At its greatest extent, it ran from Rocky Mount, North Carolina west thorough Nashville and Spring Hope to Lassiter (located just northeast of Raleigh).

[3] In 1926, the Atlantic Coast Line purchased tracks west of Spring Hope to Lassiter from the Montgomery Lumber Company and annexed them to the Nashville Branch.

The Atlantic Coast Line considered extending it to Raleigh, but it was never built past Lassiter.

[4] By 1949, a local freight train was running the branch six days a week.

[6] In 2005, the Nash County Railroad planned to abandon the line between Momeyer and Spring Hope, North Carolina but the North Carolina Department of Transportation purchased the segment after reaching an agreement with the railroad to keep it in service.