Both of these railroads were controlled by William T. Walters and were operated independently but were advertised together as the Atlantic Coast Line.

To combat this disadvantage, the management of the railroads planned the Fayetteville Cutoff, which would run from Contentnea (just south of Wilson, North Carolina) through Fayetteville to the Pee Dee River in South Carolina just east of Florence.

It branched off the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad at Contentnea (just south of Wilson) and ran to Fayetteville.

[1] The southern segment of the line, which was chartered as the Florence Railroad by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1882 opened in 1888.

[2] The final segment to be built was the middle section from Rowland to Fayetteville which opened in 1892.