The Hampton and Branchville Railroad is a South Carolina railroad that has served the western part of the state since the 1920s.
The Hampton and Branchville Railroad is a successor of the Hampton and Branchville Railroad and Lumber Company, which was chartered by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1891.[1]
The Hampton and Branchville Railroad and Lumber Company changed its name to the Hampton and Branchville Railroad in 1924. The H&B bought their first diesel locomotive in 1951 and retired their last steam locomotive in 1958.[2] The Hampton and Branchville operates freight services from a CSX connection at Hampton to Canadys, South Carolina, about 40miles away. However, the railroad's main customer, the Canadys coal-fired power plant near Canadys operated by South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, received its last shipment of coal in December 2012 (the power plant was retired in 2013), and the railroad has been mostly dormant since.[3]
The line is owned by Palmetto Railways[4]