*1950 company dissolved and absorbed into Southern Railway. Was part of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway #2, that was split up in 1900 - the southern sections going to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and this section acquired by Southern Railway, then spun off as a separate entity until 1950.

The Atlantic & Yadkin Railway came into being when representatives of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad (soon to be reformed as the Atlantic Coast Line) outbid the Southern Railway for the debt-ridden Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway in an 1899 auction.

The Wilmington & Weldon Railroad had a clause in its mortgage that required any railroad purchased by the W&W to be placed under the same corporate name. The W&W did not want the whole of the CF&YV. So the CF&YV was sold to the Southern Railway, where it was reorganized as a new company under the name Atlantic & Yadkin Railway. The newly created A&Y then sold back the southern half of its lines from Sanford to Wilmington to the W&W. The northern half remained a subsidiary of the Southern Railway.

The questionable legality of the transaction regarding the split of the CF&YV meant years of legal wrangling by angry investors and interested state citizens who saw the only "trunk" line from the western mountains to a North Carolina port split between two competitors, but the North Carolina courts eventually sided with the railroads that the crafty sale and reorganization was legal.

Southern Railway wholly owned the A&Y, but in 1917 allowed it to run independently until the short lines' wilting fortunes convinced Southern Railway's management to absorb the company and make the lines part of the Winston-Salem division in 1950.

Towns on Route:

Line #1 - Sanford to Mount Airy:

Sanford

Jonesboro

Cumnock

Gulf

Goldston

Bearcreek

Causey > Bonlee (1910)

Ore Hill > Mount Vernon Springs (1924)

Siler City

Staley

Liberty

Julian

Climax

Pleasant Garden

Vandalia

Greensboro

Battle Ground

Summerfield

Stokesdale

Belew Creek Mills > Belew Creek (1903) > Belews Creek (1971)

Walnut Cove

Germanton

Rural Hall

King

Dalton

Pinnacle

Pilot Mountain

Forge > Ararat (1903)

Mt. Airy

Line #2 - Stokesdale to Madison:

Stokesdale

Rocky Springs (faded 1905)

Madison

Line #3 - Climax to Ramseur:

Climax

Millboro

Cedar Falls

Franklinville

Ramseur