[ Up ] [ History ] [ Towns ] [ Equipment ] [ Track ] [ Operations ] [ Modeling ] [ Why? ] [ HELP Sought ] [ Acknowledgements ]

CF&YV
MA&E

A Brief History

The Atlantic & Yadkin Railway is no more. Once it ran from Mount Airy, North Carolina southeast to Sanford, North Carolina. This short line's short lifespan covered 1900 to 1950, but some of its rails were laid down in the nineteenth century as part of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway. Some of those tracks are still in use today as parts of the Yadkin Valley Railroad.

The A&Y came into being as a result of negotiations and court proceedings following the foreclosure and sale of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway Company. The state of NC intended the CF&YV to be kept intact to preserve an east-west railroad serving the state interests.

An offer of $3.11 million by representatives of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad (soon to be reformed as the Atlantic Coast Line) was the winning bid in an auction held December 29, 1898. The purchasers obtained a deed dated January 31, 1899 to reorganize the bankrupt railroad as the "Atlantic and Yadkin Railway Company". On February 24th 1899, the Wilmington and Weldon procured an Act in NC to allow to the company to "consolidate, merge, sell or lease its railroad in whole or in part with or to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company" to create the Atlantic Coast Line. The governor and legislature apparently didn't realize this language also applied to the recently acquired A&Y. Following on May 13, 1899, the A&Y partitioned itself at Sanford, NC and for $1.8 million, deeded its south eastern half of 164.69 miles to the nascent ACL. Simultaneously, the A&Y company transferred its entire capital stock to the Southern Railway, which issued bonds secured by a mortgage dated May 15, 1899. And thus, the newly created A&Y consisting of 165.88 miles of mainline and branches funded by and thus owned wholly by the Southern. There was legal wrangling about the sale and division of the CF&YV for several decades. The North Carolina Supreme Court eventually decided the matter for good on December 3, 1924, ruling that the sale and reorganization were legal within the charters of the A&Y and the ACL.

The Southern wholly owned the A&Y, but due to the legal uncertainties and political sensitivities never fully absorbed it until 1950. From 1900 to1908 the Southern ran the lines as part of its regular operations. For example, in a 1906 Southern Railway Office of the Auditor "Mileage-Operating Divisions" booklet, the A&Y lines were listed as part of the Danville Division. From 1908 to 1916, for reasons unknown to me yet, the Southern operated the A&Y lines under a lease. The USRA operated the lines in at least 1918 and 1919. And from 1924-1929, the A&Y was operated by receivers.

After the A&Y emerged out of receivership the Southern left the A&Y to operate independently, for reasons also unknown to me yet. Perhaps the worries of people in Greensboro that the Southern would have less competition kept the operations nominally, if not legally, separate. When the bonds for purchasing the A&Y came due, the Southern management, already trying to simplify the tangled corporate and financial structures resulting from its own origin and aggressive growth, decided it was now appropriate to merge the A&Y into the Winston-Salem division. This was accomplished in short order and relatively smoothly--only with some trepidation and complaints from Greensboro shippers at hearings held by the ICC. On January 1, 1950, the A&Y ended its existence and the properties, equipment and employees became part of the Southern Railway's Winston-Salem division.

Here is a map of the Atlantic & Yadkin Railway dated 1900:

 

The A&Y did not own revenue cars, and its locomotives were primarily leased from the Southern.  Much of the line from Rural Hall to Greensboro became redundant after it was absorbed and those tracks were abandoned. The line from Mount Airy to Rural Hall remains intact and is now part of the Yadkin Valley Railroad, which also operates parts of the former Southern Railway K line to North Wilkesboro. The line from Gulf to Sanford was eventually sold to the Atlantic & Western Railway.

This website is copyrighted 1998-2022 by David M. Bott.  Images appearing on this website may be protected by U.S. Copyright Law, donor restrictions, and other rights or policies. The Railroad Roman font used in the title was bought from Ben Coifman. Persons who contemplate copying and using font or images should obtain all necessary permissions pertaining to use. Authorization to use images credited to the North Carolina Collection, University of N.C. Library at Chapel Hill should be sought from the Collection at CB#3934, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890. Telephone 919-962-7992. Images credited to the North Carolina State Library Photo Archives are considered in the public domain.  Images credited to others or unknown are subject to copyright restrictions and permission for use should be obtained.

This page  last edited Sunday, April 11, 2021