In 1881, James A. Bryan cooperated with William J. Best of New York to form the Midland North Carolina Railway, with plans to lease track from the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad and from the Western North Carolina Railroad to form an east-west rail system. Bryan worked hard to convince his fellow Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad directors that Best's idea was a good one, and seems to have succeeded. However, negotiations with the Western North Carolina Railroad were not so successful, and in the process Bryan became disenchanted with Best, who was revealed to be a con man.

In July 1882, Best requested that Bryan resign from the board of directors of the Midland North Carolina Railway. In August, Bryan wrote a long and detailed refusal, outlining what he had thought were to be the railroad's goals and what turned out to be Best's intentions. In 1883, all negotiations broke down, control of the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad was returned to the board of directors, and Best was accused of malfeasance. Bryan became acting superintendent of the road.

In 1883, the lease of the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad was cancelled, and it returned to operations under its original name. That same year, the Midland North Carolina Railway entered into receivership and was sold at public auction on April 1, 1884 to the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, which ended up with the only line built by the Midland North Carolina Railway - the Smithfield & Goldsborough Railroad. 

Towns on Route:

Line #1 - Smithfield to Goldsboro:

Smithfield

Oliver

Walter (1883)

Holt's Mill

Joyner

Copeland

Goldsborough > Goldsboro (1893)

Line #2 - Goldsboro to Beaufort (1881-1883):

Goldsborough > Goldsboro (1893)

Best Station > Beston (1882)

La Grange

Falling Creek

Kinston

Dover

Core Creek

Tuscarora (1882)

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

Riverdale

Croatan

Havelock

Newport

Wildwood

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

Morehead City

Beaufort