Along SC 41 to the N of Lake View looking NE, the ROW can be made out if you look closely. The rail line went down the center of the photo, and the bank to the right formed one side of the excavation. Immediately behind the photographer, the ROW enters a swamp and the raised bank can be seen going through the swamp (the photo didn't turn out however!). This section was abandoned in 1933. Photo from March 2004.
Originally built as the Carolina Northern Railroad, the line was chartered to extend from Lumberton, NC to South Marion, SC -- 40 miles. The railroad was chartered in 1899 and opened from Lumberton to Kingsdale on January 1, 1900, to Proctorville on July 1, 1900, to Barnesville on December 15, 1900, and completed to Marion and South Marion on December 1, 1901. The Carolina Northern entered receivership on December 2, 1902.
The Raleigh & Charleston Railroad Company was incorporated on December 5, 1905 as the successor to the Carolina Northern. In December 1911, the Seaboard Air Line acquired the company and the line. The R & C intersected with the SAL at Smithboro to the NE of Marion and at Lumberton, NC. The Company entered receivership in May 1931. The ~23 miles between Lumberton and Lake View, SC, was abandoned in 1933. The remaining section (20 miles) from Lake View to Marion was abandoned effective June 30, 1941. The R & C was listed as "abandoned" during the early 1940s reorganization proceedings of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The R & C did not exist as an entity after the 1945 reorganization of SAL.
The ROW between Lake View and Marion was then used for the road bed of SC Highway 41. The ROW is amazingly easy to find in most places between Lake View and Lumberton. A portion S of Lumberton has been used as a ROW for a sewer line. Towns from Lumberton to the S are Kingsdale, Proctorville, Barnesville, Flowers, Marietta, Holmesville, Lake View (Page's Mill), Kemper, May, Mellier, Squires, Fork, Smithboro, Zion, Rogers, Marion and South Marion.
Information above is based on Poor's Manual of Railroads - 1903, and Moody's Steam Railroads, John Moody 1944.
