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Atlantic & Western Railway. Image courtesy of Flickr user Donald Lee Pardue.
Atlantic & Western Railway. Image courtesy of Flickr user Donald Lee Pardue.

The Atlantic & Western Railway Company was chartered on 7 Mar. 1899 under sponsorship of the Edwards family of Sanford. It took over the operation of a line extending 12 miles west from Hope Mills that had been built by the Enterprise Land & Improvement Company. Between 1903 and 1913 it built its own line east from Sanford to Lillington (26 miles); plans to continue to Goldsboro were never realized. In 1926 the company was sold under foreclosure and reorganized as the Atlantic & Western Railway (A&W), which continued to operate a line between Sanford and Lillington until 15 Dec. 1961, when all but three miles from Sanford to Jonesboro were abandoned.

The A&W was reorganized on 1 Jan. 1970 as the Atlantic & Western Corporation. Since 1988, it has been the property of Rail Management and Consulting, based in Florida. In 1990 the A&W acquired the former Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad line between Sanford and Greensboro, long operated by the Southern Railway. What began as a link between Sanford and the east has thus become a route to the west. By the early 2000s the railroad operated ten miles of track and had connections with CSX and the Norfolk Southern Railroad.

Reference:

S. David Carriker, Railroading in the Carolina Sandhills, vol. 2 (1987).

Additional Resources:

Inventory of the Atlantic and Western Railroad, 1905-1968, Duke University Libraries: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/atlanticandwestern/

GWRR Atlantic & Western Railroad (aquired by GWRR in 2005):http://www.gwrr.com/operations/railroads/north_america/atlantic_western_railroad (aquired by GWRR in 2005)

North Carolina Railway Association: http://www.ncrailways.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=32

Railroads of North Carolina by Alan Coleman: http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9780738553368/Railroads-of-North-Carolina

1901 Bill extending the Atlantic & Western Railway Company: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/journal-of-the-senate-of-the-general-assembly-of-the-state-of-north-carolina-at-its-1901-session/3881629

North Carolina Railway Museum: http://www.nhvry.org/

North Carolina Digital Collections, 1899 and act to amend private law of Enterprise Land & Improvement Co. and Atlantic & Western:https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/private-laws-of-the-state-of-north-carolina-passed-by-the-general-assembly-at-its-session-of-...1899/3883476?item=3922545

Zucchino, David. "The Atlantic and Western Survives: The Little Engine That Can." The News and Observer [Raleigh, N.C.]. July 4, 1976. "Railroads - North Carolina" Vertical Reference File, Government and Heritage Library, North Carolina.

Image Credit:

"Atlantic & Western Railway." Image courtesy of Flickr user Donald Lee Pardue. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldrebel/5433702877/ (accessed July 5, 2012).

Citation

Kennedy, George A. "Atlantic & Western Railway Company." NCpedia. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 14th, 2024. https://www.ncpedia.org/atlantic-western-railway-company.