Stanly County, North Carolina, and it's Railroads
Railroad History
Contents:
Winston-Salem Southbound Railway
Yadkin Railroad
This is the Granddaddy of railroads in Stanly County. Interestingly enough, it was never one you would have wanted to invest in! The railroad was to run from Salisbury to Albemarle and on to Norwood (which was a pretty active industrial town back in the 1870's). In fact, the charter for the railroad was granted on April 5, 1871. But don't think that's when the railroad started building. The folks in Stanly County would have to wait 19 years before the first spade of dirt was turned in the construction of this railroad.[1]
With the growing strength of the Richmond and Danville Railroad (predecessor to the Southern Railway), came an ability for that railroad to branch out and grow with tactical applications of capital. Such was the case concerning the Yadkin Railroad. The R&D was smart enough to know that there were agricultural and mineral reasons for tapping Stanly County. It was pretty obvious that the folks who got the 1871 charter for the railroad from Salisbury to Wadesboro weren't going to really produce anything resembling a railroad. Also, the R&D/NC Railroad had a vested interest in controlling access to it's mainline in Salisbury. The obvious happened: The R&D pretty much bought up the stocks and bonds of the Yadkin, and in a sotto voice fashion, financed the construction of the Yadkin from Salisbury to Norwood.[2]
The railroad was constructed between November 1890 and September 1891. No one knows why the Yadkin was stopped at Norwood (supposedly, there had been a plan to continue it south to Wadesboro, in Anson County, but the decision was made, and the end of the line was Norwood. [The railroad was 31 miles long.] Irrespective of this, the railroad generated much freight traffic, but it also generated red ink in ever-increasing volumes. The Southern (ex-R&D) lost money pretty much every year on it's Yadkin Railroad investment, and the losses apparently were increasing steadily. The Southern operated the Yadkin rather as a subsidiary, and the Yadkin never had rolling stock of its own. In 1916, the Southern had apparently had enough of the ever-mounting losses on the Yadkin, and "...released it to be on its own..." as of July 1, 1916. [3]
Also in 1916, something happened that was the most important event in the history of the railroad, other than its construction: The predecessor of what is now the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) plant at Badin gave a contract to the Yadkin for the latter's operation of the New Hall's Ferry to Whitney line. At the same time, a contract was given for joint operation of the line from Whitney to Badin by both the Yadkin and the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway. Without access to Alcoa, the entire Yadkin line would probably have been abandoned many years ago.
Passenger service was discontinued in 1928, substituting bus service which lasted until 1938.
In August, 1938, the Yadkin Railroad was allowed to abandon the Albemarle to Norwood portion of the line.This line paralleled the WSSB, and was clearly redundant. The line was physically dismantled by November 1, 1938.[4] Part of the line still exists, however, as a short (just at one mile) hiking trail south of Rock Creek Park in Albemarle. Outside of that short stretch, however, it's almost impossible to identify the former railroad grade.
Its interesting to get an idea of the relative importance of the Yadkin Railroad to the mighty Southern Railway system by reviewing the Southern's Passenger Train timetable of December, 1940. The Yadkin Railroad is on page 34, and is the next to the last entry in the entire timetable. Service is listed as "Freight Service Only."
The Southern reorganized in July, 1951, during which the Yadkin became a part of Southern's subsidiary Carolina and Northwestern Railway Company.
Winston-Salem Southbound Railway
The great majority of this discussion of the history of this railroad comes from Jeff Miller and Jim Vaughn's terrific book. If you have any interest in this railroad or railroading in North Carolina, THE WINSTON-SALEM SOUTHBOUND RAILWAY should be on your bookshelf.
A railroad had been built from Roanoke to Winston-Salem, and the fellow who built it felt an extension to the south was a good business opportunity. This was in the early 1890's. Industrial possibilities along the Yadkin River, the agricultural center of Albemarle, and the town of Norwood all offered potential freight for such a line. Norwood alone had a cotton mill, flour mill, generated local timber, and had other agricultural potential for freight generation. iii
Even though the railroad was conceived in the early 1890's, it wasn't until 1905 that a charter was granted. Furthermore, nothing really happened until the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line became co-owners. They gave the go-ahead for construction to proceed on 25 June 1909. While it took a long time starting, when they did start, they did it right. Bridges were steel, not timber, ties were closely spaced, and 85-pound rail was used. Not only were the engineering and construction first-class, the project was tackled with the objective to get it done and operational in a short period of time. The construction period was from 5 May 1910 thru 23 November 1911. Considering the relatively primitive tools and equipment available, that's pretty amazing. iv
The first passenger train to serve Stanly County on the WSSB arrived on 24 November 1910, with regularly scheduled service beginning 13 February 1911. Passenger business boomed. In 1911 there were 24,638 riders on the WSSB, and that grew to 151,294 in 1917.
The "hot spot" for train watching in Stanly County during this exciting period had to be Whitney, where the Yadkin's branch from New Halls Ferry Junction, the WSSB, and the industrial spur to the Badin aluminum plant all met. There were 10 WSSB passenger trains a day in 1917, with 4 going the length of the WSSB, and 6 shuttling between Whitney and Badin. After 1917, however, better roads and autos took a toll on railroad passenger service, and by 1924, a railroad motor car replaced passenger trains on the Whitney to Badin run. The entire WSSB was down to only 2,652 passengers during 1932. v
In 1932, WSSB dropped regular passenger trains, and began using a mixed train, which had passenger accommodations in a quasi-caboose. This latter was placed on the end of a freight train. It must have been a neat railfan experience to ride the "mixed", but from all accounts, mixed trains were hardly a mode of travel most passengers would wish to endure. Finally, on 8 July 1933, all passenger operations on the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway ceased.
During the mid-1950's, the original 85 pound rail was replaced by 100 pound rail. In Whitney, the WSSB siding still has the original 1910 rail, and the 1955 rails are still the rails for much of the WSSB today.
Freight business remained good, however, and the railroad converted to diesel power in early 1957. The last steam powered train was on 25 April 1957. Thereafter, four GP-9's from the Electro-Motive Division of the General Motors Corporation were the road power for the WSSB. Two were owned by N&W, and the other 2 by ACL. They had 1,750 horsepower, and were versatile, reliable engines. They were also painted for the WSSB, and Miller and Vaughn have some good color photos of them. By 1963, the WSSB decided it wasn't cost effective to maintain diesel servicing men, facilities and equipment, so they leased their motive power from the ACL and N&W. The four leased GP-9's went to their respective owners, and to this day, the WSSB continues to lease road power from the successors of the ACL (CSX) and N&W (NSC). vi
There was an interlocking tower in Albemarle, one of only 3 on the entire WSSB. The tower protected the crossing of the Yadkin and WSSB railroads, and had 8 levers used to align the switches in the area. It stood until 1968, when a Southern Railway train was switching some cars, and pushed them into the end of a WSSB train which was going over the crossing. Apparently, the caboose on the WSSB train was pushed into the tower, demolishing it pretty effectively. I believe the caboose was number 668, which today is stored in Aquadale, and may eventually become part of the station renovation taking place in Albemarle.
For many years, there was a group of section house-type structures at the Albemarle station. They have recently been torn down. A similar fate seemed to be in store for the station itself, but the hard work of many Stanly County citizens has resulted in the preservation of the station. Basically, it has been moved a few blocks to the north, has undergone extensive renovation, and is the jewel in the Market Station area, including a large farmers market facility and public restrooms. The result of the efforts of a relative few will benefit the county greatly. No other WSSB station survives in Stanly County -- in fact, the only other WSSB station still standing is in Lexington, and is in pretty sad shape.
Norfolk Southern Railway
This railroad began in the 1880's, and was primarily an agricultural gathering and distribution road in far eastern North Carolina and Virginia. By 1910, it had built westward from east of Wilson (at Chocowinity, NC) to Raleigh. Management wanted to expand westward to Charlotte, as that area generated a lot of traffic. Also, such traffic was of a different mix than that found in far eastern North Carolina, and seemed to offer not only a quantitative increase in the size of the railroad, but also a qualitative increase in commodity mix, and should therefore contribute to the overall strength of the railroad.
Four small railroads were purchased by the NS in 1911, giving it a routing from Raleigh to Mount Gilead. With these purchases, the NS was only 52 miles from Charlotte. Construction started very soon after, and went directly east/west across the southern (widest) part of Stanly County. Stations were established at Norwood (interchange with the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway and Yadkin/Southern), Aquadale, Oakboro, and Stanfield. None of the station buildings from any of those towns survive.
The Western District of the Norfolk Southern Railroad was completed on December 1, 1913. viii
On November 27, 1913, the Albemarle Enterprise newspaper ran an article detailing the new, regular passenger service to be offered on the NS. Effective December 1, 1913, trains would leave both Raleigh and Charlotte at 7:25AM daily, to arrive at Charlotte and Raleigh, respectively, at 1:30PM.
Timetables show one scheduled passenger train each way daily in 1924. A 1947 timetable shows one passenger train each way daily, plus two scheduled freights each way daily. ix
With reference to the route itself, the NS somehow had to go around and thru the mountains, and an examination of the NS line from Star to Norwood shows how difficult this was. The line has curves in excess of 10 degrees, and grades in excess of 2 degrees. Their surveyors and engineers were forced to design a line through some unspectacular, but rather obstructive hills, and the result was a line which could never (short of immense capital outlays) be developed into the kind of "air line" that the Southern and Seaboard Air Line enjoyed. The tonnage limit for the most powerful engines on the line between Mount Gilead and Charlotte in the 1910's was 1900 tons, and most trains were double headed. x
As a relative latecomer to the railroad building scene, the Norfolk Southern had never had the best routes, either north/south or east/west. As a result, the line spent more than its fair share of time in deep financial difficulty. In 1974, the Southern Railway purchased the entire property. The primary objective of the Southern was pretty narrow: It needed a better route into the Tidewater area of Virginia. xi NS's line to Norfolk gave it that access. A route through the largely rural, hilly territory which ran from Raleigh, thru Star to Charlotte, was not something that the Southern coveted. Therefore, while the Southern spent millions of dollars upgrading portions of the old NS, those dollars were concentrated on providing a better roadbed between Raleigh and the tidewater area of Virginia.
The merger of the Southern Railway and the Norfolk & Western Railway in 1982 created a completely new Norfolk Southern Corporation, and pretty much sealed the doom of the entire ex-NS Western District. With outstanding access to Norfolk via the ex-N&W lines, there was even less need for a meandering, cross country line from Charlotte to Raleigh. The fate of the ex-NS across southern Stanly County was pretty precarious.
The Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railway Company was incorporated in 1987 to purchase the former Norfolk Southern branch from Aberdeen to Star. In 1989 the ACWR leased the line between Charlotte and Gulf as part of the NS "Thoroughbred Shortline Program." Interestingly, the line that was built as the Norfolk Southern Railroad has now become part of a much mightier Norfolk Southern Corporation. The company has a nice Web site at http://www.acwr.com , and the information in the beginning of this paragraph is from that site.