center City District dates the Free Soc ...

and Floyd before ending at

. It was constructed by the

Cheraw and Darlington Railroad The Cheraw and Darlington Railroad was a gauge shortline railroad that served South Carolina and, later, North Carolina, beginning before the American Civil War. The gauge was changed to in 1886. History The Cheraw and Darlington was chartered i ...

prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The segment connecting Hartsville to Floyd was built by the

Hartsville Railroad The Hartsville Railroad was a railroad that served eastern South Carolina in the late 19th century. The Hartsville Railroad Company was chartered by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1884, with the goal of constructing a line starting from Har ...

in 1890 for the purpose of connecting with the Cheraw & Darlington. Both segments were absorbed into the Atlantic Coast Line by 1900. The rest of the line from Hartsville to Bishopville was part of the Seaboard Air Line before being merged with the Atlantic Coast Line in 1967 to form the

Seaboard Coast Line 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 ...

. The SCL became the

Seaboard System The Seaboard System Railroad, Inc. was a US Class I railroad that operated from 1982 to 1986. Since the late 1960s, Seaboard Coast Line Industries had operated the Seaboard Coast Line and its sister railroads—notably the Louisville & Nashville ...

in 1983 and

in 1986. CSX sold both lines to

subsidiary South Carolina Central railroad on December 1, 1987. This gave the SCC two disconnected tracks, one running from Cheraw to Society Hill, , and a second line from Florence to Bishopville, . Initially the South Carolina Central had four separate divisions independent of the operations in northeast South Carolina. The SCC served as a holding company for the Georgia & Alabama, Georgia Southwestern,

Carolina Piedmont The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the Eastern United States. It is situated between the Atlantic coastal plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmo ...

, and the Georgia Great Southern. The South Carolina Central's parent company RailTex was acquired by

in 2000. RailAmerica was itself taken over by '' Genesee & Wyoming Inc (GWI)'' in December, 2012
Genesee & Wyoming to Buy RailAmerica for $1.4 Billion
In 2012 South Carolina Central filed to abandon its line between Cheraw and Society Hill.

Livery

For many years, the livery in use on South Carolina Central trains was an original scheme. It was primarily dark blue with white accents and the featured logo was also unique to the SCCR, featuring the outline of the state of South Carolina, the name of the railroad and a red star marking its location in the state. After it passed to the Genesee & Wyoming, the livery was aligned with that of its other subsidiaries. The new livery is primarily orange with black pinstripes and yellow accents. It features the new SCCR logo, also aligned with other G&W subsidiaries, which is an emblem type logo with the shape of South Carolina in the central and the initials of the railroad on either side.

Equipment

Locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s *46

Flatcar A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...

s *67

Boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

References

External links

South Carolina Central Railroad official webpage - Genesee and Wyoming website
{{Genesee & Wyoming South Carolina railroads RailAmerica Spin-offs of CSX Transportation