Port Royal & Western Carolina Railway
The 225-mile PR&WC was created in 1886 by the merger of the Augusta & Knoxville Railroad, the Savannah Valley Railroad (Anderson to McCormick), the Greenville & Laurens Railroad, and the Greenwood, Laurens & Spartanburg Railroad. It was controlled by the Central of Georgia, which had financed the constituent lines.
At Augusta, the PR&WC connected with the Port Royal & Augusta, also controlled by the Central between 1881 and 1894.
In the 1894 edition of The Official Railway List, the PR&WC reported operating 229 miles of railroad with 15 locomotives and 122 freight and miscellaneous cars.
South Carolina forced the Central to give up all of its holdings in the state in the early 1890s. These railroads were reorganized in 1896 as the Charleston & Western Carolina Railway.
The Atlantic Coast Line gained control of the C&WC in 1897. It was not, however, until 1959 that the smaller road was merged into ACL.
Maps, Timetables, and Other Information:
1892 map (257K)
1895 map (130K)
1895 timetable (284K)
Early scene at Lake Olmstead, Augusta (98K)
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