The South Carolina Western Railway was a Southeastern railroad that operated in the early 20th century.

History

The South Carolina Western Railway was chartered by the

South Carolina General Assembly The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and t ...

in 1910. It built a 38-mile line from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad'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 ...

in McBee, South Carolina east to

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropolit ...

in 1911. The South Carolina Western Railway Station at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

was completed the same year. The following year, it built lines from Hartsville, South Carolina, to

Sumter, South Carolina Sumter ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. Known as the Sumter Metropolitan Statistical Area, the namesake county adjoins Clarendon and Lee to form the core of Sumter-Lee-Clarendon Tri-county (o ...

, and from Lydia, South Carolina, to Timmonsville, South Carolina. In 1914, track was extended from Florence southeast to Poston, where it connected with the Georgetown and Western Railroad. The South Carolina Western was merged with the Georgetown and Western Railroad, the South Carolina Western Extension Railway, and other nearly railroad in 1914 to form the Carolina, Atlantic and Western Railway. The Carolina, Atlantic and Western Railway became part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1915. Track from McBee to Poston became their Hartsville Subdivision and track from Hartsville to Sumter became their Sumter Subdivision. The Seaboard Air Line also continued to operate the branch to Timmonsville until its abandonment in the 1950s. In 1967, the Seaboard Air Line (SAL) merged with the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). The Atlantic Coast Line operated a nearby line from Florence to Wadesboro with a branch to Hartsville. In an effort to differentiate the lines in the combined network, the SCL added the letter S to the prefix of former SAL, making the line's prefix SJ. This was particularly important for this line considering the nearly parallel ACL route also had the prefix J (which became AJ post-merger).Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Florence Division Timetable (1971)
/ref> After the merger, the company abandoned the original South Carolina Western Railway track from Hartsville to Florence in favor of the ex-ACL route. The Seaboard Coast Line designated the former Sumter branch as part of the Hartsville Subdivision. Further south, the Seaboard Coast Line also abandoned the line from Pamplico to Poston, with the remaining line from Florence to Pamplico becoming the Pamplico Subdivision. The Pamplico Subdivision was abandoned in the 1980s. A short strech of track from Robinson to Hartsville was also abandoned in the 1980s. Track from Bishopville to Sumter was abandoned in 1982. 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 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. ...

. CSX sold the remaining track from Hartsville to Bishopville to the South Carolina Central Railroad on December 1, 1987. Track is still in place from McBee to the H. B. Robinson Nuclear Generating Station, which is CSX's Robinson Spur.CSX Florence Division Timetable
/ref>

Historic stations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Carolina Western Railway Defunct South Carolina railroads Seaboard Air Line Railroad Predecessors of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Railway companies established in 1910 American companies established in 1910 Railway companies disestablished in 1914