the Roanoke & Tar River Railroad was built as a branch line of the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad, and it provided a connection to the Norfolk & Carolina Railroad
Source: Library of Congress, Railroad map of North Carolina, 1900 (H. C. Brown, 1900)
the Roanoke & Tar River Railroad was built as a branch line of the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad, and it provided a connection to the Norfolk & Carolina Railroad
Source: Library of Congress, Railroad map of North Carolina, 1900 (H. C. Brown, 1900)
The Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad organized the Roanoke & Tar River Railroad, to draw more traffic to Portsmouth from the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. The track, built between 1887 and 1888, stretched 36 miles south of Boykins, Virginia to Lewiston, North Carolina. The Roanoke & Tar River Railroad was an independent corporation, but was leased by the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad from the beginning and relied upon it for locomotives. Both were part of the consortium of railroads marketing themselves as the Seaboard Air Line.
The Roanoke & Tar River connected with the Norfolk & Carolina Railroad at Kelford, five miles north of Lewiston. The Norfolk & Carolina Railroad, linking Tarboro to Portsmouth, was part of the rival Atlantic Coast Line partnership.
in 1896, the Roanoke & Tar River Railroad was marketed as part of the Seaboard Air Line consortium
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the Seaboard Air Line and its principal connections north, south, east & west, 1896 (Rand McNally and Company)
In 1893, the Roanoke & Tar River acquired the seven-mile long Murfreesboro Railroad. That extension provided a connection to the head of navigation on the Meherrin River. As described in Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives, and History:1
The Seaboard Air Line formally incorporated as a single company in 1900, but the Roanoke & Tar River Railroad was not initially included. It was finally folded into the Seaboard Air Line in 1911.2