Chinese Wall in Fairfield County?

Did you know that there is a “Chinese Wall” in Fairfield County?  Actually, it has nothing to do with China but that is what the volunteers at the South Carolina Railroad Museum call a massive manmade granite structure beside the railroad track two miles west of Rion, S.C.  The wall is about 1/3 of a mile long, roughly 50 feet wide and According to former railroad employees they referred to the structure as the “Rock Pile.”  The Chinese wall designation probably evolved as SCRM volunteers tried to describe it and that was the closest thing they could think of.  

The construction of the Rockton & Rion Railway in the1890’s was a major engineering feat for a small short-line railroad. The hills and valleys of Fairfield County presented a major challenge for the railroad that needed to operate on a track that is as level as possible.  To eliminate some of the valleys the railroad constructed causeways using scrap granite blocks for the foundation.  There are four of these structures on our 11.5 miles of track.  The Chinese Wall would have been the fifth, but it was never finished—construction stopped in the early 1960s when the railroad stopped running to the Anderson Quarry.  The wall was constructed by laying track on top and using a railroad crane to lift the large granite stones from the flatcar parked on the existing track.  

Unfortunately, the Chinese Wall is not on the restored track so is not part of our current excursion trips.  We need to restore about 2 more miles of track to get there.  

Standing on the top of the unfinished roadbed with the original track on the left side.

Standing on the original track with the wall on the right.