Eastern and Atlantic Railroad

The Eastern and Atlantic Railroad is the main railroad in the Other Railway Series.

History
The Eastern and Atlantic Railroad started as a land grant to Sir Reginald White, who bought the land from Whitesboro through to Millville and Walton in 1851, to start a Railroad. Few other railways were in the area, most notably the Millville and Northern. The rails reached Millville by January 1852, then Walton in late May. The first Locomotive, a 4-2-0 Twin of the famous ‘John Bull’, calling himself ‘Watson’, operated on the line in late 1852. The first train was pulled on Thanksgiving day to deliver Sir Reginald his turkey. More locomotives were soon acquired, along with a number of coaches, flat cars, and box cars. By 1870, the line had been extended as far as Lincolnton and Queensville, and hourly trains ran from both these terminuses, and Whitesboro. Sadly, most of the records for the next 30 years were lost in a large fire caused when a 4-4-0 Locomotive, number 77, derailed near Queensville and crashed into the main offices which were tragically close to the tracks. The locomotive was supposedly scrapped, but some believe that it is still hidden, somewhere. By 1900, the line was on its way to New Dundee, and the Great Southern Railway was annexing a shared main line between New Dundee and Queensville. The lines split there, with the Great Southern heading up towards Churchill. Many other railways were now in the area, including the North Easton and South Central, Millville Northern(which was now running to Callington), the Williamston and South Sylvania, Regalia and Magnolia, Queensville Central, and Nirvanian Railroad. Stephen White, now in charge of his father’s railway, looked towards expanding the line west, and possibly linking up with the East North Sylvania and Green River; a narrow gauge railway owned by his cousin, Charleston. Two railroads had built lines already, the Crab Lake Logging Company and Cherry and Churchill Navigation Company. The latter was soon bought by the E&A, it’s line running from Churchill West to Tarsboro and then south to Redmond. The CLL Co. resisted, however, keeping its independence until it was bought out in 1915, giving the E&A an additional line from Crab Lake to Tarsboro, then to Starburst. The line was staffed by Shays, a recent invention then, and generated quite a revenue. The link was made between the narrow and standard gauge locomotives in two main places, Starburst, and Bane, where the line was extended because of a sawmill near the Crab River. The Great Southern linked with E&A at Redmond again, and White soon got trackage rights extending to Slurry River. In 1910, the Eastern and Atlantic looked to the Coast. The Great Rapids, Elizabeth, and Dismale Railroad was going bankrupt. The GRE&D quickly sold the tracks and locomotives to White, giving him the Coast Branch he had wanted. The Millville Northern got trackage rights from Rockington to Elizabeth under an agreement to share the freight in the area, and for rights to the E&A from Edwinton to Callington. The line ran well, expanding constantly; in 1917, the Government ordered a line built from Williamston to Whitesville, to transport War Supplies. The North Easton and South Central was the first to do so; the line running from Williamston through North Easton and on to Whitesville, where it met up with the Eastern and Atlantic. The trackage rights were to be shared under government order to move more supplies, and the Eastern and Atlantic just never gave them fully back to the NE&SC. By 1921, management realized that they were losing quite a bit of passenger traffic to Railroads in Regalia. The Great Southern happily gave them rights from Queensville to South Central, and the NE&SC begrudgingly gave them the rights down to St. Seville. A branch was built to Dext, and another one from South Central to Atlas; a projected Williamston and South Sylvania line which nothing had came of. The W&SS was just then building down to Sungarden and Bascom, and then to Atlas. The E&A assisted by building from Atlas to both these locations, giving them an edge in Regalia. Management thought that the line should link back up at Merdon, and a line was built from St. Seville to Schwartz, then rights from the GS acquired from Schwartz to Merdon. This is how the line would stay until the next World War, when a relatively small line was built from Churchill to Crosston, to link up with the ENS&GR yet again.