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W&W Subdivision

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W&W Subdivision
CSX
AC 139.0
Contentnea
AC 141.9
Black Creek
AC 148.6
Fremont
AC 152.1
Pikeville
Norfolk Southern Railway
H Line
AC 159.8
Goldsboro
AC 173.5
Mount Olive
AC 177.2
Calypso
AC 180.4
Faison
AC 188.8
Warsaw
Clinton Spur
ACA 200.0
Clinton
AC 196.5
Magnolia
AC 201.7
Rose Hill
AC 208.1
Wallace
to Wilmington (abandoned)

The W&W Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The line today runs from just south of Wilson, North Carolina, to Wallace, North Carolina, for a total of 69.1 miles. At its north end the line connects to CSX's A Line (South End Subdivision).[1][2] The line's name stands for the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, the company that originally built the line.

History

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The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad was completed in 1840 and was the longest railroad in the world at the time of its completion.[3] In 1899, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad was merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). The Atlantic Coast Line would incorporate the Wilmington and Weldon's main line north of Contentnea (just south of Wilson) into their A Line. The rest of the line south of that point would become the Contentnea—Wilmington Line (C Line), one of the company's secondary main lines. The line would continue to provide service to the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina where the ACL was headquartered from 1900 to 1960.[4]

In 1909, the ACL realigned the track in Goldsboro to bypass the center of town in conjunction with the opening of Goldsboro Union Station. The line's original alignment along Center Street was removed in 1925.[5]

By 1949, two daily round-trip passenger trains and a daily through freight train were running the Contentnea—Wilmington Line on their way from Rocky Mount to Wilmington. An additional local freight train ran the line six days a week at the same time.[6]

In 1967, the ACL merged with its rival, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL), who also served Wilmington via a line that originated in Hamlet (the Wilmington Subdivision). The merged company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL), who designated the line as the W&W Subdivision. By then, only freight trains were running the line.[7]

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. Also in 1986, CSX abandoned the W&W Subdivision from Wilmington to Wallace, where the line terminates today.[8] The Wilmington Subdivision is now CSX's only line serving Wilmington.

Clinton Spur

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The Clinton Spur line runs from Warsaw to Clinton for a total of 11.3 miles. Most of the spur is owned and operated by CSX. The end of the spur (approximately 3.53 miles of rail line between milepost 199.0 in Moltonville, NC, and the end of the track at milepost 202.53 in Clinton, NC) was owned and operated by the Clinton Terminal Railroad Company (CTR), originally as the Clinton Division of the Waccamaw Coast Line, from July 1994 until August 2023. Regional Rail announced at the beginning of August 2023 that it had acquired the CTR, and that it would continue to operate, now as the Clinton Branch of the Carolina Coastal Railway (CLNA), a local Class III railroad acquired by Regional Rail in 2020. This “new” branch does not directly connect with any other trackage of the CLNA, relying instead on interchange with CSX in Moltonville. The Clinton Spur was originally built as the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad's Clinton Branch in 1887.

Historic Atlantic Coast Line stations

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Contentnea to Wilmington
Milepost City/Location Station[6] Connections and notes
AC 138.9 Contentnea junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Main Line
AC 141.9 Black Creek Black Creek
AC 148.6 Fremont Fremont also known as Nahunta
AC 152.1 Pikeville Pikeville
AC 159.8 Goldsboro Goldsboro Union Station junction with:
AC 161.4 Royall Yard
AC 168.5 Dudley named for Governor Edward Bishop Dudley, founder of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad
AC 173.5 Mount Olive
AC 177.2 Calypso Calypso
AC 180.4 Faison Faison
AC 184.6 Bowden
AC 188.8 Warsaw Warsaw junction with Clinton Branch
AC 196.5 Magnolia Magnolia
AC 201.7 Rose Hill Rose Hill
AC 205.8 Teachey Teachey
AC 208.1 Wallace Wallace originally known as Duplin Roads[9]
AC 211.5 Willard originally known as Leesburg[10]
AC 214.7 Watha Watha
AC 221.4 Burgaw Burgaw
AC 226.5 Ashton
AC 229.5 Rocky Point
AC 235.4 Castle Hayne
AC 239.7 Wrightsboro
AC 241.1 Gordon
AC 242.5 Wilmington Smith Creek Yard
AC 243.1 New Bern Junction junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad New Bern Branch
AC 243.6 Wilmington Union Station junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Wilmington—Pee Dee Line
Clinton Branch
Milepost City/Location Station Connections and notes
ACA 188.8 Warsaw Warsaw junction with the Contentnea—Wilmington Line
ACA 194.4 Turkey
ACA 195.8 Elliott
ACA 202.5 Clinton Clinton

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "WW-W and W Sub - The RadioReference Wiki". wiki.radioreference.com. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
  2. ^ CSX Florence Sub Timetable
  3. ^ UNC University Libraries: This Month in North Carolina History - March 1840
  4. ^ Goolsby, Larry (2010). "The ACL Moves to Jacksonville". Lines South. 27 (3). White River Productions: 14–21.
  5. ^ "The Night the Tracks Came Up (after two decades of fighting)". The Cromulent Manifesto. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Northern Division Timetable (1949)
  7. ^ Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Rocky Mount Division Timetable (1970)
  8. ^ "Wallace to Wilmington, NC". Abandoned Rails. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Duplin Roads Before Wallace: A History". Cape Fear Historical Institute. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  10. ^ Turburg, Ed. "Historic and Architectural Resources of Pender County" (PDF). North Carolina (official site). Retrieved 8 December 2020.
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