Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad
Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 84
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad
[edit]Location and General Description of Property
[edit]The railroad of Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Atlantic and North Carolina, is a single track, standard gauge, steam-operated line of 96 miles in length running from Morehead City, on the southeast coast of North Carolina, northwesterly to New Bern, N. C., where it connects with the line of the carrier and then westerly to Goldsboro, about 45 miles southeast of Raleigh. The principal office of the company is that of the secretary-treasurer at Goldsboro, N. C. The majority of the stock is held by the State of North Carolina, but the property is leased to, and operated by, the carrier under a lease, dated September 1, 1904, for 91 years and 4 months. This lease was originally given the Howland Improvement Company, later designated as the Atlantic and North Carolina Company. It was passed on to the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company when the Atlantic and North Carolina was taken into that consolidation, and was still later transferred to the carrier when the Norfolk & Southern Railway Company was reorganized in 1910.
This property is the oldest constituent element of the Norfolk Southern system. The company was chartered by a special act of the North Carolina Legislature in the session of 1852-53, amended in the session of 1854-55. Operation was begun about June 1, 1858. The construction was financed almost entirely by the State of North Carolina, which still owns more than two-thirds of the capital stock, although by a graduated system of voting rights the State is limited to 300 votes, which is a small minority in the stockholders meetings. However, the State has the right under the charter to name eight of the twelve directors.
On valuation date the mileage comprised in the property of the Atlantic and North Carolina was as follows:
- Main track, 96.107 miles.
- Sidings, 24.547 miles.
All tracks, 120.654 miles.
Corporate History
[edit]The corporation began to operate its property about June 1, 1858. Its control was interrupted during the Civil War when first a part, in 1864, and then the entire line, in 1865, was taken possession of by Federal troops and operated by the Federal Government as part of the military railroad from Raleigh to Morehead City. In October, 1865, the property was returned to the owning corporation, which resumed its operation. Another interruption to the owning company's control of its property occurred in 1877 when, by reason of default of the principal and interest of the first bond issue, the road was in a receiver's hands from March to September, 1877. Again, on July 1, 1881, the property was leased to the Midland North Carolina Railroad Company. But the lessee failed to comply with the terms of the lease, which was thereupon abrogated in 1883, and a receiver looked after the property from March 20 to May 20 of the same year. The owning corporation thereafter continued in possession and operation of the property until September 1, 1904, when the property was leased to the Howland Improvement Company, and this leasehold later passed to the carrier, as already related. The terms of this lease are described under the topic of "leased railway property," in that part of Appendix 2 pertaining to the carrier.
Development of Fixed Physical Property
[edit]The property was built by divisions, largely, if not wholly, under contract at various times prior to the summer of 1858, and the entire line appears to have been ready for operation about June 1 of that year.