The Durham & Southern Railway, "Service With Courtesy"
The state of North Carolina is home to several classic shortlines, one of which was known as the Durham & Southern Railway (reporting marks, DS). The D&S would become another portfolio
of the Duke family interests not long after its chartering in the late
19th century. Despite the road's small size at less than 60 miles in
length it served the growing Piedmont region of North Carolina, which at
the time boasted a strong industrial base in textiles and tobacco.
Along with several interchanges with major Class I carriers like the
Atlantic Coast Line, Norfolk & Western, and Southern the D&S
remained a relatively profitable operation for most of its time in
service. The railroad would become part of the Seaboard Coast Line
system in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, after CSX Transportation was
formed most of the D&S was either outright abandoned or sold.
Today, just a short segment of the original main line is still active.
The story of the Durham and Southern Railway
dates back to the chartering of the Cape Fear & Northern Railroad
by George Alford, which intended to operate the line to serve local
timber interests. However, funding for the project became a major
obstacle and years went by with nothing transpiring. Enter Benjamin
Duke and other local Durham businessmen, who approach Mr. Alford with
the intentions of purchasing the charter and building the railroad as
intended. Duke was fast becoming a very successful entrepreneur. His
father started the American Tobacco Company in 1890 and a few years
later in 1892 Duke headed their first textile business based in Durham.
In 1905 he and his brother founded Southern Power Company in South
Carolina, which went on to become Duke Power, today known as Duke
The Cape Fear & Northern would not be the only railroad in
which Duke held an interest, soon after in 1904 he purchased a small
interurban in South Carolina, which eventually became the successful
Piedmont & Northern Railway (likely the most profitable interurban
ever operated). With the CF&N now under his control in 1898 Duke
quickly made plans for construction of the route, which commenced on
July 27 of that year. By 1903 the route was open between Apex and Dunn,
a distance of 36.1 miles. Three years later the company's name was
changed to the Durham and Southern Railway to complete the route to
Durham where it would not only interchange with other major roads like
the Southern Railway
and Norfolk & Western but also serve another major market (Durham).
In all, the D&S had a system stretching 56.8 miles from Durham to
Dunn, which roughly tracked southeastwardly.
With Duke as president the D&S thrived, as the man was an excellent
businessman who had a knack for turning operations into profitable
ventures. The railroad not only featured interchanges with the N&W
and Southern but also the Atlantic Coast Line at Dunn, Seaboard Air Line
at Apex, and the original Norfolk Southern Railway at Fuquay-Varina
which stretched from Charlotte to Norfolk, Virginia via eastern North
Carolina. Due to its location within the heart of the Tarheel State's
industrial center the D&S saw a traffic base ranging from textiles
and agriculture to coal and wood products (this same region today is
part of the state's "Research Triangle" where many high-tech industries
are located). In later years when the piggy-back revolution began to
take hold in the 1960s the railroad also grew this business with some
During the steam era the Durham and Southern Railway relied
almost solely on 2-10-0 Decapods built by Baldwin although it also
utilized a 4-8-0 Mastodon (also referred to as a twelve-wheeler) as well
as a 4-6-0 ten-wheeler. Interestingly, for just being a small system
the D&S dispatched two passenger trains a day over its route through
the 1930s and finally ended all such services after 1952. For railfans
and those with an interest in trains the most fascinating time to
follow the railroad began in the mid-1950s when it began acquiring new
Baldwin-built diesel road-switchers, three RS12s #1200-1202. While
these were the only three new Baldwins the D&S purchased it later
acquired other models including an AS16 as well as four DRS-4-4-1500s.
Its final new units were purchased in the early 1970s when the company
picked up four GP38-2s (one of which was even painted into a
bi-centennial livery in 1976).
With the growing merger-movement during the 1970s ownership
decided to sell the railroad to large, nearby competitor. As an
independent operation the Durham and Southern Railway's final day of
service was July 5, 1979 as the next day it became part of the Seaboard
Coast Line. It continued to operate under SCL, then Seaboard System,
and finally CSX Transportation which after its formation in 1987 soon
decided to scrap or sell most of the line south of Apex. In December
the historic shortline Aberdeen & Rockfish picked up the Dunn to
Erwin section (1.4 miles) to serve the latter's textile mill. After
this large denim clothing manufacturer closed in 2000 the line was
abandoned. Today, CSX continues to use the Durham to Apex route, 20.7
miles, although the rest of the original D&S has long since been abandoned with some sections turned into local rail/trails.
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Durham & Southern