Visiting in coastal SC this week and have a few questions about Corman operations near Conway.

There is a siding or branch that ends at the Riverwalk Park in Conway. Was this a former industrial siding or the stub of a longer branch?

How far “east” from Conway does Corman operate? The bridge over the Intracoastal waterway looks frozen in time but tracks remain on the other side of the canal.

Thank you for updates!

~Wesley

I think the line between Conway and Myrtle Beach is OOS since the early 1990s:
https://www.carolana.com/SC/Transportat ... _line.html
It is now part of RJ Corman as you note, but I can't find any evidence of operations: https://www.rjcorman.com/companies/rail ... lines-rjcs

There was another ACL line that ran west from Conway but was abandoned during a scrap drive during WWII: https://www.abandonedrails.com/conway-to-aynor

Edit, I remember reading about this incident with the FRA and bridges in Trains Magazine: https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/busine ... e534e.html

Second edit: "Also, over the years people have constantly talked about restoring train travel between Conway and Myrtle Beach, but Parks isn’t as optimist about that. 'It’ll take a lot of money to get a train from Conway to Myrtle Beach going,' he said." https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/17-6-m ... c8465.html

Third edit: "The county owns 14 miles of railway between the Waccamaw River and Myrtle Beach, and RJ Corman wants the county to make improvements to a five-mile section between Postal Way and River Oaks Drive. The railroad company doesn’t operate on those tracks, which are leased from the county, because of “maintenance issues,” Boyles said, and the price tag for the upgrades is $886,041. That would include tie replacements and ballasts, among other repairs." https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/local/ ... bf3c7.html

The branch in Conway 'used to go' to the big coal power plant down there, which was removed. There was a big ash remediation planned that was going to remove all that by rail, it never really came about, but the track remained in place. That power plant was the big reason the branch survived as long as it did.

There are a couple customers, or potential ones, below Conway. Canfor forest products has been a regular shipper, there was also a stone operation down there. There's also a 'stuffed and mounted' R J Corman genset right along US 501 that testifies to the decline of that idea.

There's a rail drawbridge over the intercoastal waterway to get to Myrtle Beach. It was repaired, in operation, and then vandalized and metal thieves reportedly got all the controls. The intercoastal waterway is busy, and boats have the ROW according to USCG regs. Drawbridge is beside 501, and 'UP'.

There's also the worst mess of a railroad crossing designs I've ever seen just east of the bridge, at the ramp intersection of US 17 and US 501. You have to see that on Google Earth to believe it, and wonder what highway engineer ever approved that on two high-volume, high-speed expressway designs right through the ramps.

The Corman lease of the County portion has some interesting language about allowing a dinner train, it hasn't happened. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to work with Corman on some kind of excursion activity on the line, particularly since it was upgraded with rail and tie work under a TIGER grant.

There was a dinner train on the line when it was called the Waccamaw Coast Line RR. The lead unit in the Matt Petersen above photo taken in Conway in 1990 was ex-MILW 88C, they also had three E8s and various other units, and operated out of the former ACL station. I wonder if any of the equipment survived, note the below photo from 2007 of some of the units in poor cosmetic condition (88C is on the left). Harold Hodnett photo.

A lot of the locomotives were scrapped. The genset unit that was plinthed along the 501 was scrapped earlier this year I believe it was. The E units were scrapped on site years ago. Some engines were saved, but some good ones were lost. I believe the Southern FTB unit was scrapped, as was the WAG F unit, and I think the Southern high hood GP30. WCLR 88C, and 1 CN unit was scrapped, the other CN units went to the Iowa Pacific and were for sale still. The CF7 went to the Clinton Terminal RR. It was quite a neat operation down there. A lot of the traffic to Conway is aggregate going to the Vulcan Materials Yard, and outbound Lumber loads. The following pics were taken in the early 90's in Conway and at the Red Hill depot. The Southern FT B was actually stored at the end of track with some of the old coaches, right by the Intercoastal Waterway lift bridge.

That's what I figured. I wonder who decided to pick up so many tired old units, including Es, for that little operation on what looks like Class I track.