Atlantic Coast Line
Fayetteville, NC to Florence, SC
Introduction
Historically, if a shipper had freight, and wanted to get it from, say, Miami to New York City, it had to travel on several different roads. Today, CSX will do the entire job for you. This is the long-sought "seamless service" that CSX and NS used to justify much of the sense behind the break-up of Conrail. We're in the process of putting together a tour that you can use to follow the rails all the way from the Shared Assets Area in northern New Jersey to southern Florida. Several segments are now complete, and the overall tour site is here.
For information about the Other Tours within Frograil, go to the Frograil Tour Guide. If this will be your first tour using data within the Frograil system of tours, you really should explore the Tour Guide thoroughly before venturing forth -- there is a lot of good, basic information contained therein, which could save you some serious grief, while increasing the overall enjoyment of your outing.
The tour segment contained on this page is Fayetteville to Florence, and is complete from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Florence, South Carolina, a distance of about 83 timetable miles. If you want to just quickly drive the route and hit some highlights, you can do it in 2-4 hours. However, if you want to see some trains and enjoy yourself, it's easily an all day tour. For lots more info about this piece of railroad, check out the Supplemental Data below.
Remember, the segment from Selma, NC to Fayetteville, and the segment from Florence to North Charleston are also complete, so you can do a continuous tour from Selma to North Charleston -- a distance ofabout 240 miles. Go for it!
Contents And Navigation
Other Tours
For information concerning the other Frograil tours which have been put together, go to the Tour Guide. A comprehensive packing list and other advice are also in the Tour Guide -- these will save you time and grief.
Contributors To This Tour
Fred Burton, tour guide and data provider, Pembroke, NC to Dillon, SC
Train Gifs. All train gifs used within this tour are from the Ed Bindler's train gifs site, which is here.
Peter Furnee, CSX logo
Tony Hill, Webmaster and text provider, Wade, NC to Pembroke, NC, and Dillon, SC south to Florence, SC
Tim Rumph, tour guide and data provider, Pembroke, NC to Dillon, SC
Help
If you'd like to contribute to this, or any other tour, please contact me at tohill@hotmail.com, and let me know what you'd like to do. We'll work together: You supply the data/info, and I'll do the HTML stuff and upload it. You'll get a chance to review the fruits of your efforts before the general public sees the finished product, so you can let me have your corrections, additions and changes.
Supplemental And Back-Up Data.
Life Support. As you travel this segment of the tour, you're usually pretty close to I-95, and you'll spend considerable time on US-301 and US-52. Gas, bathrooms, and the like are never very far away. However, some of the tour is pretty rural, so don't wait to be driving on fumes before you start looking for a gas station. For meals, you'll have to be a little careful about where you want to be at lunchtime. Dillon and Florence have motels, and Florence is big enough to sport a very large, impressive hospital (McLeod Medical Center), as well as fairly extensive shopping. Dillon has a Wal-Mart, so you'll be able to take care of any essential shopping there. Fayetteville has just about everything you might possibly need or want. Until we've won the war against terrorism, however, stay away from Fort Bragg.
The Railroad -- Geography. [NOTE: This discussion is limited to this segment of the tour, only.] The railroad is in the Coastal Plain for the entire length of this segment. That means you'll be in flat, mostly open countryside, with sandy, almost white soil. The soil absorbs water very quickly, so there are relatively few boggy areas next to the tracks. One very nice thing about the countryside is that you can pull off the road almost everywhere, and have a nice, safe, solid area to park. There are many minor streams, and one major river, the Great Pee Dee, encountered on the tour. All in all, this is one of the easiest railroads to fan you're going to find anywhere, and this is made all the more so because there are only two major towns, Florence and Fayetteville, on the entire trip.
The Railroad -- Physical Plant. For the long term survival and growth of CSX, this route is vital. The physical plant is in excellent condition -- not just the trackwork, but everything is obviously well maintained, and the right-of-way is cleared of brush and grass. When CTC was installed, the Coast Line left several miles of double track, then several miles of single, etc., so rather than lots of single track with some sidings, you actually are touring a railroad which might be considered a 1 1/2 track main line. Capacity-wise, that was a smart decision, because this road can handle a lot more traffic than it's seeing today. Trains run fast, and they can be easily fleeted, because of the large amount of double trackage available to the dispatcher in Jacksonville.
The Railroad -- Traffic. You can, and will, see almost anything on the line. Remember that this is the I-95 of the railroad world, and it serves to connect the northeast metropolitan areas with the southeast and Florida. As you would expect, there are several Amtrak trains a day, as well as CSX's intermodal fleet. Manifest freight trains and unit coal trains round out the basic traffic, but unit grain trains and other non-regular movements will be seen.
As far as the number of trains, it depends on where you are. From Fayetteville to Pembroke, you'll probably see an average of 1 train per hour, but traffic diverging to Hamlet reduces the Pembroke - Dillon traffic by at least one-third (in terms of trains -- more than one-third of the tonnage goes over to Hamlet). Once at Dillon, however, traffic from Hamlet increases the frequency back up to about one per hour.
Another thing you should remember: This railroad is flat, and has relatively few curves. Therefore, expect the trains to be fast and quiet. Be ready and be alert at all times.
Station List.Go here for CSX timetable data. You'll want to print out the appropriate material and study it before you begin your tour.
Mapwork: Much of the tour is not easy if you have no detailed map for back country roads. I definitely recommend you get a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, study it before your trip, and copy pertinent pages for your field work. You can find information here about Railfan Maps that are available.
Photographic Considerations. Some crossings' photo ratings will be described in a standardized method as in the following example: NE3, SE1, SW4, NW4. This means that going clockwise from the northeast quadrant of the crossing, each quadrant is rated, with 1 being excellent, and 4 being non-existent. Note that this refers to the relative field of view, not the photogenic quality of the location (which is a personal decision). A quadrant with a rating of 1 is "wide open" for photos. Note that a 4 may mean that the quadrant is solid trees right up to the ROW, there's a severe drop-off trackside, there's a farmer's field snug against the tracks, etc. In the example given, you'll note that this is definitely a morning site, as both western quadrants are bad.
WEBMASTER'S NOTE: I do not recommend or condone walking along the tracks, as this means trespassing and exposing yourself to danger. You will have to be creative, in some instances, to avoid trespassing while getting to the detailed locations included herein, but you will either have to be creative or not visit those sites. At no point in this tour guide, or any other tour which is part of Frograil, is it recommended that you trespass or expose yourself to danger. If you are a fool and have a leg cut off (or worse), don't come crying to me:You have been warned. Trains are big, powerful, and often surprisingly quiet. Don't end up being a statistic.
Wade, NC -- Florence, SC -- Railfan sites:
We begin this part of the CSX East Coast Tour at the station in Fayetteville. This location was detailed in the previous tour segment, so we'll not repeat it here.
Fayetteville -- A&R Crossing. The storied Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad crosses the CSX main in the southwest part of Fayetteville. Today, there is a major highway overpass literally directly over the crossing. This highway is a fairly new freeway, NC-87, which doesn't appear on older maps. It makes driving close to the crossing difficult. The only time I was physically at the crossing, the overpass wasn't there, and it was very quiet. To get to the crossing, it's always been necessary to walk along the tracks to get to it.
From the station, go back west on Hay Street, cross the tracks, and then take a left to go south on Robeson Street, which will go under NC-87. Just past NC-87, about 300 yards to the south, and under an NC-87 overpass, is the crossing. Continue on Robeson, and turn left on Whitfield. The first set of tracks you cross is the A&R. Find a place to park and walk the 6-700 yards to the crossing. I predict you'll spend very little time there, as there's little to see. Do not attempt to walk in via the CSX, because the highway is noisy, the trains are fast, and it's dangerous. Indeed, I don't recommend going to the crossing at all; I think it's a waste of time, and the potential for trespassing is too great. For you historians, however, the crossing has been in use for over 100 years, and a short visit might be of interest.
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Fayetteville -- Whitfield Street. Continue southeast on Whitfield Street, and you'll shortly come to the CSX main line. This is an at grade crossing, but is fairly poor. I'm including it only because it's the absolute last crossing until south of NC-59 in Hope Mills! If you know something's coming, you'd better wait here, because it'll be awhile before you're trackside again. From here south, urban and suburban sprawl is all around you, but the railroad tootles on as if you were in the wilderness. It's strange. So, here's Whitfield Road: NE4, SE4, SW1, NW4. Obviously, if it weren't for the southwest quadrant, it wouldn't be worth a stop. Because the line is quite northeast - southwest here (almost a dead 45° angle), you can get decent pix, but they won't be artistic.
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Hope Mills. From Whitfield Street south to Hope Mills, there are overpasses of the CSX on these major roads (in north to south order): Owen Drive, Cumberland Road, Camden Road, and NC-59. The latter is Main Street in Hope Mills. All are busy, and none are recommended as railfan locations. Therefore, here's the simplest way to get to Hope Mills. From the Whitfield Street location, continue southeast, cross Camden Road, and take a right onto Southern Avenue. After awhile, Southern will become Legion Street, and it will take you all the way into Hope Mills. As you approach the town, Legion will swing almost dead south, and you want to take Lakeview Road, which peels off to the right. Lakeview will take you to NC-59 in the downtown area. Cross NC-59 and take your first right onto Trade Street, which will take you to the vicinity of the tracks.
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Parkton -- Brisson Road. To continue south, get back to NC-59, and take a right. As you leave the town, Parkton Road will be on your right. Take it and continue for about 1/2 mile to another right on Muscat Road. Once again, thankfully, you're out in the country. The Fayetteville metro area is behind you, and you can relax a bit. Muscat meanders until it T's at Brisson Road. Take a right and Brisson crosses the tracks, and then does a 90° to hug the tracks into Parkton as Black Bridge Road. The crossing itself is a little tight, but not bad: NE2, SE3, SW1, NW2. If you know something's coming, this is a pretty good spot, but the town of Parkton itself is much better.
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From the previous railfan location: Black Bridge hugs the railroad, oh yeah, but you can't see a thing because there's an almost total wall of trees between the road and tracks. There are a few private crossings, if you're desperate to get trackside, but the photo angles are very tight, and you do not want to trespass out in the country. Black Bridge will trundle you right into town, and the depot will be right in front of you shortly.
From I-95: In the extreme southern end of I-95 in Cumberland County (Fayetteville), where US-301 and I-95 separate, go south on US-301 into Robeson County. You'll cross a small creek, and NC-71 will go off to the west towards Parkton. Take this right turn and go on into Parkton.
Before continuing on this tour, however, there are a couple of things to be aware of:
First, on a completely non-railroad subject, you are entering a particularly interesting area, geologically, and one fairly unique to this part of North Carolina and the coastal plain. The land is very flat and sandy. The small rivers and creeks are shallow and sluggish. The water is absolutely black. I don't personally know much about the ins and outs of the countryside, but if you're an outdoorsman or explorer, you will want to stop in several places between here and Pembroke to explore the area at the edges of some of the creeks and bogs. Do a little homework before you go, so you'll know what to look for, and this could be quite a bonus to your railfan outing. Make sure you have a friend with you, as there are dangers in such places.
Second, the crossings between Parkton and Pembroke represent a kind of never-never land for railfans. While no road runs for any distance parallel to the tracks, almost every crossing offers excellent viewing. Indeed, the ones I consider to be merely so-so would be considered good to very good in the piedmont, and probably excellent in the mountains! Therefore, not every crossing will be minutely catalogued, but I will point out those few that are not at grade, or which suffer from some other limitation. If you see a crossing I don't mention, it's probably just as good as the rest, and if you know there's a train coming, get on over there, as the odds are that you'll have good viewing.
When you get into Parkton, take pretty much any street over to the tracks. In the downtown area, the viewing is wide open and excellent. Get your lawn chairs out, the coolers opened up, and the scanners going, cuz this is a great place to see today's "ACL" in action. There is even a nice, ex-ACL station for you station nuts (like me). I had the enjoyment of talking to an oldster (had to be in his 70's), who, as an 8-year-old, was working for the railroad's agent. He can tell you some railroad tales. If you see some old-timers sitting around, strike up a conversation, and you may learn a lot.
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Parkton -- Murph's Road. When you're ready to leave Parkton, go south from NC-71 on Fayetteville Street (as you come into town on NC-71, it will turn west to go over the tracks. Rather than do this, continue south, on what is Fayetteville Street). Fayetteville will gradually get further and further away from the railroad, and you want to take your first real right onto Shaw Road, followed almost immediately by a right onto Murph's Road. This is a dirt road, and tends to be rather slippery and narrow. Slow down and be safe. This road will take you back to the tracks, and a rather open, quite satisfactory photo field from most directions, depending on the time of day. It's pretty quiet here, and this is a good spot to railfan.
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Rex. Continue over the tracks on Murph's Road, and you'll take your first real right onto McIver Road, which in turn will end at Blanchard Road. You can take a left and go to a crossing which is OK, or to continue, take a right on Blanchard. When you reach NC-20, take a left onto it and then very shortly take an oblique right turn onto Rex Road and go to the tracks. (NC-20 crosses the tracks on an overpass, and is not a railfan location.)
Rex is a small village with a post office and lots of areas to see and photograph trains. Be advised that you can see a long ways in both directions, because the rails are straight and flat. Continuing that thought onward, you can easily imagine how fast Amtrak and intermodals go thru here. This is single track, 79mph for passenger trains, and not a whole lot less for freights. Be alert and be prepared.
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Rex -- South Rex. Continue south on Rex to the first real right, and go southwest on New Bethel Church Road. This will take you back towards the tracks, and will end at Lombardy Village Road almost at the tracks. The crossing is pretty good, but stay out of the farmer's fields. Those fields limit your photo fields and choices.
About 300 yards north of the crossing of Lombardy Village Road and the tracks is the South Rex interlocking, which begins double track southbound for just over six miles. Binoculars would help you read the signals, especially with a bright sun behind you.
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Rennert. Go south on Lombardy Village Road, away from the tracks, until it ends at Covington Farm Road, and take a right to go southwest. You'll cross the Big Moss Swamp, and the road will later end at Morgan J Road. Take a right on Morgan J, and head west into the crossroads of Rennert and a pretty good crossing for photos. In general, the area of the crossing varies from wide open to pretty good. You're still in double track territory here.
Take a left just east of the tracks and go south on Rennert Road. Lyndsey Road will go off to your right, and the Lyndsey Road crossing is OK - good. Continuing south on Rennert, you'll veer away from the tracks and you should take your first right, and go southwest on Josephine Road. Josephine will end at Shannon Road. Shannon is a pretty busy road, so be alert. If you turn right onto Shannon, the crossing is not at grade, and is not recommended as a railfan site.
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Cromartie. Take a left onto Shannon and head southeast. After a relatively short while, take a right onto Mary C Road. [Webmaster's note: This name may be incorrect. The map shows Mary C, but my notes are incomplete, and it may actually be called something else. My Delorme calls it Mount Zion Church Road, and I believe that to be correct. This confusion is not particularly uncommon, especially in regards to the short, very local dirt roads in the area. Just follow the driving instructions, and you'll be fine.] Mary C will cross the Big Raft Swamp (neat) and then will split with Tabor Road going off to the right. [Webmaster's note: Delorme calls this "Mount Tabor", the local map says "Tabor", so don't be confused -- everyone else is, too.] Take the right onto Tabor, and go northwest to the tracks.
The crossing is fairly open, and is still in double track territory. Go back to Mary C/ Mount Zion Church and continue south to your next right, which is Lewis McNeil Road. Note here as well that Delorme refers to this road as "Velenda Road", but I believe it to be Lewis McNeil. Take Lewis McNeil west to the tracks. The crossing is OK - good for pix, and the Cromartie interlocking is some 200 feet north, with the signals protecting the end of double track territory very visible. "Cromartie" does not appear to be a geographical name, as nothing on my local map or Delorme has anything with that name in it.
Continue west on Lewis McNeil until the intersection with NC-211, and take NC-211 south towards Lumberton, go over the tracks, and you'll soon get back to Mary C/Mount Zion Church Road. Take a right, and almost immediately, take a right on Buie's Mill Road, which will come to a so-so crossing of the tracks, and then continue to bear right on Buie's Mill as it goes thru the hamlet of Buie. [Webmaster's Note: As you drive Buie's Mill Road, which is a narrow dirt road, keep alert to your right. It is easy to miss the spectacular lake along the road. The water is black, and the shore is tightly ringed with cypress and tupelo gum trees. This is a landscape duplicated in very few places anymore today.] You'll once again come to Mary C/Mount Zion Church Road, and another OK - good crossing is just to your southeast on Mount Zion Church Road.
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Pembroke -- St. Anna Road. To continue, turn right onto Mary C/Mount Zion Church Road, and then very shortly take your first left onto Townsend Chapel Road. This will meander southwest, cross the Burnt Swamp, and come to NC-72. Go south on NC-72, cross over the at-grade, but very busy, crossing of the tracks (not a railfan site), and take your first right onto St. Anna Road. You'll cross yet another swampy stream, and will join the tracks at Union Chapel Road. There is good - excellent viewing in this area, and you can also somewhat parallel the tracks to the northwest for a short distance. This is a pretty good railfanning location, but you do need to watch out for traffic on the roads, and there is no really good place to set up lawn chairs and relax.
To continue on in to Pembroke, take a left on Union Chapel, and follow it right into town and the crossing.
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Pembroke. Think back to the days before the Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line merger. The traffic out of the megalopolis of the northeast came down to Richmond, Virginia, and then had two different ways to get to Florida and the southeast: Down the Seaboard Air Line via Raleigh and Hamlet, or down the Atlantic Coast Line via Rocky Mount and Florence (this is the "A-Line"). Therefore, the traffic between Hamlet and Wilmington, NC, and that between Rocky Mount and Florence, moving on two different systems to quite different destinations, and crossing at Pembroke, didn't have much need for interchange. Things changed dramatically when the merged Seaboard Coast Line abruptly abandoned the ex-SAL from Petersburg to Norlina, NC, and eliminated the ability of the SCL to move freight to Hamlet and beyond via Raleigh.
Pembroke, virtually overnight, became a very important junction. ALL traffic south from Petersburg for Jacksonville, Charlotte and Atlanta had to go to Pembroke, and the relatively sleepy stretch of railroad between Pembroke and Hamlet suddenly became much more important as large, frequent trains started to leave the ex-ACL A-Line to traverse the bucolic SAL railroad backwaters to Hamlet. We now approach the junction where the Hamlet-bound trains depart the A-Line.
Pembroke is east of Lumberton, and is easily reached from I-95. Take exit 17 in Lumberton, and go north on NC-72. You will very shortly take a left onto NC-711 westbound, which will take you right into downtown Pembroke. To follow the SAL west from Lumberton, as well as to get other info on Pembroke, you'll want to check out the Frograil tour from Lumberton to Hamlet, which is here. [Webmaster's note: For you Yankees out there who are taking this tour, Pembroke is pronounced "PEM bruck".] The crossing itself is Mile Point (MP) 241.3 from Richmond.
As we continue the CSX East Coast Tour southbound, continue west on NC-711, away from the tracks. There are several non-descript crossings south of Pembroke, but none are worth a hoot, so just go away from the tracks for a short while.NC-711 kind of slops into NC-710 southbound about 2-3 miles west of Pembroke, and you'll want to get onto NC-710, which will become virtually southbound after a long, broad curve, and you'll get closer and closer to the tracks.
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Pembroke -- South Pembroke. At the intersection of NC-710 and US-74, go east on US-74. Just before the road rises for an overpass of the main line, take a right onto Canal Road. It will arc in a southeast - southwest direction. At the easternmost point of the arc, park and walk the 20 yards to the tracks. You'll probably see the tall, silver signal mast before you get to your parking point. This is the site of the beginning of double track southbound and the South Pembroke interlocking. Unfortunately, to get to the tracks, you must blatantly trespass, and having done so, you'll be hard against both side of the tracks, and pictures will be poor. Trees and brush are very close to the tracks. Finally, trains can be very fast and quiet here. This is not a railfan location.
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Elrod. Get back on NC-710 and continue south. Perhaps the first decent place to see trains is in the crossroads village of Elrod. About a mile south of the Union School Road, you'll see the crossroads at Tom Road. Go east on Tom towards the tracks, and there is a crossing. This location is in the middle of a signaled siding, and is uninspiring.
[Webmaster's Note: You are on the Coastal Plain all along this part of the tour, and the land is flat and almost white and sandy. It is superb agricultural land and you'll find that the crops at rural crossings come right up to the 4 quadrants of the crossing. What looks from a distance to be a great, wide-open place to watch trains, turns out in most cases to be very tight, because private property extends almost up to the tracks themselves. Do NOT venture into these agricultural fields.]
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Purvis. From Elrod, go back to NC-710 and continue south about 2-3 miles to Purvis Road, and take a left to head towards the tracks. At the crossing is the south end of double track and the interlocking at "Purvis". Signals are clearly visible. The crossing is so-so for photos.
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Rowland. Continue south on NC-710 for about 5 more miles, to the intersection with US-501/NC-30, and go left (south and east) into Rowland. This very small town, and like many small, agricultural towns in America, has seen better days, but it provides several places to get back from the tracks and get good photos. Scope it out in advance, and you'll be rewarded. The nice brick combination passenger and freight station has been preserved.
Go one block east of the tracks, and turn south on US-301. You're now east of the tracks, and will shortly slip into South Carolina. You'll want to be very, very careful just south of the border, because this is the location of the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) South of the Border tourist area. There are restaurants, motels, and an unimaginable amount of other kinds of stuff here. This is the home of Pedro.
The reason you need to be careful is because there are people just wandering all over. Besides being US-301, a major highway in itself, this is the site of a very busy interchange on I-95, and there are tourists, buses, long-haul trucks, etc., etc. all completing for a very limited amount of space. It's almost like one of those odd garage sales where people walk around totally oblivious to the fact that they're walking right on a highway! Be careful.
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Hamer. About 1.5 miles after leaving the hustle and bustle of South of the Border, the tracks will come in on your right, and you'll come to McCollum Road/Local Road-1760. Take a right and go to the tracks. This is the north end of the Hamill siding, and is spelled differently than the local area, which is Hamer. There is so-so photo opportunity here. Go back to US-301, and continue south. There are a few crossings between Hamer and Dillon, but they are unremarkable.
When you get into Dillon, take a right on either Jackson or Roosevelt, and go one block to MacArthur Avenue. MacArthur parallels the tracks all the way to Maple interlocking south of town. This is a good point to explain the railroad history and activity in Dillon, as you'll need to understand what's happening to fully enjoy the rail scene here.
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Dillon -- Downtown. In this part of the country (virtually the entire southeastern part of the United States), the two big railroads were the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line. (Obviously, the Southern Railway was just as important, but not this far east.) Seldom referred to by locals as the "ACL" and "SCL", these were, and still are, universally referred to as the "Coast Line" and the "Seaboard." The Coast Line came pretty much straight down the east coast from Richmond via Rocky Mount, Fayetteville, Florence, Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville. The Seaboard came more southwesterly from Richmond via Raleigh, Hamlet, and then on to Greenwood and Atlanta. However, the Seaboard also had 2 routes from Hamlet to Charleston: The "passenger" main Hamlet-Columbus-Charleston or Savannah, and the freight main Hamlet-Dillon-Andrews-Charleston-Savannah.
In Dillon, the Seaboard comes in from Hamlet on a southeast bias, turns in town to parallel the Coast Line in an almost southerly direction, and then turns southeasterly once again to cross the Coast Line, which is on a tangent all the way thru town on a fairly vertical NE-SW bias. MacArthur takes you to the very nice Coast Line station downtown, and you can watch trains in the area. If you hear a train horn to the northwest, it's about 5 blocks to the Seaboard coming down from Hamlet. Dillon is a scheduled Amtrak stop for the Silver Palm.
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Dillon -- Maple Junction. Continue south on MacArthur, and it will take you out of downtown and all the way to the junction where the Seaboard crosses the Coast Line. This is Maple Junction. [MP 262.8] Besides the 4 Amtrak trains per day, all Richmond - Jacksonville freight which doesn't go over to Hamlet comes down the Coast Line. This is the intermodal backbone for CSX on the east coast. Seaboard traffic consists of several coal trains which go towards Pennyroyal Power Plant near Georgetown, and several manifest freights per day. Traffic from Hamlet also diverges from the Seaboard to enter the Coast Line southbound. This traffic includes coal and manifest freight.
Train watching here is enjoyable. There are trees on the east side of MacArthur (which is a dirt road here) for shade in the morning. Excellent pix can be taken virtually any time of day from any angle, but especially from the east side the viewing is really, really nice. You'll want a scanner and a copy of Bullsheet data to let you know where trains are going thru the interlocking, as it's impossible to guess in some instances.
[Web Master's Note: You have to be both alert and patient here. When doing research for this tour, I was standing outside of Betsy II at 16:52 and said the heck with it. By this time, I'd spent almost 1 1/2 hours without hearing a peep from a diesel horn. By the time I'd gotten downtown, just some 7-8 blocks, my rearview mirror was kind enough to show me I'd missed a northbound on the Seaboard. I tried to get north to shoot it, but those trains go thru town at a good 20-30 mph, and while that may not sound like much, it's very hard to catch up to them when you're the 12th car behind a red light. Of course, while trying to get to the Seaboard, my rearview mirror thoughtfully showed me a southbound on the Coast Line. By the clock, 2 trains in 10 minutes, and I honestly never heard a sound from either until it was far too late to get trackside. A scanner is strongly recommended.]
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Dillon -- Maple North End. Follow McArthur further south until it bends to the east. The north end of Dillon's Maple passing siding is here. To get to the tracks, you've got to trespass, and trees and brush are tight. This is not a railfan location.
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Dillon -- Maple South End. Go back north on McArthur from the junction to your first left which will go over the Coast Line. The first street past the tracks is South 1st Avenue. Take a left and continue the tour southbound. South 1st will leave town and become Old Latta Highway, which will cross the tracks after a little more than a mile. There's not much for railfanning here, and it's also in the middle of the siding, so keep going. Old Latta will end at US-301, and you'll take a right and go south. When you get to East Fairfield Road, turn right to get back to the tracks, and the south end of the Dillon siding. There is OK viewing from the west, but the view from the east is tight.
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Latta. Get back on US-301 and head south into Latta. Take your first right after the school, and go one block to the tracks. Railroad Avenue parallels the tracks on the south side virtually thru the entire town. There is excellent viewing all along this area.
Sellers. Continue south on US-301. As you come into the village, there is excellent viewing all thru the town, until you get to the south end of the community. About 2.5-3 miles or so south of Sellers, look for fairly large International Paper sign on the right, and turn right at the sign. There is a crossing about 100 feet ahead. Looking to the north, you'll see the southbound end of a stretch of about 6 miles of double track. Unfortunately, there are tall trees on both sides of the tracks, and shadows are bad most of the day. Also, you have no room to get back from the tracks for photos, so you're forced to shoot pix at a sharp angle from railroad property. This is not a railfan location.
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Pee Dee. You have been coming from Pembroke at a fairly straight, steady NE-SW bias, and you are about to swing to an almost dead westerly direction, which will take you in to Florence. The curve occurs in Pee Dee. As the name implies, Pee Dee is hard by the Great Pee Dee River, and that part of the town along US-301/US-76 may be the longest uninterrupted junk yard in existence. We will avoid such unpleasantness.
As you come towards the junction of US-301 with US-76 just east of town, you'll see US-301 rise to go over the tracks. You'll be fooled, however, because there are no tracks there. Instead of going over the overpass, take a right just before it onto Pee Dee School Road. This is a rather, shall we say, informal dirt road. Don't make any turns off it -- just keep going straight on, and it will take you across the wye lead to the branch to Marion and Mullins, and on to the A-Line just a short ways west. The branch and all elements of the wye and junction were removed many years ago, and you have to know they were there to see any evidence thereof. You might want to park past the crossing and walk back to where the switch was. Continue on Pee Dee School Road until you come to Hassie Road. Take a left and it will take you right out to US301/US-76 after only a block or so.
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Winona. As you head west from Pee Dee, you'll cross the wide Pee Dee flood plain and the river itself, and you'll go up a long grade out of the basin. You'll go under a nice railroad bridge still neatly lettered for "Atlantic Coast Line", but the spur down to some industries is apparently not in service. You'll shortly come to the major intersection with East Old Marion Road. Take this northwest to just before the crossing and turn left onto North Emma Road, a dirt road. Drive away from the crossing towards the abandoned feed elevator, and park. There are 2 tracks here, and you'll enjoy them both with excellent viewing from the south, off railroad property. This is a good railfan location. The very large, modern industrial facility to the north east is a Roche Pharmaceuticals plant.
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Mars Bluff. Continue on Emma, which will curve and take you right back to US-301. Continue on US-301 westbound for only 3/4 of a mile, and turn right onto North Price Road, and veer to the right when you get to the church. Just before the tracks, take a left and go west on Hurd, a dirt road. There is excellent viewing from the south all along here. Mars Bluff is the site of a double crossover [MP 286.3].
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Florence -- Koppers Street. Follow Hurd west for a block and turn left onto Fore Street, which will take you south, back around the other side of the church on North Price Road, and then to US-301 once again. From now on, we're heading into a fair sized city, and railfanning is very different than that experienced in the past several hours. When you see the Florence airport coming up on your left, look for Koppers Street on your right. It goes right over to the tracks. Cross all four tracks, and park on the left, being careful not to block any roadway. You are now in the Florence Terminal (at the timetable northern yard throat), and security is understandably very tight. Do not attempt to take pictures from the south side of the tracks. Likewise, don't walk to the east to the interlockings. If you don't have to have photos, however, the little used access road to Southeastern Steel just north and west of the crossing gives excellent viewing. This is a pretty nice location for train watchers, but not for photographers.
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Florence -- Amtrak Station. Florence was once one of the great nerve centers of the Atlantic Coast Line. It ranked right up there with Waycross, Georgia. With the ACL/SAL merger, however, Hamlet was retained as a major terminal, and Florence was significantly downgraded. As you stand at the Amtrak platform and look east, you see much more physical plant than seems necessary, but that's not to denigrate the fact that Florence is still quite important, and there are lots of trains to be seen here.
As you come in from the east, you just want to get up to the yard and see the action. Forget it. Just come into the eastern edge of town via US-301, and after crossing the first set of tracks, go north on Cromwell Drive. You'll dead end at Day Street, and you want to take a left. Day will parallel the southern edge of the yard all the way to the big, impressive ex-ACL station, which is now some administrative offices of the McLeod Medical Center (which seems to take up about 80% of the entire metropolitan area!). There is really nothing to see, railroad-wise, from Day, but at least you'll be close to some tracks. At the big station, just continue west, and the new Amtrak station is just to the west.
The Amtrak station is nice -- really nice. It's clean, modern, functional, and a credit to Florence and Amtrak. If only more Amtrak stations were so nice. Need I point out that about 100% of all the action thru Florence passes by just north of the platform? This is THE place to watch trains downtown. You are 292.7 miles south of the James River in Richmond, Virginia.
To continue the tour southward, you need to go to the Florence - Charleston section, which is here.