The
Wilson
&
Summerton Railroad (W&S)
Railroad
was first
chartered
by the South Carolina General Assembly
in 1888.
The
railroad line was
built by Thomas Wilson and
started
at Millard
Junction, just to the west of Summerton, where
it connected to the Charleston,
Sumter & Northern Railroad
(CS&N).
It ran
16.5 miles to
Wilsons Mill, just to the east of Manning, where
it connected to the Central
Railroad of South Carolina.
The
W&S began operations
on September
10, 1889. Towns along
the line between
Wilson's Mill and Millard's
Junction
included
Wilson, Bloomville, Jordan, Davis Station, and
Summerton. The
primary purpose of the W&S Railroad was to bring lumber to
Wilson's Mill.
In
1890, the Eutawville_Railroad
changed its name to the Charleston, Sumter &
Northern Railroad. In
October 1894, the
Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad bought the Charleston, Sumter &
Northern Railroad and
it was renamed the Charleston & Northern Railroad. In
1895, property, franchises, and rights of the Charleston &
Northern were sold, and a good
portion of
the line was
acquired by
the Wilson &
Summerton (W&S)
Railroad.
In
1899, the W&S
Railroad was
merged with
the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad
and became
the
Northwestern
Railroad of South Carolina and
Thomas Wilson became
its
president. The
railroad
line ran all
the way from the town of Camden
to Wilson's Mill, a distance of more
than 61
miles. It
remained in business until the mid-1930s when
it folded due to competition from the growing trucking industry.
*
Be sure to visit the US
Railroad & Rail Worker History web site
Key
Resources
I am pretty sure that the Wilson & Summerton never merged with the Atlantic Coast Line.
ReplyDeleteThe Wilson & Summerton (Tom Wilson) bought the Charleston & Northern and created the new
Northwestern Railroad of South Carolina by combining his Wilson & Summerton with the line from St. Paul north to Sumter. The track south of St. Paul to the Santee Swamps were leased to other lumber companies in Sumter.
Wilson built a NEW line from Sumter to Camden to get a connection with the Seaboard Air Line since he was surrounded by ACL lines as a disadvantage.
Wilson left Wilson's Mill and moved to Salem, a sawmill town of his located a mile north of Cades on the ACL. He then built the SALEM RR west from Salem to New Zion and on to Gambles Store in Clarendon County.
Closing this down, he built a NEW Salem Railroad northwest to Florence County to Lynches River. He also logged at Lake City and once a Wilson locomotive got free at Salem and ran north to Lake City where it hit a southbound ACL freight train.
Not much later he moved to Sumter and purchased the St Paul to Sumter line.