| This is all that is left of the old Charleston to Hamburg line built in 1833 and at one time was the longest mainline in the world. Mile Marker 51 is the end of the line everything back from 51 is only used by NS as an industrial line where only NS P22 may go once a week. Just off of US Highway 78 after passing Mile marker 51 you can see signs of what this used to be such as high roadbeds, old crossbuck signs, track imprints in roads, and narrow paths between trees. US.78 parallels the line and if you follow it to Branchville you'll see it come to life again because a line from Columbia to Charleston hooks onto it. This line has been closed since the mid 80's but I can't get an exact date. Some of the track here was there last time I was there around 2004, but they've removed that since then I was only able to find some remains but nothing like spikes, maybe a piece of wood leftover but that's all I found. Norfolk Southern still owns the lease to the land. |