Lancaster and Chester Railway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lancaster and Chester Railway, or L&C as it is commonly referred to, is headquartered in Lancaster, South Carolina, in the United States. The historical main line connects Lancaster, in Lancaster County, with Chester in Chester County. The line's nickname is "The Springmaid Line" referring to its original purpose of connecting the plants of the Springs Mills company.
It got its start in 1896 when textile tycoon Leroy Springs bought the failing Chester and Cheraw Railroad. The C&C never actually connected its namesake towns as the line was started on both ends but ran out of capital before meeting in the middle. The eastern end would become the Chesterfield and Lancaster, a Seaboard Airline subsidiary, but would be abandoned in the 1940s.
The western end would become the Lancaster and Chester and would serve the many Springs textile mills on the twenty nine mile route. There are many myths and legends about this line and its history includes the Great Flood of 1916 which washed away several trestles and almost caused Springs to abandon its railroad. There was also the 1913 Hoopers Creek derailment which killed seven folks and almost drove the L&C into bankruptcy.
By the 1980s, the Springmaid Line was thriving. But the Springs board of directors foresaw a problem. The textile industry was switching to mainly trucks to haul their cotton. This did not bode well for the railroad. So they decided to diversify. New industry was recruited and by the time Springs stopped using their railroad -- the exception being the coal shipments to the Grace Complex in Lancaster -- the line had brought in enough new customers to keep itself afloat.
By the late 1990s, the line was once again thriving and in 2001, it doubled its route mileage with the lease and eventual purchase of nearly thirty one miles of former Southern Railway track in Lancaster County.
In 2006, the South Carolina shortline got some national railroad attention again in Pennsylvania. The New Hope & Ivyland Railroad restored their Baldwin steam engine 2-8-0 #40 to her original appearance as a 1920s-era freight locomotive when she worked for the Lancaster and Chester. When the L&C went diesel in 1947, the steamer went to the Cliffside Railroad in North Carolina. From there she moved to Pennsylvania in the 1960s. She was repainted into her L&C scheme for a brief few months in 2006.
