Does anyone out there have any information, stories or artifacts pertaining to the Myrtle Beach, SC train depot or the train that used to run to it? I staff the Myrtle Beach All Aboard Committee, which was formed to save the old downtown train depot. In the 4 short months they have been meeting, they have convinced City Council to purchase the property and are in the process of evaluating the structure for renovation and placement on the national register of historic places. One possible use for the depot is a railway museum, chronicalling the train and it's impact on the development of Myrtle Beach. However, information is scarce, so if anyone out there has any to pass along, we sure would appreciate it. And if anyone can suggest a place to look for the original depot blue prints, we would be most grateful. Thank you!

-- Kelly Mezzapelle (kmezzapelle@cityofmyrtlebeach.com), July 06, 2000

Answers

The line into Myrtle Beach was ex-ACL then CSX. I'm not totally sure, truth be known, if the line had not been sold before CSX came into existence. In 1983, it was sold to local interests and became the Horry County Railroad. A few years later, it was the Wacaamaw Coast Line with their ACL-inspired paint scheme.

After ACL/CSX sold this line, the only connection to the outside world was with another shortline. First, it was the somewhat unusual named Duvall Transportation Company. The name was then changed to Mid Atlantic Railroad in 1987. In 1994, the company was sold and became Carolina Southern.

The Carolina Southern was based out of Chadbourne, North Carolina ajd was basically a V shaped line. One went down to Mullins, South Carolina while the other went down to Conway where it connected to the WCL.

At some point, it made more sense to run this company as one and everything fell under Carolina Southern control.

There's much more intersting tidbits to this story, but since I'm responding to this 16 months later, I'll allow anyone who wants to know more to contact me via my e-mail addy, my web site http://www.carolinarails.com or my related Yahoo Groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carolinarails

Joe H. Chester, SC

-- Joe H. (jchinson@infoave.net), November 04, 2001.

According to my 1910 atlas, the railroad through Conway was the Atlantic Coast Line. My map shows an unamed railroad from Conway to Myrtle Beach. The Myrtle Beach Railroad was likely a branch of the Atlantic Coast Line

-- Mike Nix (2rivers@upstel.net), July 08, 2000.