- Background [Carriker 17,19]
The town of Fayetteville is located in the Sandhills region of southeast North Carolina.
It is at the headwaters of the Cape Fear river, which drains to the Atlantic Ocean at Wilmington, NC.
Thanks to these navigable waters, Fayetteville had become a center of trade and commerce
by the early 1800s.
At that time, people were talking about railroads all around the country,
and there was great interest in North and South Carolina.
In the 1830s, several railroads were being chartered and planned for the region.
In 1836, it was generally recognized that a railroad should be built
from Fayetteville westbound, to bring goods from the interior of the state to Fayetteville by rail,
and then be shipped to the ports of Wilmington by barge.
However, the financial depression of 1837 stifled most of these plans,
and construction of the first 'permanent' railroads would be postponed to the later 1840s.
During these ten years, ventures for many railroads came and went, under names such as
Fayetteville Railroad,
Cape Fear & Yadkin Railroad,
Cape Fear, Yadkin, & Pee Dee Railroad,
and the
Fayetteville & Western Railroad.
Many were planned and some were surveyed; few were graded and fewer still were built.
Most failed quickly.
- Western Railroad of NC [Carriker 37-40]
The Western Railroad of NC
was chartered in 1852 to build a 43 mile line from Fayetteville northwest to
the coalfields of Egypt, about seven miles beyond Sanford.
Right-of-way was procured during a six year period, construction began in 1858,
and trains were hauling coal to Fayetteville by 1861.
When the War Between the States began a few years later, this line became
very important to the Confederacy.
Coal from Egypt was shipped to Fayetteville by rail and to Wilmington by barge,
where it kept locomotive and schooner boilers alive for the war effort.
At the close of the war in 1865, the Western Railroad suffered great damage
at the hand of Union troops under General Sherman.
They destroyed twelve miles of track, shops, depots, and railroad buildings near Fayetteville.
However, the locomotives and rolling stock were spared, since
the railroad had moved them to Egypt for safekeeping.
Luckily, Sherman chose not to go there.
The line was rehabilitated by 1868.
By 1871, interconnections were being established with other railroads, and
the line was being extended from Egypt toward High Point.
Business continued until 1879, when the Western Railroad merged into
the new Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad.
Meanwhile, a railroad from Fayetteville southward to Florence was taking shape...
- Fayetteville & Florence Railroad [Carriker 71]
Several companies under various names had been chartered between 1861 and 1875 for the purpose
of building a railroad between these two towns.
None made any progress in the early years; nor did the war help matters any.
However, when the second Fayetteville & Florence Railroad company was chartered in 1875,
they immediately surveyed a route and started work.
The chosen line ran from Fayetteville to Hope Mills, Maxton, Raemont, and south.
(The present Red Springs & Northern is on this route.)
The company graded a 47 mile section from Fayetteville to the SC line
between 1875 and 1881.
Unfortunately, no track was installed.
Completion of the railroad would wait until after several corporate changes...
- Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad [Carriker 73]
The Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad was chartered in 1879 as a merger of
the Western Railroad of NC and the Mt. Airy & Ore Knob Railroad.
Two years later,
it purchased the Fayetteville & Florence Railroad, along with its graded roadbed.
But the railroad was busy grading its line to Greensboro, and was trying to plan a line to Wilmington.
It was also having financial difficulties.
Construction of the line south toward Florence would have to wait again.
- Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway [Carriker 81,91]
In July 1883, the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad
was reorganized into the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway.
Another company called the North State Improvement Company was also chartered
by the same men to purchase railroad stock from the state and to perform railroad construction work
for the new railway.
On the same day as the reorganization,
the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway entered into an agreement
with the South Carolina Pacific Railway, which had just completed grading their own line
from Bennettsville, SC to the NC line.
The two companies agreed to modify their routes slightly and to
connect their railroads at the state line.
Construction of the track south from Fayetteville finally began in 1883.
It reached Red Springs by mid-1884,
Maxton by August,
the state line by October, and
Bennettsville by year-end.
(The ancestor of the Red Springs & Northern now had track!)
Times were good.
As the railroad grew southward, new towns and businesses appeared along the line.
During 1884, the railroad added double rails to their bridges to reduce the damage
from derailments on a bridge.
They also added hand railings to the bridges to
keep pedestrians from falling into the water.
The company purchased its first locomotives with air brakes,
and installed sidings at several towns, including Lumber Bridge.
By 1886, the railroad had upgraded its mainline to 50 pound steel rail,
and adopted the use of joint bars with four bolts at each joint.
From Gulf (just beyond Egypt) to Maxton, the railroad had 10 water tanks,
9 lumber sidings (fuel for locomotive boilers), 28 depots, and 19 maintenance sections.
The railroad was in good shape for several years, but then it fell into financial decline.
In addition to the southern branch,
the railroad had expanded in both the northwest and southeast directions.
It had reached Greensboro by 1884, Mt. Airy by 1887,
and completed a line to Wilmington by 1890.
But it was growing too fast.
The expense of building the line to Wilmington combined with a general financial depression in 1893
proved to be too much of a strain.
The railroad fell into receivership in 1894.
- Atlantic Coast Line [Carriker 95]
Following the foreclosure of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway,
a confusing series of corporate transfers, legal challenges, and court rulings ensued.
(The corporate turmoil continued for many years, and took until 1924
to be resolved by the NC Supreme Court.)
The railroad was initially purchased by
Harry Walters, president of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad and the
Atlantic Coast Line Company.
The line passed several times through the same hands, including several companies with the name of
Atlantic & Yadkin Railway.
Mr. Samuel Spencer of the Southern Railway System also got in on the action.
Eventually, the Southern Railway obtained the northern portion of the railroad,
while the Atlantic Coast Line retained the southern portion,
including the line leading south from Fayetteville through Red Springs.
- The Fayetteville Cutoff [Hoffman 76]
During the late 1800s,
the Atlantic Coast Line had grown into one of the three big
conglomerate railroads providing long distance service from north to south.
(The others were the Southern Railway System and the Seaboard Air Line.)
In 1885, the Atlantic Coast Line's
north-south mainline still went through Wilmington.
Because the competition had developed shorter, more direct routes to the south,
the detour to Wilmington was increasingly seen as an impediment to growth.
As a result, Atlantic Coast Line management planned and built a new mainline
more directly from Wilson, NC to Florence, SC.
The line would pass through Fayetteville, and would cross the
Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway two times.
The "Fayetteville Cutoff" was built in three phases.
In 1885-1886, the upper 70 mile Wilson-to-Fayetteville portion was built.
The line did not see much traffic, but did interchange with the
Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway.
In 1886-1888, the lower 24 mile Florence-to-Rowlands portion was built.
It saw very little traffic.
The middle 43 mile Fayetteville-to-Rowlands portion was not built until 1892.
The death of the Atlantic Coast Line president, the driving force behind the cutoff,
and opposition from the town of Wilmington had postponed completion.
Now, however, traffic flowed fast and furious.
The mainline was 61 miles shorter, and the Atlantic Coast Line was
very competitive again.
- First Abandonment [Carriker 95]
The completion of the "Fayetteville Cutoff" in 1892, combined with the
takeover of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway by the Atlantic Coast Line in 1894,
resulted in the first abandonment on the original line.
It was immediately clear that the two lines south from Fayetteville were redundant.
The original line was abandoned in 1899
from Fayetteville, to Hope Mills, and to a point just west of Parkton.
The original line was connected to the new mainline at Parkton by a new
short section of track (date undetermined).
The rest of the original line remained intact for more than 60 years.
- Seaboard Coast Line [Carriker 95]
In 1967, the Atlantic Coast Line merged with the Seaboard Air Line to form
the Seaboard Coast Line.
Immediately, many sections of the original Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway were
abandoned as unprofitable.
This included
the section from Red Springs south to the state line,
the section west of Sanford, and
part of the line to Wilmington.
- Red Springs & Northern Railroad
Sometime between 1967 and the present,
the old line from Parkton to Red Springs
changed hands again, and became known as the
Red Springs & Northern Railroad.
(Details are left for another research project.)
Today (2000) the track continues to interchange with the busy CSX mainline at Parkton.
Sidings remain in Lumber Bridge,
north of Shannon,
and in Red Springs.
Trestles in good condition bridge many streams.
The line ends unremarkedly on the south side of Red Springs.
The line has been in existence for 116 years (1884 - 2000).
We hope the next chapter is a positive one...
- Red Springs & Northern Foundation
On December 20, 2004, ownership of the railroad was transferred
from Advancement, Inc to the Red Springs & Northern Foundation.
The RS&N Foundation is a 301(C)(3) tax-exempt corporation, with goals of
revitalizing the line, restoring rail service, and continuing restoration of the depot at Parkton.
