In the early 1880s, the Virginia & Carolina Railroad was incorporated, but it never secured sufficient financing to do much. It acquired some land in the town of Petersburg and part of the right-of-way between Petersburg, VA and Norlina, NC. In 1892, this company was sold under foreclosure to the town of Petersburg and re-organized as the Richmond, Petersburg & Carolina Railroad in Virginia on August 5, 1897. The Richmond, Petersburg & Carolina Railroad was chartered in North Carolina on January 31, 1899.

The Richmond, Petersburg & Carolina Railroad was envisioned to connect the Virginia towns of Richmond and Petersburg with the Raleigh & Gaston at Ridgeway Junction, NC, now known as Norlina. Construction did not begin until 1897 and was completed in May of 1900.

John Skelton Williams, the president of the recently-acquired Seaboard Air-Line Company, acquired the Richmond, Petersburg & Carolina Railroad in 1898.

On April 10, 1900, the name of the Richmond, Petersburg & Carolina Railroad was changed to become the new Seaboard Air Line Railway that took over operation of the old Seaboard Air-Line System from Portsmouth to Atlanta, Wilmington, Rutherfordton, and Camden.

From an April 29, 1900 article in the New York Times:

PETERSBURG, Va., April 28. - At an adjourned meeting of the directors of the Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad Company, (Seaboard Air Line system) held here to-day, E. Randolph Williams tendered his resignation as President, and John Skelton Williams was elected to fill the vacancy.

Towns on Route (in NC):

NC/VA State Line

Merry Mount > Paschall (1929)

Wise

Norlina (1900)