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| Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
In December 2014 I headed south with my brother Bruce from New Jersey to Florida. Along the way we spent the better part of a day each on three classic shortline railroads of the South. In previous posts we looked at the
Sandersville Railroad in Georgia and the
Aberdeen, Carolina & Western in North Carolina. In this post we wrap up our series with a day on the Lancaster & Chester in Chester, S.C.
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| Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
The Lancaster & Chester Railroad traces its roots to the Cheraw & Chester Railroad, which was established in 1873. In the Cheraw & Chester was purchased at auction by Colonel Leroy Springs and renamed the Lancaster & Chester, running 22 miles between its namesake towns. The line was a three-foot narrow gauge railroad until 1902, when it was converted to standard gauge so it could tie into the rest of the U.S. national rail system. The railroad dieselize in 1946, and in 1965 it began operating EMD end-cab switchers as its primary power. This practice came to a close in 2003 with the arrival of standard EMD road power.
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| Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
On the day we visited the railroad, December 10, 2014, the crew came on duty shortly after 8:00 a.m. at the interchange with Norfolk Southern in Chester. There is a large industrial park about six miles outside of town, and the train spent the morning making two round trips between Chester and the park.
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| Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
Unfortunately for us, this six miles of railroad would be all the crew would cover on this day (out of the 22 to Lancaster). We had just happened to pick the day the railroad was holding its holiday banquet, and everyone was given short day to prepare for the evening's activity.
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| Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
We spent the rest of the day camped out at the Norfolk Southern interchange, hoping for something to come by on the NS mainline between Charlotte, N.C., and Columbia, S.C. Alas, the only train that showed up was a local that dropped cars in Chester for the L&C and picked up that day's interchange traffic. It looks like we'll have to make another trip to the L&C in the future to cover more of the railroad.
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| Norfolk Southern and Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
In 2001 the L&C signed an agreement to operate 30 miles of Norfolk Southern track between Catawba Junction and Kershaw, S.C., connecting with the original L&C at Lancaster. There is also an L&C museum located in Lancaster. There will be plenty to do on the next trip to the Springmaid Line. More photos from this day
can be found here.
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| Lancaster & Chester; Chester, S.C.; December 10, 2014 |
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