If you model North Carolina...

[RockGp40]

then this link might be helpful:

http://www.bytrain.org/quicklinks/pdf/nc_railmap_10.pdf

If only all states had something like this!

[davefoxx]

What a great find, Brian!  Thanks!  I'm heading to Corolla, North Carolina on Friday for a week, but, unfortunately, I doubt there will be time to get in any railfanning.  Makes me wish that I still lived in Winston-Salem.

Interesting things that I noticed about the map.  First, despite the abandonment, the grade at Saluda is listed as "preserved rail corridor/out of service."  Second, it's good to see that the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway and the High Point, Thomasville & Denton Railroad are still plugging along.  Also, there's a handful of lines that I've never heard of, e.g., Carolina Coastal Railway, North Carolina & Virginia Railroad, Carolina Southern Railroad.

Good stuff.

Dave Foxx

[wm3798]

Dave,
If you can dip off of 95 for a few minutes on your way back, see if you can get me a shot of the Weldon depot... 

Lee

[Iain]

What a great find, Brian!  Thanks!  I'm heading to Corolla, North Carolina on Friday for a week, but, unfortunately, I doubt there will be time to get in any railfanning.  Makes me wish that I still lived in Winston-Salem.

Interesting things that I noticed about the map.  First, despite the abandonment, the grade at Saluda is listed as "preserved rail corridor/out of service."  Second, it's good to see that the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway and the High Point, Thomasville & Denton Railroad are still plugging along.  Also, there's a handful of lines that I've never heard of, e.g., Carolina Coastal Railway, North Carolina & Virginia Railroad, Carolina Southern Railroad.

Good stuff.

Dave Foxx

Carolina Coastal operates most of the Eastern Division of the old NS from Chocowinity to Raliegh.  It's a cool little road with several old rebuilt Geeps for power.

Dave,
If you can dip off of 95 for a few minutes on your way back, see if you can get me a shot of the Weldon depot... 

Lee

Yeah, I never have got up there, have I?  Sorry about that.

[davefoxx]

Dave,
If you can dip off of 95 for a few minutes on your way back, see if you can get me a shot of the Weldon depot... 

Lee

Lee,

I would be more than happy to take pictures for you, but, unfortunately, I won't even be close to Weldon, NC on this trip.  We take US Route 13 down the Delmarva peninsula to Norfolk, then I-64 to Chesapeake and then Rt. 168 into North Carolina and the Outer Banks.

Dave

[sizemore]

Dave,
If you can dip off of 95 for a few minutes on your way back, see if you can get me a shot of the Weldon depot... 

Lee

Lee,

I would be more than happy to take pictures for you, but, unfortunately, I won't even be close to Weldon, NC on this trip.  We take US Route 13 down the Delmarva peninsula to Norfolk, then I-64 to Chesapeake and then Rt. 168 into North Carolina and the Outer Banks.

Dave

Ahhhhh the scenic route through "Little Mexico"!

The S.

[davefoxx]

My favorite spot on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is the run-down mobile home park advertising itself as having a "touch of luxury."    I'll have to get a picture of that sign this year.

DFF

[Ian MacMillan]

I've been keeping track of state issued maps for New England for the last few years. Some states have good maps, others look like they were done in Paint.

Here is the listing;
http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=43718

[jmlaboda - RIP]

"First, despite the abandonment, the grade at Saluda is listed as 'preserved   rail corridor/out of service.'"

"Abandoned???"  That's news to me.  The line is intact with only a few sections of rail at the end of it being removed at Landrum to prevent traffic going north.  If the line had been abandoned all the rails and other metals would have been taken up.  It is "rail banked" for a time when there may be reason to reopen the route, but for now only the north end is seeing a local train, typically with three units, down to, I think, Hendersonville, and the entire line is hi-railed on a fairly frequent basis.

Oddly enough they show the Yancy RR. between Kona and Micaville as being "preserved."  That is a bit laughable.  They tried about 8 years ago to use a portion of the line for speeders with talk of eventually hauling Kaolin out but locals set fire to several bridges, destroying them, and much of the track between Kona and Micaville isn't even there any more because of a Hurrican in the early-70s washing it away.  One engine remains at Micaville, and old Porter center cab and a small bit of track up to the old engine house is pretty much all that remains in Burnsville.  Otherwise there really isn't even anything to preserve.

See the link below for more on this lines death and dismemberment.  It should be noted that when the developer was taken to court the "good old boy" system kicked in, in part because the group who tried to revive the line were not the actual owners of the line and the owner basically said that he didn't give a rat's backside in regards to what happened in N.C.
http://abandonedrailroads.homestead.com/nc_yancey.html

One glimmer of hope... Mt. Holly to Gastonia and the Belmont branch.  This former Piedmont & Northern line is heading back into operations soon, despite the NIMBY opposition to the operation of such.

[DKS]

My favorite spot on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is the run-down mobile home park advertising itself as having a "touch of luxury."    I'll have to get a picture of that sign this year.

Funny... we have something like that in Ocean County, NJ. It's called "Luxury Village." One day I was driving by and some of the residents were out at the entrance with protest signs. One of them read "worst in NJ", another said "too many violations to count".

[Iain]

Dave,
If you can dip off of 95 for a few minutes on your way back, see if you can get me a shot of the Weldon depot... 

Lee

Lee,

I would be more than happy to take pictures for you, but, unfortunately, I won't even be close to Weldon, NC on this trip.  We take US Route 13 down the Delmarva peninsula to Norfolk, then I-64 to Chesapeake and then Rt. 168 into North Carolina and the Outer Banks.

Dave

Are you comig across the Cedar Island ferry, we should meet up.  You'll be coming right through where I live.

[davefoxx]

Are you comig across the Cedar Island ferry, we should meet up.  You'll be coming right through where I live.

Iain,

Thanks, but, unfortunately, we're not going to be that far south.  We'll be in Corolla, which is north of Nags Head.  I look forward to getting down to the southern beaches again sometime.  We stayed in Avon and visited Hatteras and Ocracoke back in 2005.  Fun trip.

Dave

[chuck geiger]

2x3 layout pix please

[FloridaBoy]

Two years ago, I dated this wonderful lady from Black Mountain, NC just outside of Asheville. She graduated high school with me 45 years ago and we were already friends, and I visited her for about a week every month during the "courtship".  I had not stayed for long periods in NC, and found myself in hog heaven from a railroad point of view.  First her home is on a hill above I-40 which NS takes a downcline and upcline under the highway and trains were deassembled right in front of her home.  Fell in love with NC right away.

One one trip to NC, it was snowing heavily, and this Florida boy had zero experience in driving in snow, and when I approached Saluda I was in panic.  It was snowing so hard, I could not see the road, shoulder, stripes, rails, signs, and or even the land on each side of the road.  Heck, I couldn't even see where the "turn-offs" were.  What guided me was one tractor-trailer whose lights I kept at an angle in the "next lane" and I think he sensed my situation for he guided me over this hill with the steepest grade ever into the clear cold weather.  Talk about cruel irony. The Vhs tape in my player was an old movie of various locos testing the grade at Saluda, and here I am in dire straits. 

After that I had a pure gratification approach to NC, its wonderful people, hospitality and culture.  Unfortunately the lady and I didn't work out, but I learned you can take Floridaboy out of the mountains, but not the mountains out of Floridaboy.  I will be returning this fall to experience the railfanning in Old Fort with a new lady.  Talk about paradise, a trains only well stocked LHS and a very historical museum, with another regular museum, NS mainlines going through town, and a free bluegrass festival every Friday evening.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman