Southern Railway Company Papers

1953-1957
Manuscript Collection #28
Creator(s)
Southern Railway (U.S.)
Physical description
0.044 Cubic Feet, 8 items , including correspondence and a newspaper clipping.
Preferred Citation
Southern Railway Company Papers (#28), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
Access to audiovisual and digital media is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Papers (1953-1957) including correspondence and a clipping relating to assessments of railroad properties.


Biographical/historical information

The Southern Railway Company was based in the Southern United States from 1894-1982. The Southern Railway was a railroad combined from almost 150 predecessor lines. By the end of 1971, the railroad operated for 6,029 miles (about 9702.73 km). It also had several subsidiary lines, including the Central of Georgia line (1,729 miles) and the Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific Railway (415 miles). In 1980, the railroad combined with Norfolk and Western Railway to become the Norfolk Southern Corporation. Since 1982, the railroad has been known as the Norfolk Southern Railway and as of 2023 has a length of 19,335 miles (about 31116.67 km).


Scope and arrangement

The majority of this collection consists of letters written by William D. McLean (1953) and Robert Pruitt (1954-1956), tax commissioners of the Southern Railway System, to J. C. Bethune, Secretary of the N.C. State Board of Assessment, advising him to make assessment changes on the Southern Railway property in Mecklenburg, Guilford, Alamance, Forsyth, Davidson, Rowan, and Cleveland counties, N.C.

A newspaper clipping from the Raleigh, N.C., News and Observer (19 February 1957) relates that the Interstate Commerce Commission has authorized the Southern Railway Company to acquire stock control of the Atlantic and East Carolina Railway.


Administrative information
Custodial History

October 6, 1967, Papers of Southern Railway Company, consisting of correspondence (1953-1956) and a newspaper clipping (1957). Transferred from Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.

Processing information

Processed by D. Lennon, October 1967

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Key terms
Personal Names
Bethune, J. C.--Correspondence
McLean, William D.--Correspondence
Pruitt, Robert--Correspondence
Corporate Names
Atlantic and East Carolina Railway--History
North Carolina. State Board of Assessment
Southern Railway (U.S.)--Records and correspondence
Topical
Railroads--Taxation--North Carolina--History--19th century