Atlantic and Danville Railroad

Atlantic and Danville Railroad

The Atlantic and Danville Railway (reporting mark AD) was a Class I railroad that operated in Virginia and North Carolina. The company was founded in 1882 and opened its mainline between Portsmouth, Virginia, and Danville, Virginia in 1890. The Southern Railway leased the company from 1899–1949. The Norfolk and Western Railway purchased the company in 1962 and reorganized it as the Norfolk, Franklin and Danville Railway.

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Atlantic and Danville Railroad Tragedy Near Milton: 1893

Not long after the Atlantic & Danville Railroad began service from Danville through Blanch, Milton, and Semora, tragedy struck. On August 16, 1893, a trestle over Country Line Creek just east of Milton, North Carolina, collapsed. Two passenger coaches and a sleeper coach fell into the creek, killing seven and wounded others. The train departed Danville, Virginia, at 1:35 a.m. bound for Portsmouth, Virginia. The crash occurred at 2:30 a.m.

"After passing through Milton and going over the trestle, the engineer, Peyton Tunstall, who says he was running at the rate of ten miles an hour, felt the bridge give way; he threw open the throttle, and the engine, tender, and a box car got safely over, but the passenger car was too late, and the span went down under its weight, the second passenger car and sleeper following. The cars were shivered into kindling wood, and the escape of any of the passengers was a miracle. The water in the creek had risen to a depth of twelve or more fee, and it is the general belief that the rise had undermined the foundation of the iron piers, causing the trestle to settle. On the train at the time were about sixteen persons, including the train hands.

"The dead were removed to the railroad depot at Milton, where they were kept until the arrival of the coroner from Halifax Court House [Virginia], the accident occurring on the Halifax [County] side of the creek. The loss will be very heavy to the railroad company, as the cars and a full span of the bridge are a total loss."

The Weekly Star (Wilmington, North Carolina), 18 August 1893.

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Atlantic & Danville RR. The Reidsville Review (Reidsville, NC), 3 Apr 1889

Atlantic & Danville RR. The Norfolk Weekly Landmark (Norfolk, VA), 25 Sep 1889