Good day,
Are there any railfanning opportunities in and around the Myrtle Beach, S.C. area??
Thanks,
Ross
Not really. There’s a power plant in Conway that gets coal by rail but you have to go nealy all the way back toward Florence to get to any mainline.
I recall from a few years ago that there was a single track pretty much covered with grass and weeds when we got off the SC Rt. 17 Bypass at the interchange with SC Rt. 501 (W. Broadway/ Main St.) to head into town.
Looking at the Google Maps’ aerial/ satellite photo a few moments ago, it seems that track is no longer covered with brush, but there’s only 1 and it terminates at a wye with some buildings inside of it about a half-dozen blocks (0.3 mile) NW of the main drags in town - SC Rt. 73 / N. Ocean Blvd., and SC Rt. 501/ SC 17 / N. Kings Hwy. Looks like if you follow the 9th Ave. Extension North in the northwesterly direction, you’d find it at about where it crosses Lumber St. But I don’t see any sign of railcars on any of it.
Further inland of the SC 17 Bypass - I have no idea. It would be typical for there to be some industrial parks, though.
You could also find the local library and see what it has in the way of a history of the area, and what the railroad component of that is.
- Paul North.
Those opportunities are SLIM down here in the “low country”. The Carolina Southern serves the area and is the line cited above to the powerplant in Conway. They come down to a gravel pit in Myrtle Beach (west of the waterway, just north of 501 and east of Rt. 31) a couple times a week. The lift bridge over the Intercoastal Waterway is stored in the “up” position, and operation east of the waterway is extremely rare. Operation is (from my view) irregular, and hard to predict, although most of the time it is an early morning run to Conway. I have seen them switching that gravel pit as early as 08:30. Some old heavyweight passenger equipment is stored in Conway near the station. They have a “terminal” of sorts up in Chadbourne, North Carolina (about an hour from MB) and that should be your target location if you want to photograph them. They have still been regularly using a “F” Unit, although it is seldom in the lead. There is also a former Baltimore & Annapolis switcher there in Chadbourne in original Paint. Staff of the Carolina Southern has always been very friendly to me - one should check in there at the Chadbourne station/office before walking around on the property.
One can generally follow the line north from Conway by using Rt. 701 to Tabor City (JUST over the line into NC) and then Rt. 410 into Chadbourne. The station and locomotives are readily visible as you come into Chadbourne on 410.
There are two miniature golf places on Rt. 17 (“Hawiian Thunder”??) that have stripped small 0-4-0 switchers on the property in bright gaudy colors…
An hour and 20 minutes (or so) west is Florence, SC, where there is CSX and daylight northbound Amtrak. The Amtrak station is immediately north of the big hosp
Thanks everyone for your input; how did I get roped into a family vacation where’s there’s not much train action?? Oh well, the beach sounds nice!
Ross
Follow 17 south for about an hour to Charleston…there’s lots of NS and CSX action there…and the beaches are very nice too.
Count that as at least a two hour drive from MB to Charleston. Georgetown is between the two and has a steel mill and a paper mill. I haven’t explored much down there - The steel mill shows a lot of fencing and I’ve never snooped over around the paper mill. They are served by CSX.
Bill