From the 1st Annual Report of the North Carolina Railroad Commission, dated December 31, 1891:

Chartered in 1853 [no - 1852]; road opened in 1858.

The purpose of the Act of incorporation was to effect a railroad communication from the Atlantic through the center of the State to meet the Tennessee line from the most eligible point on the harbor of Beaufort, thence near Newberne, Trenton, and Kinston, so as to strike the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad and to connect with the North Carolina Railroad at Goldsboro, with a capital stock of nine hundred thousand dollars.

In order to further effectuate this purpose, the same Act incorporated the North Carolina & Western Railroad Company, with a capital of $3,000,000, to commence on the North Carolina Railroad at or near the town of Salisbury, thence the most practicable route across the Blue Ridge to the Tennessee line, and provided that when these two companies should be formed, in compliance with the conditions of the Act, they should have a corporate existence as a body politic for the term of ninety-nine years.

This Act of incorporation was amended by an Act passed at the session of the Legislature 1854–55, providing that the company might at any time increase its capital to a sum sufficient to complete the road, and that whenever it should appear to the Board of Internal Improvements that one-third of the capital stock had been taken, by individuals or companies, and that $300,000 of the same had been paid into the hands of the treasurer of the company, that the Board of Internal Improvements should be required to subscribe on behalf of the State to two-thirds of the capital stock of the company.

By virtue of this provision the State owns 12,666 shares of stock and controls the management of the road.

W.S. Chadwick ------------------------------- President.
F. C. Roberts ----------------------------------Secretary and Treasurer.
S. L. Dill--------------------------------------- Auditor, General Freight and Passenger Agent.
W. K. Styron---------------------------------- Assistant Auditor.

Property Operated:

Goldsboro to Morehead, 95 miles.

The Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad was chartered in 1852 and organized at New Bern on January 20, 1854. Construction was completed in 1858. The state of North Carolina subscribed to two-thirds of the stock in the railroad. The road ran from Goldsboro, through New Bern, to Beaufort.

Since it ended across the sound from Beaufort, the new town of Morehead City was created where the tracks ended. The railroad was built to provide an alternative for shipping North Carolina goods through Morehead City, rather than through Norfolk, Virginia.

At the first general stockholders meeting held during July 20-21, 1854, John Dalton Whitford was elected president of the railroad.

The Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad fared much as did other southern roads during the Civil War. In March of 1862, the line from New Bern to the Atlantic coast fell to the federal troops, who extended their control as far as Kinston by the end of the year. In March of 1865, the remainder of the road was captured and the whole was operated as a military road until returned to the company on October 24, 1865.

In 1904, the operation of the A&NC Railroad was leased to the Norfolk & Southern Railroad. In 1932, the bankrupt N&S defaulted on the lease payments. The A&NC withdrew the lease in 1935 and began operating the line.

In 1939, the operations were once again leased to the newly-formed Atlantic & East Carolina Railway Company, headquartered in Kinston. During 1957 and 1958, the A&EC became a subsidiary of the Southern Railway.

Although merger talks began in 1866 with the North Carolina Railroad, the merger wasn't completed until 1989 — more than a century later.

Towns on Route:

Goldsborough > Goldsboro (1893)

Best Station (1873) > Beston (1882)

Moseley Hall > La Grange (1869)

Falling Creek

Kinston

Dover (1867)

Core Creek

Tuscarora (1882)

Clark (1892)

Newbern > New Berne (1877) > Newbern (1892) > New Bern (1918)

James City (1888)

Thurmon (1885)

Riverdale (1877)

Croatan (1874)

Havelock (1881)

Lucknow (1850s)

Shepardsville (1859) > Newport (1866)

Wildwood (1881)

Hollywood (1874) > Andrews (1882) > Wildwood #2 (1884)

Hollywood #2 (1884) > Camp Glenn (1915)

Paradise (1904) > Mansfield (1906)

Morehead City (1859)

Beaufort (many sources disagree - stopped at Morehead City)

The Sixth Annual Report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission for the Year Ending December 31, 1904, with Compilations from Railroad Returns for the Year Ending June 30, 1904, includes the route of the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad, including mileage:

Stations in Order (95 miles):
Goldsboro
Bests
LaGrange
Falling Creek
Kinston
Caswell
Dover
Core Creek
Tuscarora
Clark's
New Bern
Riverdale
Croatan
Havelock
Newport
Wildwood
Atlantic
Morehead City

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 Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad, listed under Norfolk Southern Railroad:

Stations in Order (94 miles):
Goldsboro
Millers
Spring Bank
Uzzell
Bests
LaGrange
Fields
Falling Creek
Utility Siding
Hines Junction
Kinston
Caswell
Duffys
Dover
Maxwells
Pocosin
Gilbert Siding
Blades Siding
Cove
Monger & Bennett
Davis Siding
Tuscarora
Hammers
Hymans
Enterprise
Clarks
Mills Junction
Weatherington
Neuse Siding
Oaks
New Bern
James City
Thurmans
Barr
Conners Siding
Riverdale
Pine Lumber Co.
Croatan
Green Chapel
Havelock
Vernon Siding
Newport
Wildwood
Harveys
Hollywood
Mansfield
Camp Ground
Canfield Siding
Morehead City