Editing Railroad history (section)

== Piedmont & Northern Railway ==
https://www.carolana.com/NC/Transportation/railroads/nc_rrs_piedmont_northern.html

* reporting mark PN
* the '''Anderson Traction Company''', created on June 22, 1904, to build and operate within the city of Anderson. Eventually the railroad expanded to complete construction of an extension to Belton by 1910. The railroad was acquired by James B. Duke of Duke Power around the same time.
* The North Carolina division of the P&N started with the Piedmont Traction Company, also owned by Duke, and completed its route between Charlotte and Gastonia, North Carolina on July 3, 1912.
* Both sections were electrified to 1,500 volts DC with power supplied from mainly hydroelectric sources. Additionally both segments were built to steam road standards with minimal street running.
* On March 20, 1909, the '''Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson Railway''' was chartered and presided over by Duke. The company used the Anderson Traction Company rails terminating at Belton as a starting point for northward construction to Greenville and construction toward Greenwood to the south, with both cities connected in November 1912. An extension from Greenville to Spartanburg was completed in April 1914.
* Constructed in 1913, Charles Christian Hook of Charlotte, North Carolina, designed the Greer depot as a combination passenger station and freight warehouse for the Piedmont & Northern Railway, later used by the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, Seaboard System Railroad and finally CSX Transportation, before facing potential demolition in 1984.
* The '''Piedmont & Northern''' was created in '''1914''' to consolidate both the Greenville, Spartanburg & Anderson in South Carolina and the Piedmont Traction Company in North Carolina.
* On numerous occasions the company sought to link the two disconnected segments and expand to Durham, North Carolina, however, the plans never materialized due to stiff resistance from the Southern Railway, which the P&N paralleled in both states.
* At mile 18.3 in Greer, the P&N had an interchange with the Southern Railway.
* The P&N, though involved in extensive passenger operations, was primarily a heavy freight carrier. The most important commodity transported was coal and coke, but also of significance were cotton (including cotton waste) and paper.
* Initially the railroad was electrified at 1500 volts DC; however, much of the electrification was abandoned when '''dieselisation was completed in 1954'''.
* Unlike similar interurban systems the Piedmont & Northern survived the Great Depression and was later absorbed into the '''Seaboard Coast Line Railroad''' in 1969.
* The Greer depot became an SCL station, marked as such with signage.
* Through subsequent mergers, became the CSX Transportation of today in 1986.
* https://www.goupstate.com/article/NC/20060118/News/605185974/SJ
** The P & N, developed by James B. Duke between 1910 and 1916, was a bridge between the Clinchfield in Spartanburg and the Seaboard Air Line in Greenville.
** '''Coming to Greer in 1913''', the P & N was primarily a freight road hauling coal, cotton and other agricultural products. At its peak in the 1920s, the road served approximately 135 cotton mills, establishing the oft used saying, “A mill to the mile.”
** The 1930s saw the P & N weathering the financial storms rather well. However, the automobile, which P & N helped deliver to the Upstate, brought reduced ridership. Service on the Belmont, N.C, and Anderson branches was dropped, but the state of South Carolina mandated that a minimum number of passenger trains be operated.
** The P & N slashed passenger fares from 3 cents a mile to 1 cent a mile. Ridership increased 10-fold and the road found itself purchasing used equipment from the Pennsylvania and Long Island Railroads to keep up with the demand.
** World War II gasoline rationing and military equipment movements bolstered revenues and the Piedmont and Northern became an important player in the American railroads’ role in the Allied cause.
** Passenger service ceased in 1951; the directors of the company saw the forthcoming railroad merger movement. Talks began with the Seaboard Air Line in the early 1960s but were delayed pending that road’s merger with the Atlantic Coast Line.
** In 1968 the ICC allowed the Piedmont and Northern to merge into the newly created Seaboard Coast Line. The last P & N train operated in 1968 and from then on, the seven-mile Taylors-to-east-Greer trackage saw '''Seaboard Coast Line, Seaboard System''' and eventually '''CSX Transportation''' hauling mostly coal over the right of way that was opened in 1913.

* https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greer/2020/01/10/greer-sc-landmark-set-1-million-redevelopment-restoration-project-event-venue-meeting-space/4418307002/
** The depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
** According to the register,  the depot was designed by Charles Christian Hook of Charlotte, North Carolina, and was constructed 1913 to serve as a combination passenger station and freight warehouse for the Piedmont and Northern Railway.
** From the time the depot was built through '''1983''', the depot served the railroad, with the upstairs serving as '''City Hall and Council Chambers from 1913 to about 1937''', and as '''storage for city records until the 1950s''', according to Hawkins.
** The depot then fell into vacancy and disrepair. Seaboard wanted to raze the structure, according to Hawkins. Instead, the '''Greenville County Redevelopment Authority''' purchased the building from Seaboard on behalf of the city of Greer. '''Station One Partnership''' purchased the building from GCRA in 1986 and redeveloped it into a subdivided retail/commercial space. Hawkins and his wife, Cheryl, are the owners of '''Letchworth Properties''' LLC. Their company purchased the depot in '''2017'''.
** Last surviving railroad depot of the five original two-story depots built for the Piedmont and Northern Railway.