And to think this line almost became Southern's mainline to Jax.
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You are correct; that line has been abandoned from Branchville to about 5 miles southeast of Aiken, where the Aiken Railway now works the industries on that line. I think it was abandoned in the mid 1980s. I love these old Southern pics you’ve been posting David—thanks for sharing them.
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My pleasure, Tracey.
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Mr. Carleton, I knew the line from Columbia that crossed this line at Blackville had once been a route to Florida via Hardeeville and ACL, but did not know this line had ever been considered as a FL route. How would that have worked? What would have been the rest of the route? Thanks.
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As a condition for the SCL merger the Southern wanted permanent trackage rights from Hardeeville to Savannah and to purchase one of the two lines from Savannah to Jacksonville. The ICC said 'no.'
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Mr. Carleton, I think you're thinking of the C Line that ran out of Cayce, SC near Columbia, and ran south/southwest. That's the one the old bean train ran on and I think that's the line SOU wanted to extend to JAX. David's picture was taken on the SA line, which ran west/northwest from Branchville to Augusta and is a different line.
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Right, but I do not see how this line (Aiken-Branchville) would have been part of the proposed route. Maybe I am thick.
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I stand corrected (but I was only off by about 10 miles). Denmark is on the east-west (Augusta-Charleston) line just east of the line from Columbia. One has to wonder what line abandonments would have changed had Southern gotten their own coast line.
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