Despite its name, it terminated at Pinners Point in Portsmouth, Virginia (just across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk).

[1] From South Rocky Mount, it ran east to Tarboro, North Carolina, where it turned northeast.

In 1882, the Albemarle and Raleigh Railroad was built which extended the branch east to Williamston on the Roanoke River.

A local freight train ran the Plymouth Branch six days a week at the same time.

Upon completion, the merged company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL).

[7] In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System, creating the CSX Corporation.

CSX sold this segment of the line to the North Carolina and Virginia Railroad in 1987.