The story of the Franklin & Carolina Railroad began on May 2nd, 1944, when the Camp Manufacturing Company incorporated a common carrier standard gauged steam railroad to be constructed from the Camp Manufacturing Company's Franklin, Virginia, sawmill to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at a location north of Whaleyville, Virginia, named Franklin Junction. The main purpose of the road was to create a connection with the ACL in order to maximize competition between the local railroads in order to lower shipping costs. At the time of the creation of the railroad, the Atlantic & Danville Railway and the Seaboard Air Line Railway both served the paper mill.

Construction, actually more like renovation, started later that year at Franklin on top of one of Camp's rickety logging spurs eastward towards Franklin Junction. This line was originally constructed by the Camp Manufacturing Company in the early 1900's to harvest logs in the Great Dismal Swamp. The original Camp industrial line crossed over the Atlantic Coast Line and continued on to the Norfolk & Southern Railway's now abandoned line from Edenton, North Carolina, to Suffolk, Virginia. At the connection with the Norfolk & Southern Railway, the Camp owned railroad utilized trackage rights over the N&S Railway and headed north towards the town of Suffolk. At a location just south of Suffolk, the Camp logging line diverged from the N&S mainline and headed east along what is now known as Jericho Ditch. Camp had a lumber village located at the entrance of the swamp named Camp 7 where all the laborers and railroad men lived. At Camp 7, multiple logging spurs were constructed to tap into the lumber tracts that the company owned through purchasing property rights from George Washington's Dismal Swamp Land Company in the 1890's.

In 1937, Camp 7 was moved south, near the intersection of Desert Road and Clay Hill Road closer to Franklin Junction. The reason for this was because the Norfolk & Southern Railway was planning to abandon their Suffolk line which would seperate Camp 7 from the Franklin mill where the logs were to be processed. As part of this move, a new logging line was constructed from the old interchange with the now abandoned N&S into the swamp. When the Franklin & Carolina Railroad was established as a common carrier in 1944, this industrial line from Franklin Junction to Camp 7 and beyond was not officially part of the F&C, however, Franklin & Carolina Railroad rolling stock was used on the logging lines until the eventual abandonment of all railroad related logging operations in the swamp in the 1940's.

The Camp Manufacturing Company is one of very few lumber related enterprises in Southeastern Virginia that has had a storied transportation related history. Owning dozens of individual locomotives of all makes along with both common carrier and industrial railroads, Camp utilized personal railroad service for practically it's entire corporate existence from the 1890's until the end in May of 1958. Some of the railroads that the company owned were the Greensville & Dinwiddie Railroad, the Chowan & Aulander Railroad, and the Roanoke Railway. The Franklin & Carolina Railroad was most likely the last railroad that the company owned and operated as it was also owned and operated by Camp's successor the Union-Camp Corporation.

Interestingly, while the Camp Manufacturing Company as a whole rostered dozens of locomotives, only two engines were selected to be used on the Franklin & Carolina Railroad. The 1st engine was a Baldwin ten wheeler that had previously operated on other Camp owned rail lines and was numbered #23. The 2nd locomotive was a 2-6-2 wood burner purchased secondhand from the neighboring Norfolk Lumber Company and numbered #30. Surprisingly, the railroad dieseled relatively early when Camp purchased two Ex: U.S. Army Whitcomb 65 Tonners in November of 1946. Numbered #100 and #110, these oddly shaped diesels were originally operated in conjunction with the steam locomotives into the late 1940's. This was until #30 was sent south to Russellville, South Carolina, to operate on Camp's Carolina Western Railroad as their #100. After #30 left, #23 was sidelined at the Franklin, Virginia, sawmill until being scrapped sometime in the 1950's.

After only 14 years of operation, the Franklin & Carolina Railroad was officially purchased by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in May of 1958. This decision was made to finalize a direct connection with the sawmill and avoid the costly middleman. The middleman was of course the Franklin & Carolina Railroad. Included with the purchase of the railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line also inherited both the Whitcomb center cabs. Numbered #70 and #71, both locomotives continued to be used on the now ACL branch line until the Atlantic Coast Line, and the Seaboard Air Line merged on July 1st, 1967, to form the fabled Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. After the merger, the new management realized that they only needed one rail line to interchange with the Franklin paper mill. This led to the decision to abandon the former Franklin & Carolina while the former Seaboard Air Line was to remain in service. Service lasted on the branch line for five more years until 1972 when the last revenue train operated over the line. The solemn job of ripping up the tracks was concluded later that same year.

Not much is left of the railroad today. The locomotives are long scrapped, the track, gone, reduced to atoms. All that remains are a few photographs here and there along with stories told by long retired elderly gentlemen. However, most of the grade was converted into a private road so any individual could go hiking on the old right of way if they so desired (And have permission!). Also, I have seen some photos of what appears to be an engine house at Franklin Junction, so if you happen to walk through there, keep your eyes peeled!

Corporate History

Franklin & Carolina Railroad Baldwin 4-6-0 #23 sits in the deadline in the shadows of the Camp Manufacturing Company's massive Franklin, Virginia, sawmill on May 18th, 1954. Originally built for the J. W. Truitt & Company, the machinery broker for the Camp Brothers, this locomotive would go on to be used on various railroads controlled by the Camp Manufacturing Company until being selected for use on Camp's new venture, the Franklin & Carolina Railroad, in 1944.

Franklin & Carolina Railroad Baldwin 4-6-0 #23 sits retired on the rip track adjacent to the Franklin paper mill in Franklin, Virginia, on September 17th, 1955. This locomotive, along with the other Franklin & Carolina steam locomotive, Baldwin 2-6-2 #30, were replaced by two Whitcomb 65 tonners in the 1940's. For a few years after the Whitcombs were purchased, the steam locomotives and the diesel locomotives operated in conjunction with each other until the railroad finally dieselized for good in the early 1950's. Both steam locomotives were scrapped in the mid to late 1950's with #23 languishing in the Franklin Mill Yard as late as 1955.