Greenville and Western Railway Company summary
The Greenville and Western Railway Company (GRLW) is a short line railroad that operates in Anderson County, South Carolina. As a division, it’s owned by the Western Carolina Railway Service Corporation that also operates the Aiken Railway Company. At 12.8 miles of standard-gauge track, the railroad starts in Pelzer south through the communities of Williamston, Cheddar, and Belton.
History
The Greenville and Western’s lifespan began as part of the Greenville, Spartanburg & Anderson Railway in the 1910 charter. By 1914, ownership and operations were in the hands of the Piedmont and Northern Railway Company. The P&N was a heavy-duty electric railroad from Spartanburg to Greenwood that carried passengers and hauled coal, coke, and cotton. The railroad completely dieselized in 1954 before being acquired by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1969. Western Carolina Railway Service purchased the Greenville and Western from SCL’s successor, CSX Transportation in 2006.
Operations
The Greenville and Western Railway is the busiest division for the Western Carolina Railway Service, with 24 hundred carloads annually between Pelzer and the railroad’s terminal south of Belton. The Greenville-based Lincoln Energy serves as not only the largest customer to the GRLW but also the most important for the entire Western Carolina system. Lincoln distributes ethanol from a tank farm in Cheddar, owned by the Texas-based Kinder Morgan Incorporated. Other customers include Belton Industries, who receives polypropylene for the manufacture of plastic fabrics; Belton Metals, a scrap dealer; Mass Polymers, a transload operation; and Komatsu, a heavy equipment manufacturer that ships wheel loaders from the Big Creek Machinery Distribution Hub at Williamston. Overhead traffic on the Pickens Railway is also handled by the Greenville and Western which makes up approximately 13 percent of the railroad’s business.
Motive power on the Greenville and Western Railway comes from the Western Carolina’s roster of EMD diesel locomotives. The holding company owns two GP9s and four GP30s. The GP9s handle most of the work in a green-and-white paint scheme, in addition to the lightning-bolt logo adopted from the old Piedmont and Northern herald as a tribute to the heritage.
The main interchange for the GRLW is at Pelzer with CSX Transportation. To the south at the railroad’s terminal, an interchange is also made with the Pickens Railway. Overhead service is also provided to Norfolk Southern with trackage rights over the Pickens.
Read more about the Greenville and Western Railway Company in Trains’ April 2019 issue.
