Does anyone know when the line from Lumberton, NC (on the SAL from Wilmington to Hamlet.....but I believe the branch line from Lumberton North may have been ACL???) to Kinston??? (not sure if the line actually made it that far northeast) was abandoned?

I have been through there several times in the past and have seen what appears to be timber pilings from a trestle down below the bridge on the north end of town on Hwy 701. My Father who grew up near there told me before he passed he might remember trains going through there, but it would have been many, many years ago, perhaps the 1930's or 1940's?

And to ask one last question, does anyone know what type of traffic the line carried?

Sorry to be so short on information.

Sincerely, Dan Edwards

-- Daniel T. Edwards (dedwards@inebraska.com), March 26, 2003

Answers

Just to add a little something about the V&CS. Back in the late 1950's while working at Milan Yd, one account was told, which was kind of humorous at the time, that it was the only railroad in the US where its branch line from St Paul to Elizabethtown was longer than its main line from Hope Mills to Lumberton. Perhaps, someone can verify whether this information is correct.

-- Herman Wilkins (railrdn@attbi.com), April 03, 2003.

The rail line into Elizabethtown was part of the ACL subsidiary, the Virginia & Carolina Southern. This branch ran from St. Paul, NC on the V&CS "main line" (from Lumberton to Hope Mills) East almost to the Cape Fear River and then South into Elizabethtown. A small part of the line still exists as CSXT track from St. Paul to the large DuPont Fayetteville Works chemical plant near Duart. The major portion South into Elizabethtown was abandoned in the 1950s. There used to be some rail cemented into the parking lot of the Court House in Elizabethtown that I was told was from the V&CS line. It was small and looked less than 70 lbs/yd.

-- Richard Lasater (richard.lasater@ncmail.net), March 27, 2003.

The line you are refering to is the Duart Spur.It never belong to the ACL.The only line that ran into Kinston from the South was a logging RR that was abandoned in the 40's and it was narrow gauge.The timber pilings you are seeing in Elizabethtown are the remenats of a another logging RR that was abandoned in the 40's.As far as traffic on the Duart spur,there is a Southern States that gets fertilizer and 2 more places that get service,but I can't recall what they get.Hopes this Helps...

-- Vic Lewis (TrkInsp5F33@aol.com), March 26, 2003.