Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railroad

The Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railroad was a 75 mile railroad company chartered in 1885 to build a line between Columbia and Laurens, South Carolina, formally launching on Christmas Day that year. Construction began in 1890 and the line reached from Columbia through Newberry to Dover Junction, nearly 65 miles, by July 1891, before the company completed its route to Laurens in 1896 by acquiring the Laurens Railroad. The railroad ran passenger service out of Union Station in Columbia using steam locomotives until that service ended in 1952, and its construction helped spur the growth of towns along its route including Irmo, Chapin, Little Mountain, Prosperity and Joanna. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad took control of the company in 1924, and the line passed to CSX Transportation in 1984, which still operates it today as the CN&L Subdivision. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/