The original charter of the New Hope Valley Railroad authorized the owners to build a railroad from a point near New Hill, NC on the Raleigh & Augusta Air Line Railroad. This place was later named Bonsal, NC in honor of the first president of the company. The northern end of the railroad was set in the charter as a point in Orange County near Chapel Hill, NC. This was probably the village of West End, now the town of Carrboro, NC where a market dealing in railroad ties had already existed for some years. Seven strips of one-hundred foot wide right-of-way were purchased in Chatham County for the railroad, but no track was ever laid by the NHV RR.

On 20 January 1905, the partners chartered another company, called the Durham & South Carolina Railroad, to build a railroad from Durham, NC at a place called Keene (now the junction of Fayetteville and Riddle Roads in south Durham) to an unnamed point in South Carolina. They then sold the NHV RR to the new company on 7 April 1905, and began grading the right-of-way and laying track. The D&SC completed the thirty-one miles of railroad from Bonsal to Durham on 15 October 1906.

The line was extended to the south ten miles from Bonsal to Duncan, NC in 1911, to a connection with the original Norfolk Southern Railroad. This included the communities of Burt and Rogers Store as stations along the railroad.

The Seventh Annual Report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission for the Year Ending December 31, 1905, with Compilations of Railroad Returns for the Year Ending June 30, 1905, identifies the officers of the Durham & South Carolina Railroad:

President...................................... Ernest Williams .................................... Lynchburg, VA
General Manager................... ...... N.R. Bonsal ........................................ Hamlet, NC
Treasurer......................... ............ Ernest Williams.................................... Lynchburg, VA

Capital Stock: $25,000

Property Operated: Merry Oaks to Durham, 30 miles (remainder under construction)

Towns on Route:

Durham

East Durham

Merry Oaks

Duncan

The Thirteenth Annual Report of the North Carolina Commission for the Year Ending December 31, 1911, with Compilations from Railroad Returns for the Year Ending June 30, 1911, includes the route of the Durham & South Carolina Railroad:

Towns on Route (31 miles):
Durham
East Durham
Bland
Farrington
Seaforth
Bonsal

The Nineteenth Report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission for the Biennial Period, 1917-1918, with Compilation of Railroad Returns for Years Ending December 31, 1916 and 1917 includes the route of the Durham & South Carolina Railroad as of the end of 1918:

Stations on Route (37.10 miles):
Durham
East Durham
Bland
Farrington
Seafort
Beaver Creek
Bonsal
Burt
Duncan