Both east coast Class 1s have route milage in the Lancaster/Chester/York tri-county regoin. Norfolk Southern has recently lost route mileage in the Lancaster, Chester and York area. An agreement was reached between NS and Lancaster and Chester for the Lancaster-based shortline to operate the portion of the former SB line from the Lancaster-side of the Catawba River to the end of the line in Kershaw. I have a page devoted to the new L&C Kershaw District.

All three railroads that serve Chester cross the Cochran Highway at grade. The NS crosses it twice, once via trestle near where Highway 321 and #9 intersect. It then crosses back over the Cochran Highway at grade near Highway 72. CSX crosses the Cochran near 72, then goes through town and out the other side by trestle over Highway 9 where that road turns left toward Lockhart, Union and Spartanburg. (The L&C crosses Highway 9
somewhere in the middle of the two main lines. Just look for a Pizza Hut and a really big car dealership.)

The Dark Horse maintains a small, but very active yard in Rock Hill. The purpose of this yard is to serve the local industry in Rock Hill, which includes the big Celenese plant and the even bigger Bowater sprawl, as well as the L&C in downtown Chester. Also, the Charlotte local will bring down freight for a train out of Linwood or going to Linwood to pick up. These trains are then able to bypass Charlotte. This will explain the intermodal cars commonly seen in Rock Hill.

CSX passes through Lancaster briefly near Bowater where it crosses under the Norfolk Southern SB line. NS still operates the SB line from the York side of the river. Both the Class 1s work Bowater. One crew for either railroad will almost always be spotting cars inside the plant or on their sidings.

I will deal with Class 1 operations in and around Chester from their connection to the Lancaster and Chester in both directions. For CSX, I'll go as far as Monroe, North Carolina and Clinton, South Carolina. On Norfolk Southern, I'll eventually go to both Charlotte and Columbia. At first the tour may stop short of both places until I do further research.

In the meantime, the tours:

There is more NS action action in Chester. The line comes up from Columbia near 321 through Winnsboro. Between Winnsboro and Chester are some great photo opurtunities that shouldn't be missed if you have a little while to track a train on that route. Bring your scanner. There are only six trains that run this line.

Your best bet in Chester is the downtown area where the L&C and Norfolk Southern meet. The local generally works the interchange in late evenings, usually around 8 p.m. There is also the former Carolina & North-Western track that once passed through York County and then to Gastonia. It is now but a branch line from the NS mainline to the Chester Industrial Park some five miles out on 321. This area may be viewed from a public road, even though there is not much to see out there.  (The road bed is visible up to York in certain places and perhaps beyond even though this track was abandoned in 1971.)

Backing up to the L&C/NS interchange again, many times, you will see a train sitting near Main Street on the main track heading north. Motorists in the area may think the crew is just stopped to fill up on snacks at the near by Clack's Grocery when the train is actually stopped to allow a CSX freight to cross the grade first. Both main lines cross at grade netween Saluda and York Streets. There are ways to get near this area, but not much to see once you get there.

Leaving that area, Norfolk Southern then crosses the Cochran Highway at grade where there will soon be a siding that sees meets. From the L&C/NS interchange, get on Saluda Street and stay on Highway 72. Three miles down 72, look for an old Mobile gas station on the right. On the left in front of that station is Butler Road. Trains taking the siding coming south from Rock Hill will be slowing down here. From Butler, the siding is about half a mile toward Chester, the switch back to the mainline being just in view.

A word of warning about Butler: This is a dead end street. You may want to keep this in mind should you get trapped by a slow moving train on the wrong side. Furthermore, it seems to be fertile ground for people sticking their nose into what you're doing there. The tracks cross the road at a point where there are not any houses to speak of. But that won't stop the locals from asking what you're doing there. (Hmm. Got a camera or two in hand standing near the railroad track... let me figure this one out.)

There are a few other spots on 72 that are prime locations for photography. Most of the time, I just wait until the train reaches the small Rock Hill yard. Coming into Rock Hill from Chester, you will notice the former SB line passing over Dave Lyle Boulevard. In fact, this line is used for the huge Bowater Plant about ten miles out of town along Highway 5. From the point where you pick this line up at the Dave Lyle, it's easy to follow the tracks the backway to Bowater.

Once at Bowater, this line crosses the CSX Atlanta to Hamlet via a bridge. But we'll get back to this line soon enough.

The north end of the Rock Hill yard is more suited for photography. After that, the NS leaves Rock Hill headed for Charlotte and out of my coverage area.

CSX:

The CSX passes through Lancaster briefly, connecting with the Norfolk Southern in Catawba, South Carolina near the Bowater paper mill. Catawba is just across the Catawba River in York County just off of Highway 5 and is a good area for trainspotting with both Class 1 carriers having small, but sometimes busy, yards. Many times there will be one CSX train waiting for another to pass. There is also a spot where the NS crosses a trestle that is above the CSX tracks below. If you catch two trains here, you are lucky. I've not been able to do that in some eight years of active train spotting in the area.

After leaving Catawba, the CSX then crosses the Catawba River that runs beside, then below, the automobile bridge on Highway 5. This would be a great photo op. Unfortunately, there is no room to stand on the bridge. That would be unwise anyway, as this road is one of the most dangerous roads in the Lancaster/Chester/York tri-county area. The CSX then crosses into Lancaster for a few miles in the northern part of the county as it heads to Monroe, North Carolina through the small town of Waxhaw. There is a bridge on Highway 521 that looks over this line. There is room on both sides to stand out of harms way for what I think is a great picture. While there are no stops in Waxhaw, the line is double tracked for a bit, which leads to the chance one train can be spotted waiting for another to pass as often happens.

The CSX continues to Monroe where there is a small yard and almost always at least one train waiting to leave. If you have the time, I'd suggest going all the way to Hamlet. You won't be disappointed and there are several roads the cross the tracks. The tracks parallel Highway 74 all of the way and cross underneath the road near Anson, North Carolina. (North of Hamlet are three interesting and photogenic shortlines, the Aberdeen, Carolina and Western, the Aberdeen and Rockfish and the Laurinburg and Southern. But I was supposed to be talking about the Lancaster and Chester area, wasn't I?)