The Wilmington, Chadbourn and Conway Railroad was a Southeastern railroad that operated between

Chadbourn, North Carolina Chadbourn is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,574 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Chadbourn has been in operation since 1882. It was incorporated in 1883, being named after a local ...

and

Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in and the county seat of Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in the 2010 census, making it the 18th-most populous city in the state. The city is part of ...

near the end of the 19th century.

History

The Chadbourn Lumber Company of

, built the line to haul timber.A Historical and Architectural Survey of Conway, page 28
/ref> It connected with the

Wilmington and Manchester Railroad The Wilmington and Manchester Railroad was a railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina before, during and after the American Civil War. It received its charter in 1846 and began operation in 1853 from Wilmington, North Carolina, exten ...

in Chadbourn. The line crossed the North Carolina line at

Tabor City, North Carolina Tabor City ( ) is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States. It is the southernmost town in the county. It is located just north of the North Carolina/South Carolina line, about north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and is just ...

. It continued south through

Loris, South Carolina Loris is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,396 at the 2010 census, up from 2,079 in 2000. History Loris was founded on December 7, 1887, as a railroad town, originally serving the Wilmington, Chadbourn, ...

into

to its terminus at the

Waccamaw River The Waccamaw River is a river, approximately 140 miles (225 km) long, in southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina in the United States. It drains an area of approximately 1,110 square miles (2886 km2) in the coastal pla ...

The line was sold at foreclosure in 1895 and renamed the Wilmington and Conway Railroad. Wikipedia, WikiProject Trains, ICC valuations, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The following year, the Wilmington and Conway was sold to the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad (the successor of the

). In 1898, the line came under the ownership of 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 ...

. In 1912, the Atlantic Coast Line bought the Conway Seashore Railroad, which extended from Conway to

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the " Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. It ...

. The lines were incorporated into the Atlantic Coast Line's

Myrtle Beach Branch The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Myrtle Beach Branch was a railroad line that at its greatest extent ran from company's main line in Elrod, North Carolina south to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Atlantic Coast Line used the branch for freig ...

.Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Northern Division Timetable (1949)
/ref> The Atlantic Coast Line became 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 ...

in 1967 after merging with their former rival, the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

. 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 u ...

, 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 merge ...

. 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 company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

Current operation

Today, the line is still in service and it is operated by the R.J. Corman Railroad Group

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmington, Chadbourn and Conway Railroad Defunct South Carolina railroads Defunct North Carolina railroads Railway companies established in 1885 Railway companies disestablished in 1895 American companies established in 1885 American companies disestablished in 1895