The
history of South Carolina railroads first dates back to the South
Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company (SCCRR) which was formed back in
1827.
On
December 4, 1827, Alexander Black introduced "a bill to
incorporate a company to establish a railway or railways between the
City of Charleston and the towns of Hamburg, Columbia, and Camden."
The bill was passed and finally approved on December 19, 1827. It
authorized the organization of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road
Company.
The
stockholders officially formed the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road
company on May 12, 1828. It was the second railroad company in the
US. Surveys were then conducted to determine the best route from
Charleston to Hamburg - near present day North Augusta, SC.
A
local businessman E. L. Miller provided $4,000.00 to purchase the
first locomotive for the Charleston Hamburg Railroad. It was called
“The Best Friend of Charleston” and was the first practical
working steam locomotive built in America. It was first built in New
York, then disassembled and transported down the Atlantic coast by
ship. The locomotive arrived in Charleston on October 23, 1830. The
locomotive weighed about 4½ tons and produced only six horsepower.
In
January of 1830, construction of the railroad tracks began. The
tracks started in Charleston and reached San Souci area by December
of that year. On Christmas Day, 1830, 141 passengers rode in two
passenger cars up to San Souci, traveling at speeds of up to 25 miles
per hour. That first trip of “The Best Friend of Charleston” was
reported around the world. This was the first regularly scheduled
passenger train to operate in America.
The
railroad experienced several problems during 1831. These included
train derailments and the burning of a freight car by hot ashes from
the locomotive. The biggest setback was the explosion of the iron
boiler that exploded, killing the fireman and destroying “The Best
Friend of Charleston.” The death of the fireman was the first
fatality on an American railroad. Parts were
salvaged from the wreckage and another engine was built and named
“The Phoenix”.
By
the end of 1831, the railroad was eighteen miles long and reached the
area of Woodstock. The tracks reached Summerville in the summer of
1832. On October 3, 1832, the company started running two daily
passenger trains from Charleston to Summerville. The railroad kept
slowly expanding across South Carolina. The Charleston Hamburg
Railroad also became the first railroad to carry the US mail. Many
towns along the train route were named for railroad people. For
example, the town of Aiken was named for William Aiken, the first
president of the railroad.
The
train finally reached Hamburg, SC, on October 2, 1833. The Charleston
Hamburg Railroad was the longest railroad in the world at that time.
The track was 126 miles long from beginning to
end. The train reportedly could run between 15 and 25 miles an hour,
but had to stop every 10 miles for fuel and water. By October
1833 the railroad had completed its entire line, a massive system for
its time easily making it the largest such company in operation.
The
cost of building the railroad was just under $1 million. Elias Horry
was president of the Charleston Hamburg Railroad company from 1831 to
1834. On December 28, 1837 the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston
Railroad purchased the South Carolina Canal and Railroad company for
$2,400,000.
By
1840, the South Carolina town of Branchville asserted that it was the
"first railroad junction" in the world, and the Branchville
& Columbia Railroad was well into its construction (completed
1842). The Camden & Branchville Railroad was completed in 1848.
At
the start of the U.S. Civil War, there were thirteen railroads with
over 985 miles of track laid within the state of South Carolina.
Railroads played a significant role during the Civil War with troop
movement, but their greatest use was for transporting goods and
material to aid in the war effort. Many miles of track were destroyed
by General Sherman on his march through South Carolina.
After
the Civil War, South Carolinians quickly repaired its railroads and
by 1870 had added another 300 miles of new track. By the end of the
century, South Carolina had over 2,800 miles of railroad tracks,
criss-crossing every county within the state. The end of the century
also brought the merger of many railroad companies into large
"conglomerates".
The
railroad transformed the state of South Carolina like nothing had
before. In the 1840s, the first "railroad towns" began to
emerge along the snaking steel rails where farmland once held firm.
Thousands of little depots, hamlets, and thriving cities began to
evolve along the railroad well into the early twentieth century.
Railroads
reached their peak in South Carolina around 1920, with over 3,800
miles of track in operation. However, with the coming of the
automobile and the freight trucking lines, highways began to assume
dominance over the railroads. When the US Interstate Highways came
along in the 1950s and 1960s, many railroad lines became unprofitable
and were ultimately abandoned. Many "railroad towns" also
began to fade away. Quite a few did not survive into the twenty-first
century.
At
its peak, South Carolina had almost 4,000 miles of track.Today, South Carolina's rail network includes nearly 2,300 miles of track. Expect the network to begin growing again as high speed rail systems and intermodal freight trains gain traction over the coming decade.
SC
State
Rail System Today
Class
I Railroads
Class
III Railroads
Passenger carriers
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Key
Sources
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