Mark's Photo Travels

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...

With the recent filing by Pickens Railway Company with the Surface Transportation Board, the railroad line between Pickens and Easley is in the process of being abandoned. Debate over what happens to the right-of-way after abandonment is ongoing . While the abandonment isn't yet official, there's no real obstacles to prevent it either. Therefore I've added the route to my map of abandoned railroads in South Carolina .

After seeing the abandoned railroad right-of-ways at Shoals Junction and nearby communities, I wanted to know more about the abandoned railroads of South Carolina and what traces could still be seen today. I found part of my answer in the  South Carolina section of Abandoned Rails , a website devoted exclusively to abandoned railroads and their history. I was fascinated by the site's individual maps of abandoned railroads because the satellite view shows the right-of-way is still visible in many cases, even after decades of abandonment.  Some time later, I came across  the South Carolina Department of Transportation's draft multimodal transportation plan and rail inventory  that included a map of the state's abandoned railroads on page 13 . With the map being a static image, you can't zoom in or change views to get more detail like the Abandoned Rails maps that use Google Maps. With the heat and humidity keeping me indoors as often as I can get away with, I d...