(upbeat percussive music)
- [Speaker] In years past, the railroad was essential
to lots of people in Lake View, South Carolina.
- [Woman] I was a little girl back then,
so you know, that's been a year or so ago,
but I can remember that it went through Lakeview
and there was a
train station.
And I think that it's where that
store is there across
from Dollar General that used to be there.
I don't know if that's there or not.
But the train went through
and it went to Fair Bluff,
I can remember it going that far.
And it almost came by my house
the railroad track came,
and we used to walk to Marietta down
the railroad track.
And I can just remember people talking about it.
- [Speaker] The railroad was originally built
as the Carolina Northern railroad.
The line was charted to extend
from Lumberton to Marion, South Carolina.
The railroad began construction in 1899
and opened in the 1900s.
The Raleigh and Charleston railroad also intersected
with the SAL.
- [Woman] Oh, okay. And the train came twice a day.
I'd say once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
I do not know where, I know it came from Florence
and I think it went to Wilmington,
which was a long way at that time.
I can remember people talking about it.
But also, Raleigh had the train station
down there with,
oh what is it?
The store.
There used to be a warehouse, a tobacco warehouse.
And I can remember that more than I can the train.
But the people used to talk about the train a lot.
- [Speaker] The railroad ran in the morning
and in the afternoon.
The kids normally rode the train in the morning
to get to school, and rode the train in the afternoon
to get back home from school.
But, that all ended
when the approximate 23 miles between
Wilmington and Lakeview, South Carolina
was abandoned in 1933.
The remaining section, 23 miles from Lakeview to Marion,
was abandoned effective June 30th, 1941.
The Raleigh and Charleston was listed as abandoned
during the early 1940s reorganization,
proceeding of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.
The Raleigh and Charleston did not exist as an entity
after the 1945 reorganization of SAL.
Although the railroad no longer exists,
we still travel its paths today,
as South Carolina Highway 41 was built over the tracks
which once ran from Lakeview to Marion.
So even though the tracks are not there,
the railroad still holds a major place
in Lakeview history.