the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad linked Rocky Mount to the Virginia Midland Railway
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the Southern Express Company (c.1884)
the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad linked Rocky Mount to the Virginia Midland Railway
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the Southern Express Company (c.1884)
The Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad linked Rocky Mount to the Lynchburg and Danville Railroad connection between Lynchburg and Danville.1 "Franklin Junction Historic Rairoad Park," Virginia Tourism Corporation, https://www.virginia.org/listings/HistoricSites/FranklinJunctionHistoricRailroadPark/ (last checked April 22, 2020)
The Washington City, Virginia Midland and Great Southern Railroad, known as the Virginia Midland Railway, was in receivership in 1877 and reorganizing its debts in order to emerge from bankruptcy. The new railroad needed new revenue, and building a branch line to the mines near near Pittsville in Pittsylvania County would increase traffic.
The Franklin County supervisors were more ambitious. They got a charter for the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad on March 13, 1878.1
"Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad," Annual Report, Virginia, Railroad Commissioner, 1898, p.416, https://books.google.com/books?id=mCUaAQAAIAAJ (last checked June 2, 2020)
The supervisors planned to build a narrow gauge railroad from Rocky Mount to the end of the branch line of the Virginia Midland Railway, and committed $200,000 to build to the eastern edge of Franklin County. In 1878, the bankruptcy court allowed the Virginia Midland to lease the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad. That ensured its construction in 1880 through the gap of less than 10 miles beyond the Franklin County boundary to Pittsville, with a bridge across the Pigg River.
Franklin County retained ownership, but leased the railroad to the Virginia Midland in 1880 for 34 years.1 Charles Minor Blackford, Legal History of the Virginia Midland Railway Co., and of the Companies Which Built Its Lines of Road, J. P. Bell & Company (Lynchburg), 1881, pp.75-86, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015006370533
the eastern terminus of the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad was knows as Franklin Junction as well as Elba in 1913
Source: National Archives, The Library Atlas of the World; Volume 1: United States (1913)
the Franklin and Pittsylvania link to the Southern Railway was known in 1923 as Elba, before the name changed to Gretna
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Chatham VA 1:62,500 topographic quadrangle (1923)
the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad in 1896
Source: Library of Congress, Post route map of the state of Virginia and West Virginia (1896)
Rocky Mount got another railroad connection in 1892, after the Roanoke & Southern Railway ("Pumpkin Vine") built from Winston-Salem north to Roanoke. The Norfolk and Western Railroad supported the new railroad and purchased it in 1896. That track is still in use, though the c.1907 train station is now a visitor center.1
"North Carolina Railroads - Roanoke & Southern Railway," Carolans, https://www.carolana.com/NC/Transportation/railroads/nc_rrs_roanoke_southern.html; "Rocky Mount Hoistoric District," National Register of Historic Places nomination form, June 3, 1999, https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/157-5002/ (last checked July 9, 2020)
The Richmond and Danville Railroad acquired the lease of the 30-mile Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad, along with the Virginia Midland, in 1886. In 1894, the Richmond and Danville Railroad was reorganized and became part of Southern Railway. It let the lease expire in 1914.
The county then operated the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad. It leased one locomotive, freight and passenger cars, and other equipment from the Southern Railway, and was allowed to use seven miles of Southern track between Pittsville and Gretna in order to interchange cars there. The Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad was shut down in 1932, during the Great Depession.1
Annual Report, Virginia, Railroad Commissioner, 1898, p.329, p.416, https://books.google.com/books?id=mCUaAQAAIAAJ; Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States, Volume 103, Government Printing Office, 1926, p.426, p.432, https://books.google.com/books?id=k91DAAAAIAAJ (last checked July 9, 2020)
p.303
The Sandy Level depot has survived. It was built along Reddies Creek between 1900 and 1910, when the Southern Railway held the lease. The depot was listed in 2018 by Preservation Virginia as one of the "Most Endangered Historic Places" in Virginia. Restoration efforts began in 2019.1
"Historic railroad depot put on state endangered list," Franklin News-Post, June 8, 2018, https://thefranklinnewspost.com/news/historic-railroad-depot-put-on-state-endangered-list/article_2f8efd4e-6a92-11e8-af8e-f7dee4629658.html; "2018 Most Endangered
Historic Places," Preservation Virginia, https://preservationvirginia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Pres.Va_EndangeredSites2018_FINAL.pdf; "Sandy Level F&P Depot Restoration Inc.," Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Sandy-Level-FP-Depot-Restoration-Inc-1973663489371483/ (last checked July 9, 2020)
the Sandy Level depot of the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad in 2019
Source: Kipp Teague, Sandy Level, Virginia - old Franklin & Pittsylvania depot
the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad had a depot at Sandy Level, just east of the Franklin-Pittsylvania county line
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Callands VA 1:62,500 topographic quadrangle (1924)
the depot still exists today, but Sandy Level has migrated south to Route 40
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
the depot in Rocky Mount in 1893
Source: Library of Congress, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia. (1893)
locations of the depots of the original Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad (red) and later Norfolk and Western Railway (yellow) in Rocky Mount
Source: GoogleMaps
the Franklin & Pittsylvania Railroad connected Rocky Mount to the Virginia Midland Railroad, before the Roanoke and Southern Railway was built
Source: New York Public Library, Mineral territory tributary to Norfolk and Western Railroad (1890)
Franklin & Pittsylvania Railroad in 1891
Source: New York Public Library, Map showing the location of battle fields of Virginia (1891)
Franklin County funded construction of the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad track in Franklin County, and for 10 miles to the east
Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Virginia and West Virginia (The National Atlas Containing Elaborate Topographical Maps Of The United States And The Dominion of Canada, by O. W. Gray, 1877)