Sumter to Bishopville - Seaboard Coast Line

This line was built after 1907 and became part of the Seaboard Air Line.  This line was one of the branches that the SAL had in the Pee Dee area of the South Carolina in the area between the "S-Line" from Hamlet to Columbia and the line between Hamlet and Charleston.  For much of the time the line was in existance, it represented the only non-ACL rail connection to Sumter (Southern pulled out of Sumter before 1940).  This line entered Sumter from the north along US 15 and terminated in a small yard along what is now Lafayette Boulevard near Liberty Street.  A small exchange track was put in at some point so that SAL could exchange some cars with the ACL.  The line ran through "towns" like Manville and Ashwood, but there was really not much else to ship between Sumter and Bishopville other than agricultural products.  In the 1960s, the line saw service 3 times a week.  After the merger of ACL and SAL, the line saw less service.  Finally, the line between Sumter and Bishopville was abandoned in 1982, and the track was pulled up by 1984.  The large overhead bridge on which US 15 crossed this line near Ashwood was removed in the late 80's.  The bridge carrying the US 76/378 bypass over this line remains in place.  It is still possible to make out the right-of-way in most areas, and a trail has been installed over the ROW near the B-D Plant north of Sumter.  The I-20 bridge over this line was left in place also, and the former ROW experienced a rebirth for several miles here in 1999.  The South Carolina Central Railroad (SCRF) installed new rail and reactivated this line from Bishopville to a mile south of I-20 at the landfill there (the purpose was to serve the landfill).  The SCRF operates the remaining former SAL branch from Bishopville to Hartsville, and then former ACL trackage from Hartsville through Darlington to Florence.

I remember last seeing a full-size freight train on this line in 1974, heading north out of Sumter along Lafayette Boulevard.

Looking S along the former SCL/SAL right-of-way along Lafayette Boulevard in Sumter, SC.  A wye was formerly located about 1 mile S of this location and then the yard was located about 1 mile past that.  The wye was abandoned several years before the rest of the line.  The tracks here were pulled up in approximately 1984.

From the June 1967 Official Guide listing for SAL.

Seaboard Air Line Railway in Sumter, from 1924.  This view is thought to be where Manning Avenue and Main Street crossed.  The depot is possibly located on the right-hand side of the tracks.  Thanks to Mayor Bubba for the picture.