Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Norfolk Southern Railroad

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 84

General Description of Carrier
The carrier was incorporated under the laws of Virginia on May 2, 1910, for the purpose of taking over the property and franchises of the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, and is the successor, directly or indirectly, to 39 corporations and leases the property of two other corporations. The oldest of these assimilated companies, one of the lessor companies, was formed in 1852 and the latest in 1911. The carrier owned and operated on date of valuation a main line from Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., through Washington, N.C., and Raleigh to Charlotte, N.C., a distance of 399.028 miles. In addition, the carrier owned branches from the main line aggregating a total length of 394.824 miles. Its owned property thus aggregated 793.852 miles. In addition, it leased the entire property of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company, 96.107 miles, extending from Morehead City to New Bern, N.C., and the Carthage and Pinehurst Railroad Company, 12.227 miles, extending from Pinehurst to Carthage, N.C. A statement of track mileage is given in the order entered herein.

Of the mileage owned on date of valuation, about 504 miles had been acquired by the carrier through reorganization in 1910 of its predecessor, the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, about 203 miles by absorption in 1913 of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, and about 77 miles by construction. The construction of the 77 miles had been begun by the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, but was completed by the carrier. The remainder of the total of 793.852 miles is made up of miscellaneous changes in mileage. The line acquired from the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company extended from Norfolk, Va., to Raleigh, N.C., with branches, of which about 384 miles had been acquired from predecessors and about 120 miles by construction. The line of the carrier that had been acquired from the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company and by construction extended from Raleigh to Charlotte, N.C., with branches.

A description in detail of the organization and history of the carrier and of its predecessors and of the topographical, geological and other conditions along its lines are given in the appendixes to the order entered herein.

Location and General Description of Property
The railroad of Norfolk Southern Railroad Company, hereinafter referred to as the carrier, is a Virginia corporation organized under the laws of that State, May 2, 1910, and having its principal office at Norfolk, Va. It owns and operates a somewhat L-shaped, single track property with the main fine extending southward from Norfolk, Va., along the Atlantic coastal plain to Washington, N.C., and thence bending westward to Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., a distance of about four hundred miles. That part of the main line extending southward from Norfolk breaks away at the point of the bend toward the west at Chocowinity, N.C., and continues southward to New Bern, N.C., a distance of about thirty miles. Lateral branches connect the main line with Suffolk, Va., and various points along the coast, and with points off the main line between Raleigh and Charlotte. The total single track mileage of the main line and branches amounts to 794 miles. All of this is operated by steam except 44 miles between Norfolk and points on the Virginia Beach, which is electrically operated. The carrier's property is the outgrowth of the consolidation of a number of independent short lines in eastern Virginia and North Carolina, which were built at different periods, principally to develop the timber interests in those sections, and were acquired from time to time and linked together by various extensions.

The carrier operates also, under lease, two other properties, aggregating 108 miles. One of these, owned by the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company, hereinafter referred to as the Atlantic and North Carolina, extends from Morehead City, on the southeast coast of North Carolina, northwestward through New Bern, where it connects with the carrier's owned mileage, then westward to Goldsboro, N.C. This line is 96 miles in length. The other leased line, the Carthage and Pinehurst Railroad Company, hereinafter referred to as the Carthage and Pinehurst, connects Pinehurst, N.C., on one of the western branches of the carrier with Carthage, N.C., twelve miles to the northward. The carrier owns a controlling interest in the Carthage and Pinehurst but the Atlantic and North Carolina is controlled by the State of North Carolina. As constituted on date of valuation, the system of the carrier comprised the following lines:
 * Owned, 793.852 miles.
 * Leased, 108.334 miles:
 * Atlantic and North Carolina, 96.107 miles.
 * Carthage and Pinehurst, 12.227 miles.

Total owned and leased, 902.186 miles.

The freight terminals used at Norfolk, Suffolk, Raleigh, and Goldsboro are owned in part by the carrier and in part by lines leased by the carrier, but passenger facilities at these places are used by the carrier under lease. It owns both freight and passenger terminals at Fayetteville, Charlotte, and New Bern, N.C. It owns jointly with the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company the passenger terminal at Aberdeen, N.C., but rents the freight terminal used there. Other terminals are used jointly with other carriers, as noted below under "jointly used property." A more extended description of the property will be found in Appendix 1.

The carrier, on date of valuation, owned the following mileage:

Corporate History
The carrier is a Virginia corporation, chartered May 2, 1910. It is the successor, directly or indirectly, of 39 corporations, and leases the property of two others. The oldest of these assimilated companies, one of the lessor companies, was formed in 1852, and the latest in 1911. The present company was organized for the purpose of taking over the property and franchises of the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, which were conveyed May 3, 1910, following their sale under foreclosure. This antecedent company was the consolidated form of four direct predecessors, each with a trail of antecedent corporations. Nearly four years later, the carrier absorbed a second system, that of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, which it had organized in 1911, in order to consolidate certain North Carolina railroad properties, and to build other lines. There are thus two groups of antecedent corporations which had been gathered up into the two immediately predecessor companies just noted. The account of the corporate succession through the 39 companies composing these two groups, and a complete account of the corporate history back of the two constituent predecessors of the carrier appears in Appendix 2.

Description of Road
The lines of the Norfolk Southern Railroad system lie in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia and the central and eastern sections of North Carolina. The entire system is composed of single track standard gauge lines with the exception of 9.49 miles of second track, and is steam operated with the exception of an electric division 43.71 miles in length.

The main line extends from Norfolk, Va., to Charlotte, N. C., a distance of 400 miles, with additional main lines from Chocowinity, N. C., to New Bern, N. C., 30.6 miles, and from Goldsboro, N. C., to Morehead City, N. C., 96.6 miles with branches to Munden and Suffolk, Va., Columbia, Belhaven, Oriental, Beaufort, Fayetteville, Asheboro, Aberdeen, Ellerbe, Jackson Springs and Carthage, N. C., and with connecting or cut off lines between Euclid and Providence, Va., Elizabeth City and Beckford Junction, N. C., and Pinetown and Bishop Cross, N. C. An electric division connects Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Cape Henry, Va., by a loop 43.71 miles in length.

The principal points reached are Norfolk and Suffolk, in Virginia, and Elizabeth City, Hertford, Edenton, Washington, Greenville, Farmville, Wilson, New Bern, Kinston, Goldsboro, Raleigh, Fayetteville, Troy, Asheboro, and Charlotte, in North Carolina.

Introduction
In the main part of this report are given in general form the conclusions reached concerning the various matters to be reported upon the Norfolk Southern Railroad system. In this appendix will be found a more detailed presentation of those matters and some supplementary information that will enlarge the background of the conclusions given.

Corporate History (2)
It has been already stated that the carrier is a successor, by reorganization in 1910, of the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company and, by absorption in 1913, of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, and that each of these two companies was the converging point of several series of antecedent successions and consolidations. The group converging in the Railway Company is the older and more properly the ancestral group of the carrier. Its development, therefore, may be described first.

Norfolk & Southern Railway Company was the consolidation, effected in 1906, of the properties of the
 * 1) Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company;
 * 2) Virginia & Carolina Coast Railroad Company; each of which was in turn a consolidation of several other companies to be noted presently;
 * 3) Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad Company; successor by change of name, June 11, 1903, to the Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina Railroad Company, chartered in the preceding February; and
 * 4) Atlantic and North Carolina Company, which was successor by change of name in 1905, to the Howland Improvement Company, chartered in 1903. The Howland Improvement Company in 1904, leased the property of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Atlantic and North Carolina, ninety-one years, and built a connection from the eastern terminus of that line at Morehead City across an indentation of the sea to Beaufort, a distance of 3.18 miles. When the Atlantic and North Carolina Company was absorbed in 1906, in the consolidation that produced the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, this lease passed to the latter company and, still later, when the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company gave way to the present carrier, the lease passed to the present company, which now operates the Atlantic and North Carolina. The Atlantic and North Carolina Company, after the change of name, also purchased the Pamlico, Oriental and Eastern Railroad Company, September 26, 1906, from the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railway Company, which had previously acquired a majority of the capital stock on the 19th of the same month.

The Atlantic and North Carolina was the oldest of the corporations merged into the present system, which, however, does not own the property but operates it under lease. The Atlantic and North Carolina was chartered by special act of the North Carolina Legislature in December, 1852, and the charter was amended in some respects in the legislature session of 1854-55. The company was financed almost entirely by the State of North Carolina, which issued its bonds for the company's stock and otherwise loaned its credit. It began operations about June 1, 1858, and continued to operate, except for certain years, until its property was leased in 1904, as stated, to the Howland Improvement Company, later known as the Atlantic and North Carolina Company.

Returning to the more complex history of the first two corporations named in this predecessor group, the first of these, the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company was a consolidation that sprang from the reorganization of an earlier road carrying the same name as the present carrier, that is, Norfolk Southern Railroad Company and herein distinguished by the suffixed numeral (I). This earlier company was successor, by change of name, January 1, 1883, to:

(a) The Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad Company, chartered by special act of the North Carolina Legislature in 1870, to build a line between Elizabeth City, NC, and Norfolk, Va. This early Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (I) went into receivership in 1889, and the property was sold under foreclosure in May, 1891, to the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company above mentioned, and the corporation ceased to exist.

The object in forming the newly organized Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company was not only to take over the defunct Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (I), but also at the same time to absorb:

(b) The Albemarle and Pantego Railroad Company. This was chartered in March, 1887, to build a line from Mackey's Ferry to Pantego and thence to Pungo River. Its property was purchased at the time that of the predecessor Norfolk Southern Railroad Company was acquired, that is, June 1, 1891.

The Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company grew also by subsequent absorptions of certain other companies, as follows:

(c) The property of the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company, with the exception of certain hotel property at Virginia Beach, was purchased in January, 1900. This company was itself a consolidation of earlier corporations to be noted presently.

(d) Control, by purchase of the stock and bonds, of the Washington and Plymouth Railroad Company, incorporated March 4, 1901, to build a railroad between Washington and Plymouth, both in North Carolina, was secured in January, 1904. In the following March the property itself was conveyed to the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company.

(e) The Chesapeake Transit Company, incorporated in 1898, and operating a system of electrical railroad from Norfolk via Cape Henry to Virginia Beach, Va., was secured by purchase in 1904. This was effected after certain financial manipulations, by a community of interests in the two companies, placed a majority of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company stock in possession of the Chesapeake Transit Company.

Pursuing further the history of the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company, the third corporation noted above, under (c), of the antecedents of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company, this corporation was the outgrowth of six other corporations, two of which, however, owned no railroad property. These may be noted in order:

(i) The Norfolk, Albemarle and Atlantic Railroad Company, the immediate predecessor of the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company, because of default of interest on certain bonds, had its property sold by decree of court in 1896, and the company ceased to exist. The property was bought by the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company which was, ipso facto under the Virginia law, incorporated in May, 1896.

The Norfolk, Albemarle and Atlantic Railroad Company was itself a consolidation of five antecedent corporations. Directly, it was the result of an agreement of consolidation, 1891, of two corporations, namely:

(ii) The Danville and Seaboard Railroad Company, incorporated in May, 1887, to build a line from Danville, Va., to the seaboard at or near Norfolk, although it does not appear that the company ever constructed any railroad; and

(iii) The Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad Company. This company in turn was the result of certain corporate reorganizations in which the following three corporations were involved:

(iv) The Norfolk and Sewalls Point Railroad Company was incorporated by the Virginia Legislature in March, 1872; but the name was changed as noted in the next paragraph.

(v) The Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad and Improvement Company was the successor, by change of name in January, 1882, to the above Norfolk and Sewalls Point Railroad Company. The road was opened from Norfolk to Virginia Beach in July, 1883. Meanwhile

(vi) The Seaside Hotel and Land Company was incorporated in September 1880. This does not appear to have been engaged as a carrier, but in August, 1883, all of its property was deeded to the Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad and Improvement Company.

The Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad and Improvement Company, successors in name to the Norfolk and Sewalls Point Railroad Company, and, by purchase, to the Seaside Hotel and Land Company, encountered financial difficulties, and its property was sold under foreclosure in 1887, to the Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad Company, noted under (iii) above, which was formed to take over the property.

This carries back to its beginnings the corporate history of those companies which were merged in the development of the present carrier, by way of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company, the first name in the initial statement above of the constituent corporations in the consolidation of 1906, that produced the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, whose reorganization in 1910, gives rise to the present carrier.

The development leading up to the second of the above-named more important constituent companies of the 1906 consolidation, that is, the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company, requires further description. The combination of companies under this corporation did not proceed far before it was absorbed in the larger project that resulted in the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company in the fall of 1906, as already noted. It was the outgrowth of three antecedent corporations, as follows:

(a) The Carolina Coast Railroad Company, chartered by North Carolina, in 1903, to provide a railroad from Beaufort, N. C., to the Neuse River at or near Adams Creek, and another from the north side of the Neuse River to Pamlico Sound. However, no mileage appears to have been constructed and the company's existence was practically only on paper.

(b) An earlier Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company, chartered in Virginia, July, 1905, to provide a line from the Norfolk section to Beaufort. Since railroads had already been either built or projected for practically all of the distance, the task of this company was rather to combine existing projects than to start new ones. This, however, was not accomplished until the consolidation in the new Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company, now under review, was effected.

(c) The Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company, a Virginia corporation owning and operating about 75 miles of line from Suffolk, Va., to Edenton, N. C., with a branch east to Elizabeth City, N. C. The Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company was, in turn, the result of consolidations to be noted presently.

In January, 1906, an agreement of consolidation was made between these three companies whereby they were to combine under a new company that would take over the name Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company. The agreement was not executed to the letter, but the new company, on November 26, 1906, acquired the title to their properties. This, however, turned out to be merely a step in the new project of consolidation, by this time under way, by which the Virginia and Carolina Coast combination was merged in the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, for the properties were on the same date sold to the latter company.

Returning to the consolidation represented by one of the Virginia and Carolina Coast constituents, namely, the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company, that corporation, in the form in which it entered into the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company, was the result of the following corporate enterprises:

(i) The Nansemond Land, Lumber and Narrow Gauge Railway Company was incorporated in Virginia in 1873, to develop timber lands in Nansemond County, Va. Suffolk was a railroad center in Nansemond County and a line was projected by this company from Suffolk southward. In 1884, the charter was amended and the name was changed to Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company. Under this name the company was the agency by which the other corporations noted below, were consolidated in 1906.

(ii) The Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company, of North Carolina, incorporated in 1884. This company built no mileage, but sold out to the Virginia corporation of the same name, November 26, 1906, on which date also the Virginia corporation conveyed all its property to the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company.

(iii) The Edenton and Norfolk Railway Company incorporated in North Carolina in 1888, to build a line from Edenton, to a point on the Suffolk and Carolina Railroad. This company deeded its property in July, 1902, to the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company of Virginia, which constructed its line.

(iv) The Elizabeth City and Western Railroad Company was incorporated in North Carolina in February, 1899, to build a line from Elizabeth City to a point on the Suffolk and Carolina Railroad. This company built none of its road, but like the last named, deeded its property in July, 1902, to the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company, of Virginia, which constructed its line also.

With these companies, then, began that group of corporate successions which eventually converged in the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company, the second named corporation in the consolidation of 1906, under the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, whose reorganization in 1910, gave rise to the present carrier.

We turn now to the second of the two corporations immediately contributing to the carrier system, that is, the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, which was absorbed in 1913. This corporation was chartered by special act in North Carolina in March, 1911, and its organization was accomplished in February, 1912, at the instance of the carrier, which financed it, in order to consolidate four small railroads and to build connecting links so as to provide an extension of the carrier from Raleigh to Charlotte with collateral branches.

Between September 26 and November 17, both inclusive, 1911, the carrier purchased the entire capital stock of the following lines: and something more than two-thirds of the capital stock of the Carthage and Pinehurst, which was under lease to the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company for a period of five years from October 1, 1907. But, instead of absorbing these properties into its system directly, the carrier sold these holdings, except those in the Carthage and Pinehurst, to the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, practically all of whose capital stock was owned by the carrier. The property of each of the companies whose stock was thus transferred was on January 1, 1912, leased to the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company for a nominal sum, and then, on February 1, was sold to the same company for a nominal sum, and the stocks canceled.
 * Raleigh and Southport Railway Company,
 * Sanford and Troy Railroad Company,
 * Durham and Charlotte Railroad Company,
 * Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company,

From this date to December 31, 1913, the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company operated these properties and started to build three connecting links, which, however, were not completed until after all of the property had been taken over by the carrier. This transfer was made at the end of 1913, since which time the property has been incorporated with that of the carrier.

The history of these four constituent companies of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company and the lessor company, the Carthage and Pinehurst, requires further explanation.

1. The Durham and Charlotte Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of North Carolina in March, 1893, to build a line from Durham to Charlotte. Some 44 miles were built from Cumnock to Troy, when the carrier purchased, as related above, the entire stocks and bonds from the sole owner in 1911.

2. The Raleigh and Southport Railway Company was successor to the Raleigh and Cape Fear Railway Company. The latter was incorporated under the general laws of North Carolina in February, 1898, to construct a line from Raleigh to Cape Fear, N. C. Some 31 miles were built to the Cape Fear River when, in March, 1905, the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company was incorporated by special act of North Carolina to build a similar line. In May, the stock of the Raleigh and Cape Fear Railway Company was exchanged for the stock of the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company, par for par, and its property was taken over by the new company, which in turn, as already related, was eventually absorbed by the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company.

3. The Sanford and Troy Railroad Company, successor by change of name to the Sanford and Glendon Railroad Company, succeeded to the property of the Egypt Railway Company in 1910, by purchase, after receivership, of the latter company. The course of this development involves the following corporations:

(a) The Egypt Railway Company was incorporated under the general law of North Carolina in September, 1892, to build a line from Cumnock to Colon, N. C., connecting the Durham and Charlotte and the Seaboard Air Line Railway. The company constructed the road but it was operated from 1894 to its receivership in 1908, by the Raleigh and Western Railway Company, noted below. In March, 1908, the company went into receivership and operation was suspended. The property was later sold on April 1, 1910, to the Sanford and Troy Railroad Company and through it passed to the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company.

(b) The Raleigh and Western Railway Company was similarly incorporated just one year later to build a line between the same points. As already stated, the road was built by the Egypt Railway Company, but was operated from 1894, to the date of the Egypt Company's receivership, 1908, by the Raleigh and Western Railway Company.

(c) The Sanford and Glendon Railroad Company was incorporated under the general laws of North Carolina, but the date is not known. In July, 1909, it was authorized by act of the North Carolina Legislature to change its name to the Sanford and Troy Railroad Company. This was done as of April 1, 1910, when the company acquired the property of the Egypt Railway Company.

4. The Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company was the successor, by combination, in 1907, to the Aberdeen and West End Railroad Company and the Asheboro and Montgomery Railroad Company, and later, by absorption, of the Jackson Springs Railroad Company. The origin and growth of this combination was briefly as follows:

(a) The Aberdeen and West End Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of North Carolina in 1889, to give a more formal status to a short logging railroad that had been built in, and operated since, 1887 between Aberdeen and Pinehurst, a distance of about 6 miles. The charter provided for the extension of the logging road above Pinehurst to West End, a total distance of 13 miles. The road eventually was built to Star and, with a branch, attained a mileage of 41 miles.

(b) The Jackson Springs Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of North Carolina in February, 1901, to construct a line between West End, N.C., and Jackson Springs, N.C., a distance of 4 miles. It appears to have been operated from the beginning by the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company. The terms of this relationship are not known.

(c) To obviate certain charter difficulties, a new company, the Asheboro and Montgomery Railroad Company, was incorporated in April, 1896, under the general laws of North Carolina and took control of the road beyond Star to Asheboro. In February, 1897, the charter was amended by special act, which included a provision that whenever the two companies should be controlled, operated, and maintained under one and the same management, they should be known as the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company. Apparently the conditions were fulfilled immediately, for the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company dates its existence from 1897. This automatic formation of the Aberdeen and Asheboro was given a formal status in 1907, when the legislature of North Carolina specifically authorized the consolidation of both companies under the name of the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company. In September of that year, title to all property was transferred to this new corporation and the earlier company passed from view. The merging of this final corporation and its property in the carrier, through the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company has already been told.

There remains to be noted the relation of the Carthage and Pinehurst to this group. This company was incorporated under the general laws of North Carolina, in July, 1906, by the same interests that controlled the other roads in this group, to construct a road between Pinehurst, a point on the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, and Carthage to the northward, a distance of 12.6 miles. The line was constructed in 1907, and leased, before completion, to the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company. In October, 1909, a written lease was executed for a period of five years from October 1, 1907. As already related, all of the stock of the lessee company and a majority of the stock of the lessor company was purchased by the carrier in November, 1911, and in February, 1912, the property of the lessee, the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, including the lease of the Carthage and Pinehurst was sold to the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company and eventually, at the end of 1913, absorbed in the property of the carrier. When, therefore, the lease of the Carthage and Pinehurst, now held by the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company expired, the carrier controlled, through stock ownership, both lessor and lessee. This accounts for the fact that the lease was not renewed in 1912, although the property is still operated under the terms of the lease.

Development of Fixed Physical Property
The growth of the railroad property in the Norfolk Southern system comprises that of the company's own property and that of the leased lines. Although one of the latter antedates any part of the railroad company's owned mileage, the two leased properties will be left for separate treatment.

Starting with the property of the group of roads converging in the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, the various increments will be noted in the order of their accession to the system rather than the order of their original construction. Of the group now in view, the largest single part was that brought together in the constituent Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company, which began its development as the early Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (I). This company was originally chartered in 1870, as the Elizabeth City and Norfolk, and it was under that name that 73.05 miles of single track line were built from Norfolk to Elizabeth City and thence to Edenton under a contract made in 1880. In addition the company owned and operated a number of small steamers on river routes and some lighters and barges, which latter related in large part, if not entirely, to its regular rail line service. This property was operated by the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (I) until it went into receivership in 1889, and in 1891 was reorganized as the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company.

At the time of this reorganization there was combined with the 73 miles taken over from the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (I) the property of the Albemarle and Pantego Railroad Company. This was the beginning of the system development of the carrier. The Albemarle and Pantego Railroad Company was chartered in 1887, but little is known of its construction operations beyond the fact that, when combined in the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company, it owned a single-track railroad from Mackey's Ferry, on the opposite side of Albemarle Sound from Edenton, to Belhaven, N.C., a point 29.8 miles southeastward from Mackey's Ferry on the lower course of Pungo River not far from Pamlico Sound. It also operated certain branch lines, probably for logging purposes. Except for the gap across Albemarle Sound between Edenton and Mackey's Ferry, the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company thus began with a line from Norfolk to Belhaven, a single-track line of 102.85 miles.

The next step in development was not taken until nine years later when the company acquired the property of the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company in 1900. This property, of some 41 miles, was the result of the consolidation of constituent properties that had been independently built. The beginning of this accession to the Norfolk Southern system was 18.86 miles, of narrow-gauge line built in 1883, between Norfolk and Virginia Beach by the Norfolk and Virginia Beach Railroad and Improvement Company. This property passed through the hands of the corporations that eventually emerged in the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company in 1896. This company built a branch from Euclid, Va., on the line between Norfolk and Virginia Beach, southeastward to Munden, Va., at the head of Currituck Sound, a distance of 22.14 miles. This made a total of 41 miles, which was the extent of the property when acquired by the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company in 1900.

Another accession to the property of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company was that of the Washington and Plymouth Railroad Company, acquired in 1904. This company, incorporated in 1901, apparently took over a narrow-gauge road that had been built by the Roanoke Railroad and Lumber Company in 1888 and 1889, to develop timber lands. The extent of the property when acquired by the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company was 33.22 miles. It ran from Plymouth, some 10 miles south of Mackey's Ferry, southwardly through Pinetown, N.C., to Washington, N.C., on the north side of the Tar River near the head of Pamlico Sound.

About the same time the property of the Chesapeake Transit Company was added to the Norfolk & Southern system. This was an electric, standard-gauge line from Norfolk to Cape Henry and thence down the shore to Virginia Beach. It was built to compete with the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company's line to Virginia Beach and was opened for operation in November, 1902. It comprised 26.3 miles of line when taken over by the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company in 1904.

These five constituent properties aggregated a line mileage of 203.37 miles, but, as acquired, they did not form a connected system. The sections acquired from the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company and the Chesapeake Transit Company, connecting Norfolk with the Virginia Beaches and Munden, had no physical connection at Norfolk with the line southward to Edenton. Moreover, the latter was separated by Albemarle Sound from the sections south of that water, and not even these two southern sections were connected with each other; for Plymouth, the northern terminus of the property acquired from the Washington and Plymouth Railroad Company, was some 10 miles from Mackey's Ferry, which was the northern terminus of the section from that point southeastward to Belhaven. Also, some of the properties acquired were narrow gauge. To weld these component properties into a single system, the company built an extension to connect Mackey's Ferry and Plymouth, amounting to 10.65 miles in length, and another connection between Euclid, on the line eastward from Norfolk, to Providence Junction, Va., on the line southward from Norfolk. This was 7.40 miles in length. The narrow-gauge properties were reconstructed at the same time, and the gap between Edenton and Mackey's Ferry was served by ferry over Albemarle Sound.

The total mileage of the carrier after these consolidations and extensions was as follows: Total, 221.42 miles.
 * Between Norfolk and the Virginia coast and Munden, acquired from—
 * Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad Company, 41.00 miles.
 * Chesapeake Transit Company, 26.30 miles.
 * Between Norfolk and Edenton, acquired from—
 * Norfolk Southern Railroad Company (I), 73.05 miles.
 * Extension connecting the above two properties, 7.40 miles.
 * Between Mackey's Ferry and Belhaven, acquired from Albemarle and Pantego Railroad Company, 29.80 miles.
 * Between Plymouth and Washington, acquired from Washington and Plymouth Railroad Company, 33.22 miles.
 * Extension connecting the last two at Mackey's Ferry, 10.65 miles.

This was the mileage which the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company contributed to the consolidation that formed the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, the next in line of succession.

The second contributor, after previous consolidation, to the property of the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company was the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company. So far as its property is concerned, this property was an extension of its predecessor, the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company. The latter in turn had its beginning in a lumber road, chartered in 1873, but of which nothing is known prior to 1889, which was five years after it had been reincorporated as the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company. The property of this company extends from Suffolk southeastward to Ryland, N.C., about two-thirds of the way to Edenton, and included 23.80 miles of line. In 1902 it acquired the property and rights of two other corporations, the Edenton and Norfolk Railway Company, chartered in 1889, and the Elizabeth City and Western Railroad Company, chartered in 1899. Neither of these two corporations had built any railroad. Under the charter of the former, the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Co. built an extension from Ryland to Edenton, 16.43 miles, and under that of the latter an extension from Backford Junction, on its own line, to Elizabeth City, 23.29 miles. This made an aggregate of 73.52 miles in the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company that connected with the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company at Edenton and at Elizabeth City. This property was taken over in 1906 in the Virginia and Carolina Coast consolidation and by the latter company at once passed on to the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company.

However, when the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company acquired this property it also took over the rights of two other corporations that had not yet built any mileage. It was the plan of the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company to construct extensive additions and connections, especially south of Albemarle Sound. Other projects were begun, but none were completed before the whole system was taken into the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, and only two projects were eventually completed by the latter company. One of these was a line from Mackey's Ferry to Columbia, N.C., a distance of some 22 miles. Of this 13.30 miles was open for operation, but not fully completed, when taken over by the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company. The other was a project for completing the plans of the Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway Company property acquired in the fall of 1906, but almost immediately turned over to the Atlantic and North Carolina Company from which it passed to the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company.

Besides the property of these two consolidations, there were three other individual properties that, with these two, went into the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company. One of these was the Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway Company. This road, chartered in 1891, had planned a line from New Bern to Oriental and had completed construction eastward to Bayboro, a distance of 16.38 miles. The property was sold to the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company, which planned to complete the original project but almost immediately disposed of the property to the Atlantic and North Carolina Company.

Another single road was the Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad. This company, chartered originally as the Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina Railroad Company, planned a line from Raleigh to Washington and thence southward to New Bern. In 1903 authorization was made to construct from Raleigh to Washington. When taken over by the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, execution of the plans of this company were far from completed, but 56.26 miles of line were in an advanced state of construction, comprising a section about 23 miles in length from Raleigh eastward to Zebulon and 33.26 miles from Washington to Bridgeton across the Neuse River from New Bern.

The third separate constituent of the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company was the property of the Atlantic and North Carolina Company. Aside from its leasehold of the Atlantic and North Carolina this corporation had bought the Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway Company from the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad Company. This gave it an owned mileage of 16.38 miles that connected with its leased mileage at New Bern. To further extend its operated system, it built, apparently under the charter of the Beaufort and Western Railroad Company, a short extension to connect its leased mileage at Morehead City with Beaufort, a distance of 3.18 miles. This, with the acquisition from the Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway Company, gave it an owned mileage of 19.56 miles in two sections, but still part of a single operating unit with the leased Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad. This was the property that it passed on to the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company.

As the result of this consolidation, the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company had at the outset the connected system of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company and that of the Suffolk and Carolina Railway Company, which connected with the former at Edenton and Elizabeth City. South of Pamlico Sound, however, its acquired mileage was very disconnected. Besides the lines of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company from Mackey's Ferry to Washington and to Belhaven, there were 56.26 miles of the Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad Company in two disconnected sections, and a nearly finished section of 13.30 miles from Mackey's Ferry eastward toward Columbia, and an operating unit comprising the leased Atlantic and North Carolina and two disconnected sections, on the former Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway Company property between New Bern and Bayboro, and the other the newly built section between Morehead City and Beaufort. The total mileage acquired and immediately put into operation was some 384 miles plus the leasehold to the 95 miles in the Atlantic and North Carolina.

There were certain lines under construction by the constituent companies when the consolidation was affected, as follows: Total, 97.42 miles.
 * Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad, the remainder of the extension from Mackey's Ferry to Columbia, 8.70 miles.
 * Atlantic and North Carolina Company, from Bayboro to Oriental, the remainder of the projected line of the Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway Company, 9.64 miles.
 * The Raleigh and Pamlico Sound Railroad Company, from Zebulon to Chocowinity, the remainder of the line between Raleigh and Washington, 79.08 miles.

These were all completed by the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, and 22.65 miles of additional construction were planned, after the consolidation, and completed before the company's demise. These additional projects included the bridging of Albemarle Sound between Edenton and Mackey's Ferry, thus giving a continuous rail connection from Norfolk through Washington to Raleigh on the west, and New Bern on the south. The new projects also included a cut off connecting the two prongs extending from Mackey's Ferry to Washington and to Belhaven, to Pinetown, 13 miles above Washington. Altogether the owned mileage at the time of the company's demise amounted to 504.12 miles, and comprised a continuous connected system from Norfolk and Suffolk on the north to Raleigh on the west, and New Bern on the south, with branches from Norfolk to the Virginia Beaches and Munden, from Mackey's Ferry to Columbia and Belhaven, and from New Bern to Oriental. In addition to this the company operated under lease the 95 miles of the Atlantic and North Carolina, which, with the disconnected piece of owned mileage between Morehead City and Beaufort, gave the line westward from Beaufort through New Bern to Goldsboro. This was the property as it was passed to the carrier at the reorganization of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company in May, 1910.

The next accretion to the property was for the purpose of extending the line westward from Raleigh. This was accomplished through the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company, which gathered together four independent properties and built connecting links and extensions, which gave the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company a line westward from Raleigh to Charlotte with collateral branches.

The oldest of the properties entering into the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company was the Aberdeen and West End Railroad Company. This began in 1887, as a logging road 6 miles long between Aberdeen and Pinehurst. In 1889, a charter was secured and the property extended to West End, making a total of about 13 miles of line. The road was afterwards extended northwestward from West End to Star, making a total mileage of 29.75 miles, and a branch was built in 1905 from Biscoe to Troy, increasing the mileage to 40.50, but this branch appears to have been abandoned after formation of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company. In 1897, a new company, the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, took over the property and built extensions which, on January 1, 1912, the date when the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company absorbed the property, brought the mileage to the following amounts: Total, 92.17 miles.
 * Aberdeen through Star to Asheboro, 56.60 miles.
 * Candor to Ellerbe, a branch off the main line at Candor, 17.57 miles.
 * West End to Jackson Springs, a branch off the main line at West End, 4.00 miles.
 * Troy to Mount Gilead, a disconnected section extending southwest from Troy, which was 8 miles southwest of Star, 14.00 miles.

Another increment to the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company was the property of the Durham and Charlotte Railroad Company. Although incorporated in 1893, no corporate records of this company have been found prior to 1911. At that time the line ran from Cumnock about halfway between Raleigh and Star, to Troy, crossing the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company at Star, a total of 44.28 miles. That was the property as it entered the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company consolidation.

The third constituent of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company was the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company, which ran from Raleigh southwest to Varina and then southward to Fayetteville. This line began as the Raleigh and Cape Fear Railway Company, organized in 1898. The first construction was of 31.5 miles from Raleigh to beyond Varina. In 1905 the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company was organized and absorbed the property and completed the line to Fayetteville. It was put in operation in 1906, making a total mileage of 60.5 miles. The company, however, did not own any terminals in Raleigh, but leased trackage rights into that city to the extent of 3.5 miles from the Southern Railway Company.

One other small constituent was the property of the Sanford and Troy Railroad Company. The termini of this line were at neither Sanford nor Troy. It was the last corporation to hold a piece of track 6 miles long built about 1893, between Cumnock, the eastern terminus of the Durham and Charlotte Railroad Company, and Colon, 6 miles to the eastward on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. The Sanford and Troy Railroad Company turned this property into the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company.

When these four companies were taken over to the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company in 1912, it found itself the owner of about 203 miles of line in two disconnected sections. One part, of some 142 miles, comprised a group of three roads. One, the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, ran from Aberdeen northwestward to Asheboro; another, the Durham and Charlotte Railroad Company, crossed the main line of the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company at Star, and was extended beyond its western terminus at Troy by a separate section of the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company from Troy to Mount Gilead, and was extended beyond its eastern terminus at Cumnock by the third road, the Sanford and Troy Railroad Company, as far east as Colon. The other disconnected section, some 60 miles long, ran from the outskirts of Raleigh southwestward to Varina, N.C., and thence south to Fayetteville, N.C. Between the nearest point on this section and Colon, the eastern point on the other section, there was an un-spanned space of about 22 miles, and from Mount Gilead, the most westerly terminus, to Charlotte was 52 miles. The Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company then constructed a connecting link between Colon and Varina, extended the line west from Mount Gilead to Charlotte, and built its own physical connection at Raleigh between the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company property and the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Company. This new construction, completed after the property was taken over by the carrier, added 76.91 miles to the acquired mileage, making a total owned mileage of about 280 miles.

Besides the owned mileage thus built up, the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company acquired, with the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, a leasehold in the Carthage and Pinehurst. This company was incorporated in 1906, and its line of 12.6 miles was built in 1907 by the same interests which controlled the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company. It was leased before completion to the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company and with that company passed under the operation of the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company.

The Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company's system, thus comprising 279.86 miles of owned mileage and 12.6 miles of line operated under lease, or a total of about 292 miles of operated mileage, was incorporated in the carrier as of December 31, 1913. This, added to the mileage taken over from the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, certain miscellaneous changes and a few miles of trackage rights around Norfolk, gives the carrier an owned mileage of 787 miles and a total operated mileage of 900 miles.

Leased Railway Property
The carrier uses, under lease for carrier purposes, the property of the Atlantic and North Carolina and that of the Carthage and Pinehurst. The leasehold of the Atlantic and North Carolina was acquired from the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company, which in turn had secured it from the Atlantic and North Carolina Company, the original lessee, when the latter was absorbed in the formation of the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company. The Atlantic and North Carolina is a single-track line 95 miles long running from Morehead City, near the southeast coast of North Carolina, northwesterly to New Bern, the southern terminus of the carrier, and then westward to Goldsboro, southeast of Raleigh. The company also owns the Atlantic Hotel at Morehead City.

The terms of the lease of the Atlantic and North Carolina bound the lessee to pay the lessor. 1. A percentage on capital stock, amounting to $1,797,200 par value, as follows: 1. First four months of lease, September 1, 1904—December 31, 1904, 2.25 per cent per annum.

2. Next 20 years, 1905 to 1924, 3.00 per cent per annum.

3. Next 10 years, 1925 to 1934, 3.50 per cent.

4. Next 10 years, 1935 to 1944, 4.00 per cent.

5. Next 10 years, 1945 to 1954, 4.50 per cent.

6. Next 10 years, 1955 to 1964, 5.00 per cent.

7. Last 31 years, 1965 to 1995, 6.00 per cent.

2. Six per cent interest, payable semiannually, on $325,000 outstanding bonds.

3. $12,000 in twelve annual installments, with interest at 6 per cent, due by the lessor as a part of the purchase price of the Atlantic Hotel property, Morehead City, N.C.

4. Expense of maintaining the lessor's organization, not to exceed $1,200 per annum.

5. All taxes imposed.

6. To maintain the property.

The original lessee also agreed to spend within three years $250,000 for the permanent betterment of the roadbed.

Under the terms of this lease, the carrier paid during the year ended June 30, 1914: Total, $95,503.59
 * Taxes, $19,737.59
 * Interest on lessor's debt, $325,000 at 6 per cent, $19,500.00
 * Agreed rental, being 3 per cent on lessor's capital stock of $1,797,200, $53,916.00
 * Payment of lessor's note, $1,000 with interest, $1,150.00
 * Expense of maintenance of lessor's organization, $1,200.00

Under the terms of the lease of the Atlantic and North Carolina, all improvements made upon the property of the lessor are to remain the lessor's property at the expiration of the lease. The carrier has expended, to valuation date, upon this property $152,139.14, although, by reason of erroneous charges, mainly of items to its own road and equipment account, the carrier's accounts show only $94,012.65 so invested. The predecessors of the carrier spent even more. Since this investment will not be recovered at the expiration of the lease, the annual amount necessary to amortize it may be considered as an additional cost of the use of the property. A due recognition of this annual charge from the beginning of the lease in 1904 would have left an unamortized balance of $403,009.53 at the time the carrier took over the lease. Taking into account the further improvements by the carrier would leave, on June 30, 1914, an unamortized balance of improvements on that leased property of $530,314.15. The annual charge to income to retire that sum by the expiration of the lease would be $6,543. The annual charge would, of course, change from year to year with changes in the investment, but the amount given may be taken as the annual additional cost to the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company, as of valuation date, for the use of this property.

The leasehold of the Carthage and Pinehurst was acquired with the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern Railway Company which in turn secured it with its constituent, the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, the original lessee. The Carthage and Pinehurst is a single-track line 13 miles long, built in 1907, and leased before completion to the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, by whose owners it was built. The agreement appears to have been at first merely verbal; but in October, 1909, a written lease was made for a five-year period from October 1, 1907. Under the terms of this lease the lessee was to maintain the property, pay all taxes, and pay all interest on the outstanding bonds, but was not obligated to pay any dividends on the stock. This lease expired October 1, 1912, and was not renewed. But the carrier had in the meanwhile acquired all of the stock of the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, the lessee, and 498 shares out of the total of 699 shares of the stock of the Carthage and Pinehurst. Accordingly, the property of the Carthage and Pinehurst without any formal lease, had continued in operation under the terms of the expired lease by the carrier, the eventual assignee of the original lessee.

Under the terms of the lease as made the carrier paid during the year ended June 30, 1914: Total, $2,765.19
 * Taxes, $515.19
 * Interest on lessor's debt, $37,500 at 6 per cent, $2,250.00

For account of the use of both these leased properties, the carrier thus paid in the year specified: Total, $98,268.78
 * For the Atlantic and North Carolina, $95,503.59
 * For the Carthage and Pinehurst, $2,765.19

And accrued amortization of improvement on leased property, to an amount, expressed at the rate as of valuation date, of $6,643.00