I am in the process of researching the Orangeburg Railroad which ran from Orangeburg to North, South Carolina. This 17 mile long line served the many farms located along its route from 1913 to 1921. The line terminated on the edge of Orangeburg (Why it did not terminate with either the Southern or ACL is presently unknown.)and with the SAL in North. Would like to know if pre-1922 copies of the North track plans exist and how to obtain a copy. Also any information or photographs of the Orangeburg RR and of the SAL operations in North would be appriciated Thanks Joe Bartolini

-- Joe Bartolini (jbart@sc.rr.com), January 29, 2001

Answers

Hi Joe, Did you check early copies of Poor's Manual of Railroads and other railroad encyclopedias? Usually larger libraries carry them and you can almost certainly get a start on your research there. I don't know how long the road lasted, but there is a large military airfield there called North Field (I airdropped and landed on that field a thousand times...) which was a big B-17 base during WWII. Perhaps the little line had some big business during those days. To my knowledge, SAL operations in North have been pretty minimal because there's not much in North (except North Field--which probably came into existance in late 1941 or 1942) and the little Orangeburg RR. I'd be really surprised to hear that operations were any more significant than a few locals visiting every day. Good Luck! John Golden

-- John Golden (Golden1014@yahoo.com), January 29, 2001.