| Atlantic And Yadkin Railway |
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The Atlantic & Yadkin Railway was a short line railroad within North Carolina from 1899 - 1950 . It ran from Mount Airy southeast to Sanford , primarily serving the Piedmont region. Some of the rails are still in use today as parts of the Yadkin Valley Railway . This class III railroad's short lifespan covered 1900 to 1950, but some of its rails were laid down in the Nineteenth Century as part of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway which ran from the Atlantic port of Wilmington, North Carolina all the way to Mount Airy with a significant branch to Bennetsville, South Carolina . The Atlantic & Yadkin Railway Corporation came into being when representatives of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad (soon to be reorganized as the Atlantic Coast Line ) outbid the Southern Railway for the debt-ridden and bankrupt CF&YV in an 1899 auction. The Wilmington & Weldon Railroad had a clause in its incorporation that required any railroad purchased by the W&W to be placed under the same corporate name. The W&W did not want to own the whole of the CF&YV, only that portion which competed directly with its own lines in southeast North Carolina. So the CF&YV was sold to the Southern Railway, where it was reorganized as a new company under the name Atlantic & Yadkin Railway. The newly created A&Y then sold back the southern half of its lines from Sanford to Wilmington to the W&W. The northern half remained a Wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Southern Railway. The questionable legality of the transaction regarding the split of the CF&YV meant years of legal wrangling by angry investors and interested state citizens who saw the only "trunk" line from the western mountains to a North Carolina port split between two competitors. In 1924 , the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the sale and reorganization was legal. The Southern Railway wholly owned the A&Y, but kept it as an independent entity throughout the legal battles. The line was considered part of the Southern Railway until 1917 , when the A&Y was allowed to run under its own name. In 1924, the A&Y declared bankruptcy and was taken over by receivers. Receivership required a division of assets and separate operations from the Southern Railway. Eventually, the A&Y was returned to solvency. The renewed profitability combined with the due date for the A&Y's $1.5 million (US) in bonds in the late 1940's led the Southern Railway management to decide to merge the line into its own Winston-Salem Division. The Southern Railway paid the bonds and initiated a merger request. Despite some reservations by the merchants of Greensboro regarding lack of competition for rail transport in that growing city, the Interstate Commerce Commission approved the merger effective January 1 , 1950 . At that time, the Atlantic & Yadkin Railway company ceased to exist. REFERENCES |
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