Carolina Rails -- Railfanning in and around the Carolinas!
Carolina Rail News:
news of railroading in the Carolinas that's print to fit top to bottom
by Joseph C. Hinson
See also Carolina Rail News: Page 2, started 12/27/2001.
(others credited where appropriate)
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L&C Acquires Rail Line into Kershaw
by Joseph C. Hinson 03/23/2001 (for the Lancaster News)

Lancaster and Chester Railway President Stephen M. Gedney on Friday announced that L&C and Norfolk Southern Railway have reached an agreement that would allow the Lancaster-based railroad to operate the former Southern SB line in the county of Lancaster.

The L&C will operate trackage from MP 89.5 at the Lancaster side of the Catawba River to MP 58.7 in Kershaw, a total of 30.8 miles. This increases the L&C’s route mileage from 28.9 miles to 59.7 miles, the first expansion in the 105 year history of the Lancaster and Chester.

Norfolk Southern has 21,800 miles of track in twenty-two states, including Washington, D.C. and Ontario, Canada.  Susan Terpay, spokesperson for the Norfolk, Virginia based company, said this was among the first line sales in a restructuring move that hopes to sell or abandon more than three thousand miles of track.

“It’s a lease-purchase,” Gedney said.  “We have an option to purchase at any time during the course of the lease.” Additional financial terms were not disclosed.

The primary customers on the line are the Archers-Daniels-Midland plant in Kershaw and AmeriSteel on Riverside Road in Lancaster. Gedney envisions service to existing companies on the line that presently do not use rail.  “We are going to see what we can do initially with shippers that have been on the line that have stopped shipping like Thomas and Betts. They've got a rail siding going in there.  Were going to talk to them and see if there’s anything we can do to help their business which would put rail cars on the line.  There used to be a siding in at Lancaster Natural Gas.  We’re going to try to see if we can do something with those folks.”

Ray Gardener, president of Lancaster County Economic Development, said, “It’s going to be a great plus for Lancaster county, more especially the Kershaw area, to deal with someone locally who is interested in putting things on line.”

Gardner mentioned that Norfolk Southern has deferred maintenance on the line for some time which resulted in a 10 mile per hour speed limit in recent years.  It was not economically viable for them to recruit more business to come south of the Catawba River.

Gardner also said that there is already a 1400 acre industrial park north of Lancaster that may see new business soon.

Gedney stated, “The railroad has some small land holdings to the north. In working with Ray Gardener, we will be identifying and cataloging all those sites that are currently zoned industrial that are on the railroad so we can put them together in a cohesive marketing plan for the area.”

A more immediate bonus to L&C operating the line are planned shuffle trains between ADM and the Circle S Feed Mill which is located at MP 17 on the original line between Fort Lawn and Richburg.  Fifteen cars of soybean meal will be transported weekly via rail to Circle S. Presently this product is transferred by tractor trailer.  According to Gedney, one rail car equals four trailer loads by highway.

The first L&C train to run into Kershaw is scheduled to leave Lancaster late this Sunday morning.  Until a new connecting track can be put in place near Springdale Road, the old interchange with Norfolk Southern will be used.

(To see photographs of the first run, click on the image directly below.)

(The above was a story that appeared in the Lancaster News 03/23/2001. As of 05/24/2001, it is still on-line at The Lancaster News.)
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The Lancaster News ran a story on March 28, 2001 written by myself on the L&C's first trip to Kershaw. The above picture was also run with the story. It was taken by myself and lifted from their web site at L&C Makes Maiden Trip to Kershaw.
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Lancaster & Chester Railway expands plans for luxury passenger cars
Ken Elkins
(from The Charlotte Business Journal -- April 13, 2001

Lancaster-based L&C is launching an advertising campaign to promote the service, adding a second luxury coach and stepping up efforts to restore railcars under contract to customers, says Bob Willetts, car service manager for the railroad.

Now L&C's J. Pinkney Henderson car, named for the former Texas governor who retired in Lincolnton, is hitched to Amtrak passenger trains for trips around the country. Customers rent the car for $8,500 to $35,000 per trip.

"It's just a fun way of traveling," Willetts says.

Passengers ride in style in the three-bedroom luxury coach, which is finished in cherry and maple. The coach, which Willetts bought and restored before selling it to L&C, also is equipped with a kitchen, dining area and observation lounge.

Often clients have the car switched to a side track to entertain guests and dignitaries or use the car as an apartment during their travels.

L&C won't disclose the costs of the program, revenue or profit figures. Willetts says the car produced enough revenue to support him.

Now, L&C is restoring an 85-foot car that was put in service in the 1950s by Rock Island Railroad. The coach will become a plush passenger car after the restoration with kitchen and observation area.

When finished, it will likely be renamed after a member of the Close family, which owns L&C, Willetts says. The Closes also have a controlling interest in Fort Mill-based Springs Industries Inc.

As a part of its expansion, L&C also has hired executive chef John Mickey to travel with the Henderson and the second car, coordinating the trip and cooking for the travelers.

This year, the Henderson is booked for trips to Washington, Quebec, New York and Colorado. Next year, one of its first trips is to the Super Bowl.

Typical trips are four to five days, Willetts says. The longest for the Henderson was a 21-day trip across the country last year, which included stops in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Willetts and a crew of three also are completing the $1 million rebuilding of a 1954 Canadian National Railway car for a Cincinnati insurance executive. The three-bedroom coach, which is refinished in burled mahogany, is named for Oliver Hazard Perry, an admiral who served in the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.

That car, whose restoration started in December 1999, will be stored in Lancaster and used exclusively by its owner, which L&C wouldn't identify.
 
 



 






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Governor Hodges Dedicates $30 Million Plant
By Michele Fulton
(from the Chester News & Reporter)

Gov. Jim Hodges paid a visit to Chester Monday to participate in the dedication of Owens Corning’s new Cultured Stone facility.

Hodges joined U.S. Rep John Spratt and several high-ranking officials from Owens Corning for the event, including Glen Hiner, chairman and CEO from Owens Corning; Doug Barker, president of Cultured Stone and Vic Grasmueck, plant manager for the new Chester facility.

“I’m very excited about this,” Hodges said. “We’re always looking for good corporate and civic partners and Cultured Stone is exactly what we look for. Here in South Carolina, they have found a wonderful location to build on their achievements.”

“This is an industrial gem,” Spratt said. “I was very impressed when I took the tour of this marvelous facility. Until now, I had no idea what cultured stone was. I thought it was something you put in the driveway.”

Owens Corning announced the coming of the Cultured Stone manufacturing facility in November 1999 and the first groundbreaking took place in January 2000. The 200,000 square foot plant, located on Ecology Lane off Beltine Road, produces a full range of Cultured Stone products which includes more than 20 patterns and textures in a total of 80 colors. The stone veneer products are used for exteriors, interiors and landscaping in residential and commercial applications. Those applications include exterior walls, entries, columns, chimneys, landscape boundries, pathways, patios, interior walls and fireplaces.

County Supervisor Johnny Weir, who was also on hand for the dedication, said the addition of Cultured Stone is a real plus for Chester.

“We are well pleased to have a quality company like Cultured Stone in Chester county,” he said. “During the negotiations we got to know the corporate level people and they were first class individuals. I think it was representative of what sort of company they are and what sort of message they instill in their employees. It’s all just top notch.”

Chester is becoming one of the premier industrial addresses in the state, Spratt said.

“I want to thank you for this $30 million vote of confidence,” he said. “We don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And the welcome doesn’t end with this dedication – we will be here right on to make sure you have everything you need to be productive and successful.”

Weir said his focus in the coming year is to sell Chester county to other industries like Cultured Stone.

“No one can sell a county like the people who live in it,” he said. “Our goal is to recruit more companies in the upcoming months – we want to sell Chester county to anyone that’s interested. We have a lot to offer and we want to make sure these industries know it.”

“We are extremely fortunate to be present here in South Carolina,” Barker said. “The county of Chester, along with the state, have been very gracious and helpful and we appreciate their efforts.”

(Note: This plant is located on the Lancaster and Chester at their wye.)
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L&C Making Changes in Lancaster
by Joseph C. Hinson 05/25/2001 (for The Lancaster News)

Nearly two months after signing a lease-purchase deal to operate the Norfolk Southern branch line into Kershaw, things are going well for the Lancaster and Chester Railway.

Hugh Richardson, Superintendent of Operations for the L&C said, “We’re pleased with the way things are running.  It’s been a smooth transition, almost like we’ve been running the line for years.”

President of the L&C, Steve Gedney, said, “Our reports from AmeriSteel and the ADM folks is they’re delighted with the service they’re getting.”

Meanwhile, the L&C and Lancaster County Economic Development Corporation President Ray Gardner are seeking new business to the line.  “We’ve already identified some land around Heath Springs and Kershaw,” Gardner said.  “We’ll put it together to make something like a two hundred acre park.”

There are also two parcels of land in the northern part of the county.  One is nearly twelve hundred acres of land at Foster Park.  This area is located on Riverside Road as you head out of Lancaster and toward Highway 5.  “It’s zoned I-2,” said Gardner, “heavy industrial.  We hope to take advantage of that.  On down Riverside Road near the airport, we hope the county is going to get us some land there.”

Steve Gedney said, “We’ve got another industry which met with us the other day.  If they can get some logistics worked out with a supplier, they could put a reload center on the line on the south end.”

Additionally, a local feed mill outlet that has traditionally used truck is now considering adding on to their plant in order to use rail.  A second business that has been on the line for many years and used rail at one point, Southern Gas, recently put in a spur in order to use rail again.

“They didn’t go out of their way marketing,” Gardner said of how Norfolk Southern handled the line in Lancaster.  “I’m not critical of them.  But the L&C has got better service.  They’re more dependable.  They’re local.  If you need something, you can drive down there to see them.  They’re eager just like we are.”

Gedney says having a local railroad is a benefit.  “As result of us growing our business and the efforts we put forward to do that, the county benefits from that if we are successful.  From a larger railroad standpoint, they’re not so much interested in what’s going on in Lancaster and Chester counties as they are what’s going on all over their system.  So we have to do our own industry programs to bring companies here.  If we’re successful, they will also benefit from the fact that if it’s a rail shipper, they will get part of the haul.”

Gedney said in order to handle the expected increase in traffic, maintenance on the line has begun.  “We’re putting in new ties on all the curves right now.  We’ve also done some work on the 521 bridge.  That’s not major work, just heavy maintenance.”  Gedney said the railroad is also putting in 100 pound switches, but everything on the Kershaw line is 85 pound rail.  This compares with rail up to 127 pounds on the original L&C toward Chester.

Gardner says the best thing that could happen for the L&C is to get the two prospects to build on the Kershaw track.  “If we get these two prospects, they won’t have to worry about coming up with the money to upgrade the line.  They’ll have plenty of business to generate the funds to do that.”
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New L&C SW1500 Enroute to East Chester
Unit is actually LLPX #215
by Joseph C. Hinson

As of way too late for me to still be up Thursday morning, LLPX SW1500 #215 is at the Charleston, SC CSX yard. This is to be the L&C's tenth unit and third SW1500.

This is one of the units traded to Locomotive Leasing Partners by CSX last year. It wore CSX number 1071 and before that was Conrail 9518. I'm still trying to track down it's full history as well as pictures of it at some point. Naturally, keep looking to this web site and Carolina Rails for my first shots of it.
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Carolina Southern Crosses Pine Island Drawbridge
by Joseph C. Hinson 07/05/2001

OK. OK. It's a little late in the game to be uploading this to the site. I missed my deadline. Sue me.

On Friday June 22, 2001, Carolina Southern Railroad crossed the Intracoastal Waterway with red and white GP18 #951. The last time a train crossed this bridge, the current president's father was still vice-president and Dan Quayle was an unknown senator from Indiana who still couldn't spell tomato.

The weather was horrible but a crowd of between one and two hundred people showed up. Dignitaries from the area as well as railroad employees rode in four coaches owned by Carolina Southern including an observation car named City of Myrtle Beach.

We discussed this at length on Carolina Rails with Kevin Foy and Chris Hamby pitching in relevant information. The Sun News out of Myrtle Beach also ran several stories on this, though their archive section becomes pay for view after 14 days.

As of early July, 2001, Carolina Southern is still looking for new business to come across to the beach side of the drawbridge.

To view pictures of the event, click on the thumbnail directly below.


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Is the Carolina Dinner Train No More?
by Joseph C. Hinson 07/05/2001

Rick Tufts on Carolina Rails has reported that the Carolina Dinner Train is kaput, though the cars still sit in Aberdeen. A sign of the declining economy? Or did the dinner train run it's course? Hopefully I can bring you more in the near future. Trying to bring up the web site Carolina Dinner Train does not work.
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Truck goes over bridge on I-77
By Michele Fulton (from the Chester News & Reporter)

Traffic was tied up for almost three hours after an accident on northbound Interstate 77 in Chester County on Tuesday morning.

The one vehicle accident, which happened near mile marker 68, involved a 1995 tractor trailer owned by G&P Trucking of Greer that was hauling around 41,000 pounds of Pedigree dog food, said Lance Cpl. Bryan McDougald of the S.C. Highway Patrol.

“We’ve determined that driving too fast for conditions and driver inattention were factors in this accident,” he said. “Apparently the driver, who was traveling northbound, reached down to pick up a computer and that’s how it started.”

McDougald said the truck, driven by Jabari Miller, 51, 27 Paisley Lane, Columbia, ran off the left side of the road shortly after passing the Richburg rest area, hit the guardrail and rode the guardrail before striking the edge of a bridge. The 40-foot trailer then went over the side of bridge and broke in half, sinking to the bottom of South Fork Creek and scattering dog food everywhere, McDougald said.

Miller was injured in the accident, McDougald said, and was transported to Piedmont Medical Center by ambulance.

Diesel fuel from the truck also leaked into the creek, and McDougald said fire officials notified the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Lando Fire Chief Eddie Murphy said there seems to be less of a problem with the fuel in the water than with the dog food.

“We’ve seen the dog food in the water more than a mile down the creek from the accident,” he said. “And that’s a concern. I don’t think there’s a real high level of contamination from the fuel; we put oil dry down as quick as we could.”

Murphy said a hard rain in the Rodman area raised the water level in South Fork Creek, which runs into Fishing Creek above the old Lando mill.

“The higher water level is good because more water will help disperse the food and the fuel,” he said. “That’s something we can be thankful for.”

Richburg Fire Chief John Agee agreed that the extra water was a help in getting the mess cleaned up. Agee said Tuesday afternoon officials from DHEC did respond to the scene and brought an environmental clean-up crew with them.

“They’re cleaning it up right now, even as we speak,” Agee said. “We had approximately 100 to 125 gallons of diesel fuel spill onto the bank of the creek and into the water, so right now they’re working on digging up the dirt and getting the fuel cleaned up. Then they’ll have to go to the other side and work on the 40,000 pounds of dog food, along with the rest of the truck, which is still in the water.”

Agencies that responded to the early morning wreck include Richburg and Lando fire departments, the Chester County HAZMAT team, Chester County Rescue and EMS, the S.C. Highway Patrol, DHEC and the Chester County Sheriff’s Department.
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Weir: Allvac eyeing major expansion at Bascomville site
by Jamey O. Shepherd (from the Chester News & Reporter)

Allvac is considering a major expansion of its facilities in the Bascomville area — one that could be the largest financial investment by an industry in Chester County history, the county supervisor says.

Chester County Council passed a resolution Monday night that allows the county to begin negotiating on the fees that will be paid to the county if the company decides to build the new plant here. Passage of the resolution made at least this part of the industry-negotiating process public.

County Supervisor Johnny Weir said the proposed new plant is something to be excited about, but he cautions there is no done-deal with Allvac yet.

Weir said he is not at liberty to disclose the dollar amount Allvac is considering spending on the plant or how many employees may be hired to work at the proposed facility.

The company already has a large operation on a large tract of land off S.C. 9, about half way between Richburg and Fort Lawn. The company opened its first plant here about a decade ago.

“This has been on the QT for about two-and-half to three months now,” Weir said. “We’re finally at a point where we can run with it.”

Allvac’s possible expansion is being considered for the company’s present site, Weir said. The prospect of landing this plant is exciting to more than just Chester County officials, he said.

“The state is excited about this, and they are working on their end on this,” he said.

Weir declined to say anything about the possible monetary investment Allvac is considering making here, except to say that he thinks it could be an historic investment.

“From what I can see, and as far as I can recall, this will be the biggest investment by a company in Chester County,” he said.

Weir said the company is looking at hiring local people to work at the proposed facility. An arrangement with York Tech is being considered to train workers for the proposed new facility, Weir said.

Weir said he cannot yet disclose when a formal announcement might be made public on the plant.

And though he said no deal has been finalized yet with Allvac, Weir spoke of this industrial prospect in an entirely upbeat manner.

“We’re not going to let the grass grow up over our feet on this one,” he said.

(The Allvac plant is located on the L&C Chester District between Circle S and the Richburg industrial park. I'm working to find out what -- if anything -- this means for the railroad. -- JCH)
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Update on LLPX SW1500 #215
by Joseph C. Hinson 07/07/2001

L&C has used their Locomotive Leasing Partners SW1500 #215 just a few times in the month or more it has been on L&C rails. Sources tell me it needs work to be able to run with the SW900s the L&C uses. The same work had to be done on 1500s 95 and 96 when they came online. But since the L&C is leasing this unit, they can't do the work that needs to be done.

The unit has gone back and forth to AmeriSteel on the Kershaw District a few times. (I've missed all of these runs.) It also was used on a run to the wye to pick up L&C SW900 #91 which had derailed at Union Carbide. 91 is currently out of service due to problems with the running gear as a result of this accident but is expected to be back on line presently.

Click on the thumbnail directly below for a larger version of the image.

As of Sunday July 22, L&C is now running 215 in the middle of SW1500s 95 and 96. Click on the image directly below to see a shot of the three 1500s working together.


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F40s Coming Back to Carolina Rails
From:  [email protected] via Carolina Rails
Date:  Wed Jul 18, 2001  4:46 pm
Subject:  CSX Inspection Train

FIRST DRAFT

Arrange to operate CSXT Southern Region Inspection Special Train (P96523)
from Jacksonville, FL to Rocky Mount, NC and other locations listed below.
This special is sponsored by Mike Pendergrass, VP Southern Region

Consist from Headend

CSXT    9992 and 9993, back to back
CSXT    363 Kentucky, Generator end forward
CSXT    11  Youngstown, Vestibule end rear
CSXT    8   Mississippi, vestibule end rear
CSXT    307 Washington, platform end rear
CSXT    308 Florida, platform end rear
CSXT    317 Baltimore, platform end rear
CSXT    10  New York, platform end forward
CSXT    319 Greenbrier, kitchen end forward
CSXT    12  Michigan, vestibule end rear
CSXT    318 Georgia, Observation end rear

Special Train P96523

Day One, Monday, July 23

Depart Jacksonville 7:00    am, West Jax Business Car track
Arrive Savannah 9:45    am, change crew
Depart Savannah 10:05   am
Arrive Charleston   11:55   am
Depart Charleston   12:15   am
Arrive Florence 2:45    pm, change crew
Depart Florence 2:55    pm
Arrive Rocky Mount  6:25    pm, layover, water & service coaches, fuel locos

Day Two, Tuesday, July 24

Depart Rocky Mount  7:00    am
Arrive Selma        7:30    am, board NS pilot
Depart Selma        7:40    am, via NS
Arrive Raleigh      8:50    am, change crew
Depart Raleigh      9:10    am
Arrive Hamlet       12:00   noon, change crew
Depart Hamlet       1:00    pm
Arrive Greenwood    5:20    pm, layover, water & service coaches, fuel locos

Day Three - Wednesday, July 25

Depart Greenwood    7:00    am
Arrive Augusta      9:00    am, change crew
Depart Augusta      9:20    am
Arrive Savannah 12:05   pm, change crew
Depart Savannah 12:25   pm
Arrive Waycross 2:10    pm, change crew
Depart Waycross 2:30    pm, change crew
Arrive Jacksonville 3:55    pm, layover, water & service coaches, fuel locos

Day Four - Thursday, July 26

Depart Jacksonville 7:00    am, West Jax Business Car Track
Arrive Tallahassee  10:40   am, change crew
Depart Tallahassee  11:00   am
Arrive Bainbridge   1:30    pm, change crew
Depart Bainbridge   1:50    pm
Arrive Thomasville  3:25    pm, change crew
Depart Thomasville  3:45    pm
Arrive Waycross 7:15    pm, change crew
Depart Waycross 7:35    pm
Arrive Jacksonville 9:00    pm, layover, water & service coaches, fuel locos

Day Five- Friday, July 27

Depart Jacksonville 7:00    am, West Jax Business Car Track
Arrive Auburndale   11:30   am, change crew
Depart Auburndale   11:50   am
Arrive Jacksonville 4:50    pm, West Jax Business Car Track

-Jim Fetchero
Charlotte, NC
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L&C Receives Second LLPX End Cab
This One is a SW1001
by Joseph C. Hinson late Oct. 2001

Lancaster and Chester has received a second end cab switcher from Locomotive Leasing Partners, LLPX. The unit, SW1001 #91, is most recenlty ex-CSX #1120. It was one of the units recently traded between CSX and LLPX. Before that, it was Conrail #9401. It began its carrer on the Reading as #2601.

After a brief run on the mainline -- including once with four other units to ADM in Kershaw -- it was sent to Circle S to replace L&C SW1200 #97. 97 will undergo some maintenance work in Lancaster before going back in service on the mainline for the first time since 1998.


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Overcoming train traffic
By Jason Cato The Herald (11/05/2001)

Stopped trains and blocked traffic are not lucrative incentives when it comes to spurring an urban renaissance.

That's why Rock Hill leaders are looking for ways to eliminate the congestion of major downtown intersections - namely Main and White streets at Dave Lyle Boulevard - from idle trains that not only impede traffic but also economic development.

Plans, ranging from short-term fixes to a long-term solution, would go a long way in helping the city realize its Old Town Renaissance plan for urban revitalization.

An immediate change of fewer trains coming through Rock Hill will reduce the amount of time traffic is blocked downtown, but the city's golden plan - building a new rail crossing at Quantz Street - would eliminate the problem all together.

Not only would it move stopped trains about a half mile farther from downtown, it would also open an overlooked section of town to new development, city officials say.

"Dave Lyle Boulevard has become a dividing line of where people want to go and develop and where they don't," said Stephen Turner, director of the Rock Hill Economic Development Corp.

While there are no concrete plans to build the Quantz Street crossing, Turner said it is a necessary piece of the puzzle for a more vibrant downtown district. He said the real focus of redevelopment in the next 10 to 15 years will be the area between downtown and Winthrop University.

"The fact that those roads are blocked by traffic two to three hours every day make the prospects of redevelopment more difficult," he said.

Tim Morgan, director of the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

"The setup we have now tends to create a division in the downtown area," he said. "Anything that can help move the physical barrier of the trains would be a real help."

Morgan wouldn't go as far as to say that the trains hurt downtown business, but he said they certainly don't help.

"There's some vacant land on the other side of the tracks that can be developed with the rest of downtown if they were better connected," Morgan said.

Though there has been heavy development on the east side of Dave Lyle Boulevard over the years, development on the west side - along Black, Main and White streets - has been minimal, Turner said.

Reversing this trend will be one of the major focuses of the downtown revitalization plan, Turner said, citing plans to renovate former mills such as the Rock Hill Cotton Factory and the Rock Hill Printing & Finishing Co., also known as the Bleachery.

"The redevelopment of that area is probably the biggest economic development and community development challenge that Rock Hill faces in the next 10 to 15 years," Turner said. "The railroad crossings become an important part of that strategy."

Turner included the project in the next phase of the master plan for 2003 to 2005, but he said that does not necessarily mean that is when it will take place.

"This is a long-term strategy," he said. "It's just an opportunity that has been put on the table."

The idea for the Quantz Street crossing originally was presented to city officials two years ago by representatives of Norfolk Southern Railroad. Turner said they proposed building the new crossing and closing the two at Aragon and Mill streets because of odd intersections and a steep hill at one of the crossings that makes seeing the other side impossible.

Roy Strickland, the train master for Rock Hill, said the plan was shot down after objections from the neighborhoods surrounding those crossings.

Still, Strickland said, it's a plan the railroad would welcome.

"I would love to see that new crossing," he said, "and so would a lot of our people."

Turner said the city's desire for urban redevelopment adds a different element to the plan and gives it new life.

"Suddenly, trying to do something with these crossings has another reason other than safety," he said.

City and railroad officials produced two other plans after meeting earlier this year to determine what other measures could be taken to alleviate the downtown traffic congestion caused by stopped trains.

The first was to reduce the number of daily trains traveling through Rock Hill from Columbia to Charlotte that block downtown traffic. Norfolk Southern started running two trains rather than three in mid September.

They also discussed a plan to stop adding train cars in Rock Hill - a process that typically takes 30 to 45 minutes - and move that operation to Charlotte instead.

That idea was scrapped because the railroad company said it was economically unfeasible.

Turner said he plans to meet again with Norfolk Southern, state transportation officials and community leaders again within the next year.

Strickland said he understands the city's desire.

"I'm sure there are a lot of towns around with this same issue that are trying to redevelop their downtowns," he said. "We want to work with the city any way we can, as long as it would be productive for both them and us.

"Railroads are changing everyday. ... One day it may happen."

(For my commentary on this article, please see "Overcoming Train Traffic.")
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Bridge to open way for trolleys, trains to uptown
Beams now in place; track, electrical wire to come for rail lines
By Dianne Whitacre (for The Charlotte Observer, 11/13/2001)

Stonewall Street has a bridge again after workers raised the last of seven concrete beams Monday, setting the stage for trolleys and light-rail trains to run uptown.

Crews assembled the underpinnings of the railroad bridge during the three-day holiday weekend, and the sight of the new span is sure to surprise thousands of uptown commuters who did not work Monday.

Stonewall Street is expected to reopen today for morning traffic, after being closed during the weekend as a crane lifted the beams into place.

Next fall, historic trolleys will use the bridge to operate seven days a week, running from Tremont Avenue in the South End community to Ninth Street uptown. Light-rail trains will use the same double set of tracks from Pineville to uptown, starting in late 2005.

Planning for daily trolley service has been going on 15 years.

"It's really going to happen," said Hank Ingebretsen, executive director of Charlotte Trolley Inc., the volunteer group that restores old trolleys and operates them on weekends.

Now that the beams are in place, crews will finish the bridge by the first of the year, said Al Lemaux, project manager for Ralph Whitehead Associates, a Charlotte engineering firm that designed the bridge and rail line. Then comes the track and overhead electrical wire that powers trolleys and trains.

The bridge connects the Charlotte Convention Center to existing track that crosses Interstate 277. New track will be laid on the roof of the parking garage of the Westin Hotel, now under construction on the south side of Stonewall.

Trains and trolleys will run through the convention center, passing through a short tunnel that was built in the center's south side. A glass wall will enclose the rest of the indoor tracks, so conventioneers can see the trains but not step in front of them.

Escalators and stairs will allow conventioneers to walk over the indoor tracks, keeping the public out of danger of passing trains, said Jim Schumacher, city engineer.

The old Stonewall rail bridge was demolished 10 years ago because architects said the bridge's alignment would severely limit the design of the Convention Center.
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Steepest rail grade is seeing final days
Norfolk Southern will no longer run trains over incline at Saluda
By Jim Wrinn (for The Charlotte Observer, 12/10/2001)

The railroad grade at Saluda, known as the nation's steepest mainline route, will cease operations this month, a Norfolk Southern spokeswoman said.

"We're taking it out of service, but it's not going to be abandoned," Susan Terpay said in a telephone interview from the company's Norfolk, Va., headquarters.

Freight trains carrying coal from southwest Virginia mines to Duke Power's Allen Steam Station near Belmont now originate near Williamson, W.Va., and avoid the route through Polk County between Asheville and Spartanburg, Terpay said. Likewise, wood chips gathered in giant hopper cars in South Carolina bound for a paper plant at Canton, and other commodities can travel via Salisbury now.

"The last train hasn't run yet, but it will be sometime in December,'' she said. The line will be kept in hopes that rail traffic increases enough to reopen it later.

Regular passenger trains haven't run across Saluda grade, which is 100 miles west of Charlotte, in more than 30 years. The town that hugs the tracks has long been a mountain vacation getaway.

Saluda grade is a legendary Carolina railroad site, where a 3-mile stretch carries trains over a 4.7 percent grade - meaning the track rises 4.7 feet for every 100 feet of horizontal travel. This is several times the acceptable grade for American railroads.

Opened July 4, 1878, the line became notorious in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the scene of horrific derailments that claimed many lives. A narrow spot between embankments at the bottom of the grade earned the nickname "Slaughter Pen Cut" for the numerous pileups.

Southern Railway and its successor, Norfolk Southern, have had a love-hate relationship with the Saluda grade, said Bob Loehne, a Georgia video producer who has filmed documentaries on the line.

"The railroad - from its engineers right up to its executives - was known to brag about running its heavy trains over the steepest grade in the U.S.,'' he said. "At the same time, it often wanted to eliminate this notorious three-mile stretch of track that had caused countless train wrecks and employee deaths."

The solution was better braking equipment and the addition of two runaway train safety tracks that were built on the same principal as interstate highway runaway truck ramps. No major derailments have taken place at Saluda in 30 years.

The attraction for spectators for many years has been to watch trains scale the mountain. Train crews usually stop to break their trains into two, three or sometimes four sections to wrest them over the crest before reassembling them at the top to continue on to Asheville.

"Saluda grade drops the jaws of railroad hobbyists in much the way that one of Mark McGwire's super-long home runs astonished baseball fans,'' Loehne said. "They are both off the charts."
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Norfolk Southern stops service on Saluda grade
By Mark Barrett (from Asheville Citizen-Times)
POSTED: Dec. 11, 2001 6:29 p.m.

SALUDA - When a train passes through this small town on the western edge of Polk County, "Your blood just surges," says local resident Caroline Tindal.

"From any direction you catch that sound. . You hear it, you feel it in the earth: the churning, the struggling of the engines."

After this month, that sound will be missing. Norfolk Southern Corp. says it is suspending operations on 33 miles of track between Hendersonville and Mascot, S.C., near Spartanburg because the buyer of coal shipments that once made up much of the line's traffic is now getting its coal from a different source.

Norfolk Southern has no plans to abandon the track, spokesman Susan Terpay said Tuesday, and could resume operations on it later if conditions warrant. No customers in Western North Carolina will lose service, she said.

The grade on the roughly three miles of track to the southeast of Saluda to Melrose is the steepest mainline grade in the country. The trains, the tracks in the very center of town and the railroad buffs who come to see them - patronizing some local businesses in the process -- are all a big part of life in Saluda, residents said.

"We're just heartsick," said Cindy Ledbetter, a cook in Ward's Market and Grill a few feet from the tracks. "It'll be different."

"It's a very comforting, earthy kind of thing," said Patti Peake, who works in a blacksmith's shop not far from the tracks and lives within earshot of them in Tryon. "You're just used to the train rumble. It's hard to put into words, but we love it."

Saluda's elevation is listed as 2,097 feet and the Melrose area's at 1,424. Various strategies have been employed over the years since the line opened in 1878 to get trains up and down the grade. Trains now ascend the grade at 20 mph and descend at 8 mph, Terpay said.

The track in question is part of the line that connects Asheville and Hendersonville with Spartanburg, S.C. WNC shippers will have other routes available to them, Terpay said.

A Web site for railroad buffs, Trains.com, says the change is being made because Duke Power is now buying coal for a generating plant near Belmont from the area around Williamson, W.Va, instead of in western Virgnia. When the coal came from the western part of Virginia, the best route to the plant was through Saluda. Now the route through the Salisbury area makes more sense, the site says.

Terpay confirmed the outlines of that explanation, although she wouldn't say if Duke Power is the customer in question.

Systemwide, coal, coke and iron ore make up 23 percent of Norfolk-Southern's traffic, she said. The line through Saluda used to see several very long coal trains a week, Tindal said.

The line also carried wood chips and other freight. That traffic will be diverted to other lines, Terpay said.

Norfolk-Southern had no active shippers on the 33 miles of track where it is suspending operations, she said. Terpay said it is not unusual for railroads to "focus on our core lines" and leave other routes unused.

She wouldn't speculate on the chances that the track might eventually be abandoned.

"We're going to retain it in hopes that the source of coal (might) change or in order to serve a customer that might locate on it," she said.

Service will continue to existing customers in the Hendersonville area. Bob Williford, president of the Greater Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce, said the loss of rail service in southern Henderson County won't have a large economic impact.

"That area is not very much industrialized now and we don't expect it to be in the future," he said.

In Saluda, train fans make up a significant part of the tourist trade.

"We have a lot of people that come into town just because of the train," Ledbetter said. "They'll sit out here on the street and wait on it."

"People know the Saluda Grade from all over the world," said Harry Bothwell, a train buff from Hendersonville. "People who are train buffs like to see trains going up and down. . It's a landmark."

Tindal said not having trains may reduce sales of railroad memorabilia at her Caroline's on Main gift shop, but she doesn't think the local economic impact will be huge.

"It's not a killer in that respect, but it's a sentimental thing," she said. When she heard the news, "My heart just sank to my toes."

Contact Barrett at 232-5833 or [email protected].
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Norfolk Southern to shut down route over Saluda Mountain
(by Bill Stephens for Trains.com News Wire — Monday December 10, 2001)

Norfolk Southern will mothball its route over Saluda Mountain — the steepest mainline grade in North America — because of a shift in coal traffic. The shutdown will occur later this month.

“We are taking the line out of service,” NS spokeswoman Susan Terpay told Trains.com this morning. “The line is not abandoned. We have no plans to abandon it.”

Instead, the 33 miles of railroad between Hendersonville, N.C., and Mascot, S.C., will be railbanked. No date for the line’s decommissioning has been set, Terpay said. NS is leaving open the possibility that the line could be reactivated if traffic patterns swing back in favor of the former Southern Railway route between Asheville, N.C, and Spartanburg, S.C.

The culprit for the pending Saluda shutdown is coal. Utility coal bound for Duke Power Co.’s plant near Belmont, N.C., used to be mined in western Virginia, Terpay said, so routing via Saluda made sense.

Now mines in the Williamson, W.Va., supply the utility’s coal, Terpay said. These trains use the old N&W main through Roanoke, Va., to Altavista, Va., and then take the old Southern main through Linwood, N.C., bypassing Saluda in the process.

The only other traffic over Saluda is a merchandise train that carries primarily wood chips. It will be rerouted via Salisbury, N.C., when the line is deactivated, Terpay said. Local service will be preserved between Asheville and Hendersonville.

The elimination of service over the grade will save NS the cost of operating helpers that shoved trains up the mountain and helped brake them downgrade. Often, trains were forced to double or even triple the hill.

This isn’t the first time NS has planned to close the route. In November 1991, during the last recession, NS pulled all traffic off the mountain and rerouted it. But the route survived being put on the shelf, and trains ultimately returned to the line.

The three-mile grade over Saluda Mountain averages 4.7 percent, but reaches 5.1 percent for a 100-foot stretch. Construction of the line, originally the Spartanburg & Asheville, began in 1877, and the first train ran over the route in July 1878. Almost immediately, runaways on the steep grade began claiming lives.

Fourteen men were killed in 1880 alone, and one cut became known as Slaughter Pen Cut after a runaway derailment involving cattle cars. In 1903, the Southern built safety tracks to halt runaways.

NS has been running about four trains a day on the line, and has done so safely for years.

“It is undoubtedly the most dangerous and critical stretch of mainline railroad anywhere in the country, and the unusual events that have occurred on the mountain would fill a rather large book,” NS President and COO H.H. Hall said in Frank Clodfelter’s definitive story, “Saluda: Where you either run the train or the train runs you!” in the November 1984 issue of TRAINS Magazine.

“Fortunately, modern equipment such as pressure maintaining features of locomotives as well as more sophisticated brake equipment have reduced the danger to some extent, but as you know it is still a piece of railroad that must be watched every minute,” Hall said.

Later this month, there won’t be anything left to watch.
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NS bulletin swipes Saluda trains off schedule today
Steepest mainline grade now silent
by Bill Stephens (from Trains.com News Wire)

On Norfolk Southern’s Saluda Mountain grade, all is now quiet.

In a bulletin issued this afternoon, NS abolished the schedules for the general merchandise and coal trains that have operated over the route.

The “last” through train over the steepest main line grade in America apparently ran last Sunday, December 9, an NS official told Trains.com today.

Train 377, a Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C., general merchandise freight left Spartanburg at 5 a.m. and arrived at Asheville at 1:15 p.m.

Because the former Southern Railway route will not be abandoned but railbanked for future use, the 377 may not be the last train to tackle the mountain’s 4.7 percent grade.

For now, however, rust will begin collecting on the rails.

The 5089-ton train 377 had 34 loads and 40 empties that were led over the hill by C40-9Ws 9266 and 9433. Along the way, they picked up one empty, and arrived at Asheville with 75 cars.

Shifting coal traffic prompted line closure

Coal trains on the line stopped running weeks ago. They included Williamson, W.Va.-Belmont, N.C., No. 750 and its empty counterpart, train 751. Symbols 752/753 were also used for these trains.

Other coal trains on the line included Williamson-Wateree, S.C., trains 778 and 780, and their corresponding empty movements, 779 and 781.

A shift in the source of the coal traffic is the culprit for the closure of the 33 miles of rugged railroad between Hendersonville, N.C., and Mascot, S.C.

Coal bound for Carolina power plants used to be mined in western Virginia. Now it comes from the Pocahontas coalfields of West Virginia, so an alternate routing via Roanoke and Altavista, Va., and Linwood, N.C., is now used.

The line over Saluda was in need of tie and rail replacement, as well as surfacing work. With the shift of coal traffic, NS couldn’t justify the maintenance expense, officials said. The routing also was inefficient and expensive to operate because trains had to double, triple, and sometimes even quadruple the unforgiving hill.

Traffic formerly carried by train 377 and its counterpart, 378, is now routed via Salisbury, N.C. The eastbound traffic is now handled on Asheville-Columbia, S.C., train 67E.

North America’s steepest mainline grade

The three-mile grade over Saluda Mountain averages 4.7 percent, but reaches 5.1 percent for a 100-foot stretch.

Construction of the line, originally the Spartanburg & Asheville, began in 1877, and the first train ran over the route in July 1878. Almost immediately, runaways on the steep grade began claiming lives.

Fourteen men were killed in 1880 alone, and one cut became known as Slaughter Pen Cut after a runaway derailment involving cattle cars. In 1903, the Southern built safety tracks to halt runaways.

NS has been running about four trains a day over the mountain, and has done so safely for years. At one time, NS rules required road foremen of engines – not the trains’ regular engineers – to operate trains down the hill. The current NS timetable for the Piedmont Division contains six pages of instructions dealing with Saluda.

“It is undoubtedly the most dangerous and critical stretch of mainline railroad anywhere in the country, and the unusual events that have occurred on the mountain would fill a rather large book,” NS President and COO H.H. Hall said in Frank Clodfelter’s definitive story, “Saluda: Where you either run the train or the train runs you!,” in the November 1984 issue of TRAINS Magazine.

“Fortunately, modern equipment such as pressure maintaining features of locomotives as well as more sophisticated brake equipment have reduced the danger to some extent, but as you know it is still a piece of railroad that must be watched every minute,” Hall said.

This isn’t the first time NS has planned to close the route. In November 1991, during the last recession, NS pulled all traffic off the mountain and rerouted it. But the route survived being put on the shelf, and trains ultimately returned to the line
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