Tracing the Glenn Springs Railroad

I've been interested in abandoned railroads here in South Carolina for a few years now. My blog posts about abandoned railroads consistently rank high in my blog's statistics, especially the series about my eventual success tracing the route of the Swamp Rabbit Railroad.

I've also been interested in the route of the Glenn Springs Railroad for a while now but success here has been elusive. My internet searches turned up the general route of the railroad went from Roebuck (Becca Station), Stone Station, Pauline, and then ending near the Glenn Springs Hotel, but nothing more specific except that the route mostly stayed close to Stone Station Road. Even a page about this railroad on Abandoned Railroads, a wonderful resource, only has a few hints.

I decided to revisit the topic when it popped into my head this morning, and after a long wait I finally have results to show for my patience. I knew the railroad operated from 1897 until sometime in the 1910s, so when I found a link to a 1910 map of Spartanburg County in the Spartanburg County Library's historical maps collection I knew this mystery was about solved.

Here is the relevant snippet from the 1910 map:

The 1910 map reveals the railroad did indeed travel from Roebuck to Stone Station to Pauline and ended at a depot near the Glenn Springs Hotel. The 1910 map also reveals the roads existing back then along the route remain much the same with only a few alignment changes.

Now that I have a much better idea of the route of the Glenn Springs Railroad, another trip to Glenn Springs has been added to my ever swelling list of upcoming adventures.

I've updated my Abandoned Railroads of South Carolina map to account for this new info.

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