I am looking for any information about the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad. It was constructed in 1887 and began at Lewiston North Carolina running to Boykins Virginia where it joined the Seaboard and Roanoke Rail Road (1851, formerly the Portsmouth? and Roanoke RR, 1836). It currently is an active rail line. Thanks in advance for any information!

-- Dennis Lyle Babb (dennisbabb@coastalnet.com), December 26, 1998

Answers

If you can get access to a copy of Prince's Seaboard Air Line Railway, page 24 covers the Roannoke & Tar River RR, from Boykins, VA to Lewiston, NC. (It was the Lewiston Subdivision of the Raleigh Division of the SCL when I ran over it.) A six-mile branch once existed from Pendleton (MP SAB 62.2, 3 miles north of Conway, NC) to Murfreesboro, but was abandoned in 1897. The 5-mile Lewiston-Kelford stub (south of the old ACL Rocky Mount-Portsmouth main) was abandoned after I went to Amtrak in 1986. The line from Boykins to Kelford (SAL) and Kelford to Ahoskie/Tunis (ACL) is now operated by the Virginia-North Carolina Railroad (shortline).

-- Doug Riddell (railroaddoug@erols.com), February 05, 1999.

If you can get access to a copy of Prince's Seaboard Air Line Railway, page 24 covers the Roannoke & Tar River RR, from Boykins, VA to Lewiston, NC. (It was the Lewiston Subdivision of the Raleigh Division of the SCL when I ran over it.) A six-mile branch once existed from Pendleton (MP SAB 62.2, 3 miles north of Conway, NC) to Murfreesboro, but was abandoned in 1897. The 5-mile Lewiston-Kelford stub (south of the old ACL Rocky Mount-Portsmouth main) was abandoned after I went to Amtrak in 1986. The line from Boykins to Kelford (SAL) and Kelford to Ahoskie/Tunis (ACL) is now operated by the Virginia-North Carolina Railroad.

-- Doug Riddell (railroaddoug@erols.com), February 05, 1999.