ACL double track

greenspun.com : LUSENET : ACL and SAL Railroads Historical Society : One Thread

I need these answers for a story ASAP in anyone knows. When was the Folkston-Jesup cut off built? When was the line doubled tracked from Jax. to Richmond?

-- Joseph Oates (jlosal@gte.net), November 16, 1998

Answers

The Folkston - Jessup Cut-off was constructed in 1901 by the SF&W Rwy. In 1904 the ACL double-tracked two 5-mile stretches in the Richmond and Charleston areas. By 1908 the ACL had 86 miles of double-tracked mainline. To handle the post-WWI traffic boom, the ACL began double-tracking the Richmond-Jacksonville mainline in 1923 and completed the task in 1925. The segments of mainline between Java-Lanes SC, Drayton Hall-Yemassee SC, and Burroughs-Altamaha GA were the last to be completed (1925). Two additional stretches in Florida, Moncrief-Yukon-11miles, and 9 miles north from Sanford were completed as part of the double tracking project. The parallel mainlines between Jessup and Folkston (one via Waycross, the other via Nahunta) remained single track and were operated together as double-track. The shorter Jessup-Folkston shortcut was later doubletracked, probably as part of the ACL's massive post WWII Richmond-Jacksonville mainline upgrade. With the installation of CTC, the ACL began removing sections of the Richmond-Jacksonville double-track in the late 50's-early 60's and completed the task in around 1965. Spaced sections of double-track were retained for passing sidings. Hope this helps. Buddy (no email please-using someone else's computer-thanks)

-- Buddy Hill (FandR65@AOL.COM), January 10, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ