Towns Along the Line  ·  Milepost CF 130.1

Sanford, NC

Lee County  ·  Altitude 375 ft.

History

The City of Sanford is the Lee County Seat. It was laid out in 1872 and has an altitude of 375 feet above sea level. The city was incorporated in 1872 and is said to be named for Colonel C.O. Sanford, the locating engineer for the Chatham Railroad. Jonesboro merged with Sanford in 1947. Its chief products include bricks, pottery, lumber, electrical parts, primary metals, sheet metal working, apparel, industrial machinery, furniture, insecticides and cosmetics according to the North Carolina Gazetteer.

Although the middle of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway was Sanford, the A&Y ended there. In fact, Garreth McDonald told me that a fellow historian has proven through court records and deeds that the A&Y did not quite make it to the Sanford station, but was ended about 100-200 yards north of the station. If I understand correctly, this arrangement allowed the Atlantic Coast Line passenger trains to pull up past the station for the passengers. It also allowed the ACL to switch the station without running on the A&Y. The A&Y not only interchanged with the ACL in Sanford, but the Seaboard Airline and the Atlantic & Western Railway too. The SAL and the ACL - A&Y combined line had a crossing at grade. The A&Y trains could take on water and coal or could terminate in the yard located in Sanford. I took the contemporary “odds and ends” photos while visiting with Mr. McDonald.

Recently, I came across and obtained a copy of “City of Sanford: The first 100 Years, 1874–1974” which includes some historic photographs, a map and references to prominent townspeople. This is a second edition and the photo reproductions are pretty poor, but I am not sure those in the first edition would be high quality as many appear to be reproduced on a photocopier (high tech for 1974!). I am going to attempt to contact members of the Railroad House Historical Association who compiled and printed the first edition in the hopes of obtaining copy prints of some of the photographs.

For all that the A&Y was the smallest road at Sanford, the 1916 valuation put the little railroad at the center of the union station’s ownership. The surveyors placed the whole joint passenger station in the A&Y’s own valuation section, noting across the top of the page that it was carried there because the Atlantic & Yadkin was “the owning company of this section.” The figures took a while to settle: the Sanford agent first reported the station as half Seaboard, a quarter Southern, and a quarter Atlantic Coast Line, but that split was struck out and formally corrected in 1920 to an even 50/50 between the Southern and the Seaboard (per letters from Roby of the Seaboard and Shepard of the A.C.L., both dated May 3, 1920). The freight house was a separate matter again — owned and maintained by the Atlantic Coast Line and used jointly with the Southern.

The Sanford union passenger station. A real pretty structure.
Sanford union passenger station. Click for full size.

To the east of the A&Y tracks was the passenger station jointly owned 50/50 by its parent company, the Southern Railway, and the Seaboard Air Line, whose tracks passed east of the station. The station was also used by the Atlantic Coast Line. The photos of this station taken by the ICC surveyors are apparently in the SAL records, as I only found a brief description in the A&Y books. The lintels for the doors and windows and the steps were made of brownstone (likely from the local quarry). Steps leading up to the station from the platform were of concrete, but the platform itself was made of chert (a hard dark flint-like stone gravel) with gravel fill. The ICC building record field notes indicate that the agent in 1916 claimed the station was built around 1909–1910.

Sanford aerial view circa 1925
Aerial view of Sanford, circa 1925. Click for full size.

Here is an aerial view of Sanford circa 1925. The A&Y tracks cross the photo from the upper left towards the bottom right, crossing the Seaboard Airline at grade just south of the union station (in the whitish area in the right center of the photo. This area is the downtown business district and was considered the most valuable property the A&Y owned in this region by the ICC valuation team.

Track Diagram

ICC valuation map V27-33 of Sanford track layout
Track layout from ICC valuation blueprint V27-33. Click for full size.

Industries

Composite of Sanborn fire insurance maps showing Sanford’s industrial district and railroad network, May 1925. Multiple rail lines converge at Sanford: the A&Y (CF&YV), Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, and Atlantic & Western Railroad.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Sanford, N.C., May 1925 — composite overview of the town showing the convergence of four railroads: the A&Y (CF&YV main line), Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, and Atlantic & Western Railroad. Industrial blocks shown in black. Click to view full size. Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

A Southern Railway Shippers Guide from 1916 indicates the following industries were located in Sanford and using the A&Y for delivering products by rail (although this does not cover industries receiving goods or others that may have used the station or team track rather than having a dedicated siding):

Industry Type Goods Shipped/Received Company Name
cotton gin cotton Lee County Cotton Oil Co.
cotton gin cotton Sanford Cotton Mills
cotton mill 4 yard sheeting, 36" Sanford Cotton Mills
flour and grist mill flour, feed and meal Seaboard Milling Co.
furniture factory tables, safes, etc. Fitts-Crabtree Mfg. Co.
grain and hay dealer hay Sanford Grocery Co.
grain and hay dealer hay Wilkin Rich Co.
planing mill pine Sanford Sash & Blind Co.
spoke and handle factory hubs, spokes and handles A. W. Vickory Co.
steel and iron works, foundries, machine shops iron work Moffitt Iron Works
railway car manufacturer railway cars Edwards Railway and Motor Car Co. Inc. ③
veneer and lumber mill veneer, lumber Gunn Veneer & Lumber Co. Inc. ③
ice plant and coal dealer ice, coal Sanford Ice & Coal Co. Inc. ③
broom factory brooms Sanford Broom Co. Inc. ③
planing mill lumber Dunlap Planing Mill ③
railroad maintenance facility railroad equipment Atlantic & Western Railroad Co., Machine Shop ③
tobacco warehouse tobacco N.C. Co-operative Tobacco Warehouse (Sales) ③
box and lumber manufacturer boxes, lumber Makepeace Box and Lumber Co. ③
gasoline and oil storage gasoline, oil The Texas Co. ③
planing and saw mill lumber W. L. Thomas, Planing and Saw Mill ③
sash, blind and door manufacturer sash, blinds, doors Jonesboro Sash and Blind Co. ③
knitting mill knitted goods Louise Knitting Mills Co. ③

③ Identified from the May 1925 Sanborn fire insurance maps; not in the original shippers guide source. Source: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Sanford, N.C., May 1925 (Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division).

Odds and Ends

Here are some photographs I took while visiting in September of 1999:

Old freight house at the south end of the Sanford yard
Old freight house at the south end of the Sanford yard. Click for full size.

At the south end of the yard from the station was this building which appears to be the old freight house.

Sanford Business College and nearby buildings near the railroad tracks, Sanford, NC
Sanford Business College near the tracks. Click for full size.

The Sanford Business College and other buildings in the brick capital of North Carolina, located near the tracks.

Old brick structure east of the Sanford yard
Old brick structure east of the Sanford yard. Click for full size.

To the east of the yard, I saw this interesting old brick structure. I’m not sure what it is/was used for though. But it certainly would be recognizable by someone from Sanford if you added a model of it to a layout!

Concrete plant served by the railroad at Sanford, NC, with elevated siding
Concrete plant served by the railroad at Sanford, with elevated siding. Click for full size.

This concrete plant is being served by the current railroad. You can just see the elevated siding that comes off the yard to the left on top of that retaining wall.

Elevated siding with covered hopper at the Sanford concrete plant
Elevated siding with covered hopper at the concrete plant. Click for full size.

A better shot of the siding with the covered hopper waiting to be loaded.

Brick office building at the concrete plant, Sanford, NC
Brick office building at the concrete plant. Click for full size.

The brick office building as I panned around to take three shots of the company site.

Atlantic and Western Railway locomotive #12 on display near the Sanford station
Atlantic and Western Railway locomotive #12 on display near the Sanford station. Click for full size.

I couldn’t find an old A&Y locomotive wandering the tracks, but I did find this former neighbor and interchange partner sitting on display near the station.

Clearly, the people of Sanford are aware and proud of their railroad history.