Photo of brand new EMD F2 locomotive No. 400 for the Atlantic and East Carolina Railroad in 1946.
(EMD, Charlestown Courier, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
ATLANTIC AND EAST CAROLINA RAILWAY
The Atlantic and East Carolina Railway (reporting mark AEC) was the operating company for the historic Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad line across eastern North Carolina.
At a Glance
Route: Goldsboro - Kinston - New Bern - Havelock - Morehead City, about 94-96 miles, plus Havelock to Cherry Point spur
Original line: Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, incorporated Dec 27, 1852, opened Goldsboro to Morehead City about June 1-7, 1858.
Gauge: Built as 5-foot broad gauge, later converted to standard 4 ft 8 ½ in.
Nicknames: "Mullet Line" for seafood traffic from the coast, and "Tobacco Belt Route"
Origin
The A&NC had been leased to Norfolk Southern in the early 1900s, but Norfolk Southern went into receivership and defaulted on rent. The lease was forfeited in 1934 and the A&NC resumed direct operation.
On June 19, 1939, the Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company was chartered under North Carolina general corporation law with power to lease and operate the A&NC. The ICC approved the lease effective August 1, 1939 for a 25-year term at $60,500 per year.
Headquarters were at Kinston. The company was organized by H.P. Edwards of Sanford, a short-line specialist, and associates E.R. Buchan and I.A. Bolich.
Functions
Freight was the core business; flue-cured tobacco, seafood, lumber, agricultural products, asphalt, and later port and military freight.
World War II made it strategic. The A&EC, through its Cherry Point Railroad Company subsidiary, built the 1.43-mile spur from Havelock to the new Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. In 1942 it handled 32,000 carloads of sand and gravel for construction alone. The A&NC later purchased that spur because it was considered essential.
Passenger service was a single daily train Goldsboro Union Station - Morehead City, timed to connect at Goldsboro with Southern Railway overnight trains to central and western North Carolina. Service was listed as freight-only by December 1951.
Dieselization and Southern ownership
In July of 1946 the A&EC became the shortest railroad in North America to place mainline diesel power in regular service, with EMD F2A No. 400 and No. 401. By 1951 the line was fully dieselized.
By mid-September of 1957, Southern Railway had bought all outstanding stock after ICC approval. The ICC authorized the acquisition in 1957. It continued as a separately operated Southern subsidiary for years.
Disposition
The underlying real estate stayed with the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company, which was majority state-owned. On September 29, 1989, the A&NC was merged into the North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR).
NCRR now owns the corridor. Norfolk Southern (formed 1982 from Southern + N&W) was granted exclusive freight trackage rights Charlotte to Morehead City. NS in turn granted its subsidiary A&EC trackage rights over the Goldsboro-Morehead City segment, mileposts EC-0.0 to EC-94.7.
In September 2003, Norfolk Southern filed to merge the Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company into Norfolk Southern Railway Company.
Today the original line is still active, owned by NCRR and operated by Norfolk Southern, with short-line partners like Carolina Coastal Railway handling some port switching at Morehead City. The Havelock-Cherry Point spur still serves the air station.