Highpoint Thomasville & Denton

Company History: The HPT&D was born from the 1923 reorganization of the Carolina & Yadkin River Railway. The HPT&D ran 34 miles from High Point to High Rock, North Carolina. In 1960, the connecting Winston-Salem Southbound (which was jointly owned by Norfolk & Western and Atlantic Coast Line) bought the HPT&D which gradually faded into the status of “paper railroad.” HPT&D was finally merged into Winston-Salem Southbound in 2010, itself a “paper railroad” by that time.

Successor/Parent History: This 95 mile line was completed in 1910 from a connection with Norfolk & Western in Winston-Salem, North Carolina south to a connection with Atlantic Coast Line near the South Carolina border at Wadesboro. WSS was jointly owned by N&W and ACL and served as a bridge route between them. WSS had their own locomotives but N&W did the track maintenance and supervised operations while ACL did the sales as well as the accounting. WSS dieselized in 1957 with four GP9’s (two each purchased from parents N&W and ACL.) Two of the GP9s were painted in the black with yellow stripes used by ACL and subsequently by SCL but with a WSS logo on the side of the nose. The other two geeps were painted in a gray with maroon and yellow paint scheme that is unique to this line. In 1960, WSS acquired a controlling interest in the High Point Thomasville & Denton, a connecting 20 mile shortline. In 1967 WSS's diesel fleet was split between the parent roads and N&W and ACL (by then Seaboard Coast Line) began to provide the locomotives for regular operations. This is how the arrangement persists today under successors Norfolk Southern and CSX. The HPT&D was finally merged into WSS in 2010.

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