Hampton & Branchville

Company History: The 40 mile H&B ran between Hampton and Canadys, South Carolina. Most of the route was inherited from the Hampton & Branchville Railroad and Lumber Company in 1924 while the Canadys end came from the acquisition of the Colleton County Railroad (formerly an Atlantic Coast Line branch) in 1988. The last customer was a power plant in Canadys which received unit coal trains pulled by a quintet of ratty looking former N&W and Chessie GP9’s. Local railfan groups offered to repaint the geeps but H&B politely declined. The last coal train ran in December of 2012 (the power plant is converting to gas) and the H&B closed.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.