The story
CLNA was created in 1989 under the Thoroughbred Shortline Program of Norfolk Southern and was a subsidiary of Rail Link, Inc., which became a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming in 1995. The original line was 17 miles (27 km) from Pinetown, North Carolina to Belhaven. CLNA interchanged with NS at Pinetown. CLNA was acquired by Main Line Rail Management, Inc. in 2003.
In 2006, CLNA began to serve a former NS branch between Whitney and Badin where Alcoa previously operated a large aluminum plant.
On March 25, 2007, CLNA entered into a lease agreement with NS for the Plymouth-Raleigh route, 147 miles of the former mainline of the original Norfolk Southern. In 2010, CLNA began providing contract switching services in Kinston, North Carolina.
In 2011, CLNA began serving the Port of Morehead City by taking over the Morehead and South Fork Railroad. The CLNA also purchased a line between Rocky Mount and Spring Hope previously known as the Nash County Railroad, and began operating a former NS branch between Blacksburg, South Carolina and Kings Creek, South Carolina. Operations on this branch ceased in 2013.
In 2020, the railroad was purchased by Regional Rail and after a decade of using part of the Raleigh mainline for car storage active rail service to Raleigh is currently being restored.
From Wikipedia’s article on Carolina Coastal Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3