Piedmont Division
Yadkin Branch -- The N-Line
Introduction:
Contrary to most tours that Frograil does, this is not a heavily traveled line. Indeed, it's a branch that is fairly short and largely unremarkable to those used to major trunk lines. However, it's my home stomping grounds, and on a drive between Albemarle and Salisbury not long ago (the first time I'd driven up there for several months), it was obvious that the branch's traffic was thriving. Well, if I can drive several hundred miles to do a tour, I can certainly do one that's only 15 miles from my house. This is an easy tour, and a great one for the beginning railfan photographer. It's also a fine place for a dad or grandpa to bring a brand-new railfan.
For further information about the line, go here, but in the meantime, let me just say that this branch is the ex-Yadkin Railroad, which is not to be confused with today's Yadkin Valley Railroad. If you are visiting Stanly County, or are just curious about Frograil's home county, visit my Stanly County pages by clicking the Stanly County button at the top of any Frograil page.
Contents And Navigation
About This Tour:
WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE: From a particular starting point, each segment of this coverage will allow you to follow the instructions given, drive to a railfan site, then to the next, etc. etc. Traffic levels and patterns will be given, and the photographic/ lighting considerations for each site will usually be mentioned. You'll be told about area attractions, such as tourist and historic sites, as well as restaurants which are trackside or otherwise worthy of note.
WHAT YOU WILL NOT FIND HERE: This is a railfan guide, not a photo collection. There are already many excellent and enjoyable railroad photo sites available, and one more really wouldn't add much value to the general railfan. Besides, photos take up a lot of memory, and your humble Webmaster has to pay for memory.
You will also not find fancy graphics, as this is a tour guide, not an exhibition of HTML or graphics expertise. You'll be able to load these pages quickly and print them without waiting a week for each page to print. Also, you'll conserve toner in the process.
Contributors:
Major contributors to this effort include:
Tony Hill, Webmaster and all content, unless otherwise noted.
Jeff Trull, current railroad operations information.
Train Gifs. All train gifs used within this tour are from the Ed Bindler's train gifs site, which is here.
Help
If you'd like to contribute to this, or any other tour, please contact me at webmaster@frograil.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:
Abbreviations
Mapwork
Photographic Considerations
Railroad -- General
Railroad -- Geography
Railroad -- Operations
Railroad -- Traffic
Security
The Railroad -- General. This is the Yadkin Railroad that, under the auspices of the Southern Railway, built south from Salisbury to Albemarle and down to Norwood in the 1890-1891 time frame. This railroad opened up Stanly County to the outside world. The Albemarle - Norwood leg has been gone for several decades, but the Salisbury - Albemarle leg has been intact up until recently. As of now, the railroad extends from Salisbury to just south of Halls Ferry Junction in the New London area. Albemarle has paved over the crossings of the railroad throughout the city, so the line is effectively abandoned south of the area of the junction.
Included in this tour is the trackage from Halls Ferry Junction over to Whitney and then south into the remains of Alcoa's Badin works. The plant ceased smelting operations in 2002, but still works with ingots, and generates in and out rail traffic. This trackage is owned and maintained by Alcoa, but has been operated by NS and it's predecessors for the entire life of the plant. It is a markedly different piece of railroad than the Yadkin Branch, per se. In this write-up, I'll refer to this trackage as the Alcoa branch, but please realize there is no such formal Branch on NS.
As of February and March of 2004, Norfolk Southern is in the process of upgrading the entire line from 10mph operation to 25mph. This is good for the railroad, but not for fans, as the 10mph operation has been a joy to photograph.
The Railroad -- Geography. From Salisbury to Halls Ferry Junction, the railroad uses plenty of curves to avoid hills, and is fairly successful in doing so. There are no significant elevation gains or losses throughout the length of the line. However, the curves take their toll, and contribute to slow speeds. The Alcoa branch is far different once it begins to approach the Yadkin/Pee Dee River valley, as the contour of the land is very convoluted near the river.
The Railroad -- Operations. There are two locals that work the branch (as of March 2004). P91 is based at the Badin works, and comes on duty about 8AM. It works the plant and then goes over the Alcoa branch to work Halls Ferry Junction, and then turns to head back to Badin. P91 will also work the Stalite plant at Gold Hill when needed.
P92 comes on duty at 7PM, because of the track work underway along the Branch. It is expected that the P92 will go back to a morning schedule when the track work is completed. Note that P92 works out of the old Salisbury yard, not Linwood Yard. It works down to Halls Ferry Junction and turns, but will only work to Gold Hill if there is no work at the Junction. Note that both locals will work the Stalite plant in Gold Hill.
Jeff Trull has contributed the information on these locals.
The Railroad -- Traffic. Just a few years ago, the major commodity on the line was alumina heading towards the Alcoa smelter at Badin. When the Badin Works closed in 2002, that traffic completely disappeared, and it looked like the line would implode. Quite the opposite has happened. Dimensional lumber shipments have been steadily growing in recent years, especially at the facility north of Gold Hill, and at the Universal Forest Products facility in New London. The Southeastern Pipe facility, a manufacturer of PVC pipe products, has grown from zero to 120mph in a very short time, and there is a steady stream of covered hoppers in and out of the plant. This includes a Storage-in-Transit group of cars that never seems to disappear. The re-opening of the wood yard north of Gold Hill by Edwards Lumber Company has been a real blessing, and the steady stream of aggregates leaving the Stalite plant in the Gold Hill area have also contributed.
Mapwork: Some 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.
Photography Ratings: I'm now including photo ratings for crossings. Please note that these ratings are my opinion of the photographic field available for pictures, rather than a subjective rating of photogenic/artistic characteristics of the site. All four quadrants of the crossing are evaluated, clockwise, from NE to NW. Each is rated from 1 to 4, with 1 being excellent and 4 being non-existent, either because of a severe drop off, wall of trees, private property, etc. An example would be NE4, SE1, SW3, NW3. This would be a fairly poor location except for AM shots from the southeast quadrant, which should be pretty wide open.
In areas where there is no crossing, ratings are based on the compass, e.g., S3 would refer to the south side of the tracks with fair-poor photo potential.
Security. This is as safe and secure a railfan area as you will find anywhere, with the exception of a small area south of Yadkin Junction in Salisbury. However, a train going 10mph can kill you just as dead as one going 60mph, so keep your wits about you and concentrate on railfanning in the active sense. Also, there are bad actors everywhere, so, in all railfan outings, you are encouraged to have at least one male buddy with you.
Abbreviations. Some phrases are used repeatedly in this tour, so I've developed some standard Frograil abbreviations:
AG. An at-grade crossing. This is not used in this tour, because all crossings are at grade.
NAG. A not-at-grade crossing. Unless I mention otherwise, these are usually not worth the time and trouble to drive to them. This is not used in this tour, because all crossings are at grade.
NARL. Not a railfan location. This is because of any number of reasons, such as lousy photo ops, dangerous, no shoulder on a NAG bridge, etc. As a general rule of thumb, it is wise to avoid NARL's.
SIT. Storage in Transit. Either empty or loaded cars that are pre-positioned in anticipation of their need by specific customers.
WEBMASTER'S NOTE: I do not recommend, or even condone, walking along the tracks, as this means trespassing or 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.
Railfan sites:
The Tour
Salisbury -- Yadkin Junction. From US-52 heading north in to Salisbury, take a left onto South Long Street. When Long starts to veer southward, take a right onto East Monroe Street, and then a left onto Railroad Street. You'll pass the serene National Cemetery (take a moment and thank them for their sacrifice on your behalf), go down a hill and then uphill past the Cone Mills plant to a parking lot on the right between you and the tracks. This Cone Mills plant is defunct, so you'll be able to enjoy good parking any time. Be aware, however, that this is not Beverly Hills, and you should definitely have a male buddy with you in this area.
That said, you can set up your lawn chairs and coolers here and see the NS Piedmont Division in action, but you'll miss the traffic to and from the S-Line to the north of you via the wye downtown.
The view from the south is S1 well east and west of the "Yadkin Jct" sign. The view from the north is a miserable N4, and you have no need to try to walk across the tracks for a good picture from the north. We'll now do a box and step series of turns to keep up with a diagonal rail line. Speeds, even at the new 25mph are not so fast that you'll miss the action, so just sit back and take it as it comes. You'll have plenty of photo ops along the way. You are at MP 0.0 of the Yadkin Branch.
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Salisbury -- Boundary Street. To follow the Branch south, continue west on Railroad to a left to go south on Crawford Street. You're entering a lower middle class area that is an old mill town area. Note the style and sizes of the old houses. Incidentally, in this area, MapQuest shows several crossings of the Piedmont Division main line, but almost none of them exist any more. You can tack over and down to try to get close to the tracks, but it won't do you any good. Therefore, just continue down Crawford to a T at Boundary Street. Take a right, and you'll very shortly reach a crossing with the tracks. Park on the right past the tracks and walk back to them. Photo ratings are NE3, SE2, SW1, NW1.
The industry on the southwest corner is interesting, as there is an elderly 80' (?) box car sitting at the end of a spur which does not appear to be use. I don't know it the car is in revenue service, used for storage, or there for some other purpose. Further research is needed, obviously. The car is worth a picture. The southeast quad is filled with athletic fields, and you can get a good picture over the top of the fields -- an artistic shot, indeed. A weed whacker would be helpful on the northwest quadrant.
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Salisbury -- Lutheran Synod Drive. Continue west on Boundary Street all the way to Klumac Road. Take a left and head south towards US-601 and I-95. You'll pass an area shown on MapQuest as Divinity Drive and Trinity Oaks Drive that appears to contain a crossing, but it is a large office and housing area for the Lutheran Synod, and you really don't want to try to get trackside through this area. Continue south on Klumac until just before the light at US-601, and take a left onto Lutheran Synod Drive.
MapQuest shows this road taking you to a left on Dolly Madison, which still exists. However, Dolly Madison goes on the west side of an old industrial complex, and the tracks are to the east of the buildings. The street just peters out at the north end of the plant, at a truck turnaround. There is no connection with any street coming out of the area of the Lutheran Synod, although you can see their condos/apartments thru the trees to the west. In the summer, you probably wouldn't be able to see them.
Since Dolly Madison won't do you any good, continue towards the tracks on Lutheran Synod Drive. There is a crossing immediately to the north of a big I-95 overpass of the tracks. I rate both southern quads as 4's because of the noise and construction work going on. When that is done, however, there is quite a bit of open area south of the tracks, and they will be worth photographic consideration. East of the tracks is a moving and storage facility, and you can get good pix from there. Since there is just one train to shoot, you'll be there just a short time, and won't be in their way. Watch out for big trucks, however. The NW quad is a fair-poor 3.
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Salisbury -- Morlan Park Road. Backtrack out to Klumac and turn left and go one block to the traffic lights at US-601/Jake Alexander Boulevard. Take a right, go over I-85, and continue on Jake Alexander to Old Concord Road. You can take a right and go north to the tracks here, but it's NARL. Likewise, as you continue now easterly on Jake Alexander, you'll cross the tracks on a NARL. Just past this crossing, however, take a right onto Morlan Park Road, and you'll shortly be treated to a very nice view of the tracks to the southwest. The tracks are NW - SE in orientation now, and you'll find light to be tough for pix, but the viewing is excellent in many places.
From the southwest side of the tracks there are mostly private homes, but there are also three streets that will give you excellent northeast views; just remember that the train is generally going northwest in the late afternoon. All that said, a good photographer can put together a fine shot thru here.
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Salisbury -- Dogwood Lane. Head further southeast on Morlan Park Road. You'll come to the intersection with Dogwood Lane, and should take a right. Unlike the previous location, this one gives excellent views from the southwest: NE3, SE2,SW1, NW3. Take these compass directions with a grain of salt, as the tracks are almost at a dead northwest - southeast bias here. Just to the south of the crossing is the MP-3 mile marker.
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Granite Quarry -- Main Street. Continuing on southeast via Morlan Park Road, and you'll go past Mirror Park Drive (NARL), then T at Faith Road. Take a right to go south on Faith, go over the NARL crossing, and continue on to a left onto Old 80 Road. We are now well out of Salisbury, and heading fast towards Granite Quarry. [Webmaster's note: There are all kinds of strange lines that look like roads on MapQuest. If I don't give you instructions via such and such a road, and you see another road that obviously crosses the tracks, it probably doesn't exist.] So fast, indeed, that you'll probably miss the point at which Old 80 Road becomes Main Street all the way thru town. One thing you will notice from here south into Stanly County is that there are new houses everywhere, from small singlewides up to very large "stick built" homes. These quiet country roads are no longer very quiet, so be careful out there.
The streets in Granite Quarry are laid out as if the founding fathers knew there was a railroad in the area! Main Street follows the tracks thru town on the southwest, and the new US-52 is on the north. US-52 is a relatively new road, and it also follows the tracks, but crudely so. There are some interesting railfan areas and locations in the small town, and they are mostly downtown. As you enter town via Main Street, East Kerns Street goes off to the left and a crossing, but it is NARL. A little further south, in the North Oak Street area used to sit the Granite City depot. It was moved from trackside to a place by a park at North Oak Street, but has been since re- removed to Dan Nicholas Park in the eastern park of Rowan County.
To the north of Main Street, you're too close for photos, so park and walk along the sidewalk south of the street. You'll have wide open access across the street to the tracks. Likewise, there are several buildings north of the tracks that have rear parking lots, and they provide excellent access, but the lighting is more challenging.
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Granite Quarry -- Railroad Street. Southeast of the center of town, Main and US-52 both diverge from the tracks, so take a left from Main Street to go over the tracks either via Lyerly or Depot street, and then take a right onto Railroad Street. Viewing to the south all along Railroad is excellent, but you're looking into the sun all day. From the south on Main, you've got excellent viewing in the vicinity of Depot Street, but it falls off rapidly from there. You can run up from Main via Walton Street, but the viewing is schlecht, and not worth the gas or time.
We now head back into the countryside.
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Crescent. Get back on Main Street, and continue southeast out of Granite City. You'll go pretty much straight south-southeast, and the tracks will take a broad arc to the southeast and then southwest, and eventually catch up to you at a point well southeast of Granite Quarry. Well before this point, however, you'll come to a fork whereby Main Street will peel off to the left, and Coley Road will veer to the right. Keep left and slow down, as the long-gone branch from the "main line" over to Balfour Quarry crossed Main Street just south of this intersection. You have to know it is there, but if you're alert, you'll definitely see the remains of the branch's grade.
The crossing with the "main line" is NARL, but continue straight ahead, and you'll T at US-52. Directly across the highway is a new agricultural enterprise, the "Old Stone Vineyard and Winery". In the interest of railfan tour completeness, I was forced to visit this winery, and had to sample a few of their muscadine-based wines. The folks are very nice, and they are working hard, so if you get a chance, do stop in and patronize these local hard-working folks.
Go south on US-52 all the way to a right onto Stone Road. This will cross the tracks on a NARL and then you should take a left on Pop Basinger Road, which will go straight south to a T at Crescent Road. Take a left and head east towards the Crescent Community. Just before you get to the tracks, you'll see Red Road go off to your right. Don't take it, but keep it in the back of your mind, as we'll head south from Crescent via Red, after we've scouted out the area. Photo ratings of the Crescent Road crossing are NE4, SE3, SW1, NW2. This area is called "Crescent" by both MapQuest and DeLorme.
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Rockwell -- Red Road. Obviously, this road was engineered by a railfan!. Go back west of the Crescent crossing, and take a left to head south on Red Road. While you'll pass some NARL crossings at Wilcoy Road, Earl, and GOK whatever other roads, the basic west to east viewing from Red Road is excellent. One spot in particular to look out for is in the vicinity of the MP-9 area where chemical tank cars and covered hoppers are delivered. There is a "ferrous sulphite" sign in the area, but I don't know the chemical ins and outs of what must be delivered here. Viewing from the west side of the road, across the road both north and south, is excellent, but trying to get pix between the east side of the road and the railroad won't work.
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Rockwell -- Link Road. Red Road will end at a T with Link Road. Take a left and go over the tracks, and park to your right just beyond the tracks. Moses Street goes north just east of the crossing, and excellent shots can be had from that quiet road. Overall, the photo ratings are NE1, SE3, SW4, NW4. It's much better than the photo ratings would imply, as the northeast quad can get you virtually everything in the morning.
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Rockwell -- China Grove Road. Continue east on Link Road to a T at US-52, and take a right to head south. Pass Crescent Street, which dead ends at a NARL, and then take a right onto Shinn. You'll cross the tracks on a NARL, and then take a left onto NC-152/China Grove Road. As this street swings back to the east to cross the tracks, it gets interesting. Cross the tracks and park to the right. There are a few things worthy of note here. The grain/feed/seed retailer on the northeast quad is very photogenic, and afternoon northbounds can be worked in easily. The train gif above this paragraph was drawn by Dave Hersrud from photographs.
Here are the photo ratings at the crossing, complete with editorial comments: NE3, SE1 (if the gravel and other detritus gets picked up and removed), SW1 (from Railroad Street (?west?)), NW 3 (but becomes NW1 if you walk about 30 yards to the north).
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Rockwell -- Depot Street. [Warning: Depot Street is probably the busiest street in Rockwell, so be alert.] Go south on Railroad Street (West? There is no street sign.) to Depot Street, or go further east on China Grove/NC-152 to US-52. Take a right at the latter, and then take a right onto Depot Street. There is a short siding that starts are the China Grove Road crossing, and ends here. You might see some dimensional lumber cars here, but the siding has been mostly empty for the recent past. Here are the photo ratings: NE1, SE4, SW1, NW3. As is the case with other locations on this line recently, there are stacks of old ties at the NE quad, but I expect them to be picked up fairly shortly.
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Rockwell -- Station. Here's a short side trip for you railroad station fans, although you'll be saddened by the condition the building is in. From the crossing at Depot Street, go south until you see a road diverging to the right. This is Lower Stone Church Road. Take it, and at the top of the first hill, take another right onto Cal Miller Road. The Rockwell station building has been moved into a lot on this street. Look for it on the left. If you get to Cannon Street, you've gone too far. The lot the building stands in is well maintained (mown, not bush hogged), but the building is in execrable condition. Get your photos now, because it will shortly be too late.
This information is courtesy of Andy Purser, and is current as of March, 2005.
Rockwell -- Emanuel Church Road. Head back out to US-52, take a right and head south. At Emanuel Church Road, take a right to head back towards the tracks. Park just to the east of the crossing. The photo ratings are: NE4, SE4, SW3, NW1. Pretty dismal, except that the northwest quad follows Liberty Road north, and you can get excellent afternoon shots virtually any time past noon.
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Rockwell -- Johnson Dairy Road. Rather than going back to US-52, continue west on Emanuel Church Road. This will meander about after closely following the tracks, and you should pay attention as you get close to crossing a significant creek. In the winter, you can look to the southeast and see the black superstructure of the trestle over the creek, but you're too far away to see any details. Other than via helicopter or hoofing it, there's no way to get to the trestle.
When you get to Johnson Dairy Road, take a left and drive back to the east. On your way to the crossing, you'll see the darndest house I've ever seen in my life. It will be on your left, and you won't have any doubts about what I'm talking about when you see it.
At first glance, the crossing is NARL, but if you get out and walk around a bit, you'll soon see that it's really a very good one, at NE1, SE1, SW4, NW1. Understand that you'll have to walk around a bit, and be careful to not trespass, but you'll have no trouble getting unobstructed views most of the time.
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Rockwell -- Zion Church Road. Johnson Dairy Road will take you out to US-52, and you should take a right to continue the tour to the south. You'll shortly come to Gin Road which crosses the tracks, but it's NARL, so just continue on to a right onto Zion Church Road. This is an easy right turn going south on US-52, but a bearcat if you're going north. The crossing itself is NARL, but the customer is worth checking out. There are usually 4-8 centerbeam cars here, and they turn over fast. This is a dimensional lumber re-load outfit, and they are doing one heck of a business. Getting a picture here will require you to check in at the office, and they are so busy that permission may not be granted.
On the southeast quadrant of the crossing is a pond and a pasture with miniature goats in it. If you've never seen these little creatures, you should take a moment to do so. They are tiny, with the youngest looking like a fuzzy ball with a few little legs. They are really cute.
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Gold Hill -- Perlite Plants. As you continue south on US-52, you'll see a fair-sized industrial building on your right, with a spur leading to the right of it. This area is a source of perlite, and this plant is the older of two in the area. It is very common to see a CSX covered hopped or two at this plant. I've never seen an NS or any other non-CSX family's cars at this plant. Just to the south via US-52, you'll see a driveway to the west. This is now a concrete entrance, and obviously sees quite a bit of business. You will also see the MP 16 sign at about the entry to the new plant. Take this right and drive down to the newer of the two perlite plants (it was built about 2000). This is a nice, clean, industrial facility, and usually has 1-2 cars at it. Don't drive down towards the plant itself, as that is blatant and unnecessary trespassing.
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Gold Hill. Just to the south of the perlite plants, the hamlet of Gold Hill is encountered. There isn't much left here to indicate the interesting past of this area, but you'll be educated if you explore the area west of the tracks. In years gone by, there was gold mining and copper mining on a big scale here. Today, there are a park, trail, and old village that are worth the time for a short visit. If you find the trail, you're on an old roadbed.
Along US-52 there remains a siding, and it often sees dimensional lumber and other cars awaiting forwarding. MP 15 is visible to the north of the crossing.
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Gold Hill -- Stalite. To the south of Gold Hill, if you look closely, you'll see a spur coming in from your right. This is the lead up to the Carolina Stalite aggregates plant. Continue a short distance to the crossroads with Old Beatty Ford Road. Take a right and go past the brick plant and the first couple of entrances to Stalite, and then do a U-turn at the entrance to the Vulcan Materials plant. In the vicinity of where the railroad crosses the road, find a low-key place to park. There is an excellent viewing area north of the road and east of the tracks, but you must know when the train is switching to make it worthwhile. To the south, you can see the big front end loader filling up anywhere between 3 and 15 hoppers with aggregate.
Besides the Stalite plant, there is a Vulcan Materials unit immediately north of the former. As you can imagine, there is an excessive amount of heavy truck traffic all day, so be alert.
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Gold Hill -- Wood Yard. To get to the next location, you've got a couple of options, neither of which is particularly good. You can go back down Old Beatty Ford to US-52, and then go the short distance to the wood yard and take a right into the plant, and check in at the office. Good luck, as there are lots of industrial strength items zooming around in the lot, and they really don't want to worry about tourists. Alternatively, you can go back towards US-52 from Stalite, and take a right onto Old 80 Road. This will take you along the back side of the tracks, and skirt the wood yard. You can park at the south end of the wood yard and walk back towards it, but you have to be careful to stay off railroad property. Note that theMP 17 sign is visible along here.
Well, I just have to tell you that you've got to have faith. Just a few years ago, the operator of this wood yard closed it and locked the gate. This was a serious railroad customer, and the loss of this traffic was a blow to the branch. Imagine my joy in seeing the yard open just a few months ago. In February 2004, I got back up there, and was doubly pleased to see that it was operating as the Gold Hill facility of the Edwards Lumber Company. Please note that anything Edwards does is 1st class, and I suspect this wood lot will be the same. This should be a good business generator for NS for the foreseeable future.
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Misenheimer -- Glenmore Road. As you come into the Misenheimer area on US-52 southbound, the first road is Glenmore Road to the right. Take this and park on the northeast quadrant. The photo ratings are NE4, SE1, SW1, NW2; all in all pretty good. This is probably the most open crossing for photos since well north of here. Cross the tracks and park off of Lions Club Road, and you're on a superb photo field area. Just hope for a train in early afternoon light.
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Misenheimer -- Wesley Chapel Road. Further south on US-52, you'll come to Wesley Chapel Road. Take a right and go up to the crossing with the following photo ratings: NE2, SE1, SW1, NW1. As you can see, this one is pretty wide open. At this crossing, you'll want to shoot the northwest quad from the mini-storage area, and the southwest quad from the driveway. You'll see MP 19 just to the south of this crossing.
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Misenheimer -- Pfieffer University Campus. Misenheimer is a college town; indeed, there's not much here except the college. The tracks make a fairly broad arc in front of the university's structures, and there is a broad lawn to the west of the tracks. If you can't get nice pix here of trains traveling at 10mph, then you might want to turn in your camera for minnows or worm baits.
However, before you set up your lawn chairs and crank your scanners up, check in with the campus police, just to make sure everything is cool, and all know what everyone is doing. You will only have 2 picture ops per day here, so you want to make sure everything is cool before the train comes creaking thru at 10 mph. When the speed limit is increased to 25mph, this will probably not affect the slow speed thru the campus, because there are so many pedestrians.
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Misenheimer -- South Campus. I don't usually make reference to spots that true photographers might be interested in, but here is one. As you go south from the Pfieffer campus, the grounds between US-52 and the railroad are manicured. There is a stretch of crepe myrtles that I personally cannot photograph around. However, I believe that a true photographer can do great things here. Imagine a train behind a screen of beautiful crepes in full late summer bloom. You could do a panoramic shot from across US-52, or a more close up approach from between the trees and the tracks.
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Richfield -- Station Area. As you leave Misenheimer, you'll pass MP-20 and very shortly enter the town of Richfield. Before detailing the area where the station was (and telling you where it is now), let me point out that there is good life support in Richfield, at the intersection of US-52 and NC-49. There is a nice Food Lion supermarket, gas, plenty of restaurants (Wendy's, Chinese joint, pizza joint, Vern's, and the Motel Restaurant), and a drug store. As far as restaurants are concerned, you can't beat the Motel Restaurant. Its hours are 0600-1400, and for less than 5 bucks, you get meat and 2 vegetables, rolls or corn bread, and all the coffee or tea you can drink. Good country cafe cooking.
The crossing at NC-49 is very busy and noisy, and the sight lines are lousy -- it's NARL. Just continue south on US-52 to the traffic light after NC-49, which is Millingport Road to the right. Take this right almost to the tracks and turn left on the remnants of a gravel road that used to lead to the tiny station. For pictures of the movement of the station, as well as a discussion about the events that took place prior to the move, go here. Just north of the station area is MP-21.
As of February 2004, the station area has gotten fairly overgrown on all quads of the crossing, so I consider it to be NARL, as there are much better places north and south of here.
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Richfield -- Finch Road. One "much better" location will be our next stop. Get back out to US-52, and continue south past Cemetery and Rhea streets, both NARL. Watch for Finch Road on the right, and take it to cross the tracks, and then turn 90° to the left to follow them for several hundred yards. All along here you have a virtually perfect view from west of the tracks, but solid woods form the east side of them. Finch takes another 90° turn to the left to re-cross the tracks and head back to US-52, so you can get east of the tracks at either crossing, but it's the view from the west that is excellent.
As you head back east towards US-52, you'll pass a real Stanly County eyesore, and then reach Galloway's 4-wheel drive garage and store. As one guy remarked when he entered the store for the first time: "My God, I'm in redneck Heaven!" That said, there is no excuse for the junk behind the store area, and Lester Galloway should clean it up or at least put a decent screening fence around it.
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New London -- Steakhouse Road. Continuing south on US-52, pass Danville Road (NARL) at the Clayton Homes plant, and you'll note that this area is one of the rare places in Stanly County where the railroad is well away from the highway. It makes a semi-circle behind Clayton Homes and Patrick Industries, and comes close again as you get into the New London area. Take a right at Steakhouse Road and park. NE2, SE4, SW4, NE2. With a little weed whacker work, you can get the train coming off that curve, with pretty nice results.
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New London -- Halls Ferry Junction. Further south on US-52, you'll see the railroad next to you in a treed in area, and then you'll reach Mauney's feed mill and store (Mauney's is pronounced "Moonies"). Take a right onto Henderson/Austin Road, and park just about anywhere. Be aware that Austin Road, which goes off to the south just past the tracks, is a very busy local road, especially before and after school hours, as North Stanly High School is across US-52 from this area. Keep your wits about you here. Views from the north are fairly poor, at NE4 because of the mill area, and NW3 because of trees.
The junction itself has the frog just north of Henderson Road, and the branch over to Whitney and Badin is nicely photographed from the SE quadrant of the crossing. You can also shoot from the SW quad, but be mindful of Austin Road's traffic. We will explore the Alcoa line after we're thru with this location and the next.
A surprising amount of classification takes place here. There are only 2 tracks south of the junction (the "main" and a siding), and everything going to Badin, the industries south of here, SIT, and the traffic to go back north has to be sorted out. I cannot imagine why NS doesn't put another track in between Henderson and Random roads, but either the cost isn't justified or the railroad property is too narrow. I can tell you that the railroad crew really works hard to get everything together. It's very interesting to see them do their thing.
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New London -- Random Drive. Following US-52 south, you'll see railroad cars behind the houses, but there is no public access until you get to the end of the siding at Random Drive.
Once at Random Drive, take a right and find an area not on private property to park. There are 2 major customers at this location. North of the street is a Universal Forest Products facility that makes trusses and other things out of dimensional lumber. They receive several cars a week, all of which are either centerbeam flats or older, large boxes. Most of the boxes are Canadian National cars. The other customer is south of the road, and is the Southeastern Pipe Company. They make PVC piping, and do quite a business, sending out truckload after truckload. They receive several covered hoppers of plastic pellets a week, and they also appear to have a constant supply of SIT cars in the siding. The large Fiber Composites plant does not receive or ship by rail.
There is plenty of off-private property area along the road east of the tracks, and you can also be OK west of them, but be mindful of the heavy truck traffic in the area. As you can imagine, there is a lot of classification work done here at the south end of the siding.
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Albemarle -- Rock Creek Park. From here south to Albemarle, the railroad sees no traffic. All crossings in Albemarle have been ripped out and paved over. For those history buffs out there, you can actually take a one mile hike on the roadbed that used to be part of the Albemarle - Norwood portion of the line. Continue on US-52, and follow the signs, as it is a by-pass. When you go over the Winston-Salem Southbound and take a right to follow the highway south, you'll come down to a stoplight. Just south of the stoplight is the entrance to Rock Creek Park. Immediately inside the park, take a left and park. Walk due south along this road, pass the Parks & Recreation office and work area, and you'll come to a very popular trail. From where you parked, you've been on the route of the Yadkin Railroad put down in 1891 on its way to Norwood. You'll see the Southbound thru the park to the west, on a pretty impressive fill. Once past the built-up park area, the trail is obviously an old roadbed, and it's a charming walk back into history.
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Alcoa Branch to Whitney and Badin
From the Random Drive area, head north on US-52 past the high school to a right on Gene Road. You will see Hubert Road off to your right before you get to the high school, and MapQuest shows it as going thru, but it is a road from hell, and it ends at a private farm. We are now going to head into the countryside of Stanly County. We'll see farms, some forest almost primeval, a big lake, and an aluminum smelter, all within a relatively few miles.
Mountain Creek Road. Follow Gene Road until it ends at Hearn Road. Take a right and follow Hearn south thru a 90° turn to the right, but the road remains Hearn Road. Hearn will end at Mountain Creek Road. Turn left. Shortly after passing Tower Road (can you guess why it's named Tower Road?) you'll see the railroad begin to come in from your left. It will get closer and closer to the road. Just before the railroad crosses the street, there is a nice photo op to the north across a small farm field, but there is a problem. There are virtually no shoulders here, because Mountain Creek is an old road hemmed in between farm fields. You might want to park at the farm house lane just before the train arrives, take your photo, and then split. A better approach would be to drive to the next site and walk back to the crossing, as it's not very far -- probably about 1/2 mile. Be careful next to the road along here, or you'll find yourself in a farmer's field, which is a definite no-no for a railfan to commit.
Also just prior to the crossing itself is the MP-3 marker.
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NC-740. Just beyond the Mountain Creek Road, you'll come to a stop sign at NC-740. Be aware that the latter is no country lane; it's a very busy road, and carries a lot of truck traffic related to the Badin Works. Take a right and cross the tracks, then park immediately past them on the right. This is a small area, and if you're going too fast, you won't be able to park in the right place, and will have to do it all over again, as there is nowhere else to park. Here are the photo ratings: NE4, SE2, SW1, NW2.
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Yadkin Brick Company. Further on NC-740, take the first real left onto Yadkin Brick Road. This will take you thru an area known as Isenhour, and then to a crossing. Cross the tracks and pass the office building on your right, and take a right once past this building. This will take you back to the road that used to lead into the plant. The plant itself was closed several years ago, and is in a genteel state of decrepitness. When the wind blows and the steel sheathing clangs and creaks, it's pretty eerie.
There is a large lawn and parking area on the north of the tracks, and the ex-loading dock gives good viewing from the south. Be careful south of the tracks, because there is a lot of debris. Take your picture and get back on the north side. This is an interesting photo location.
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Whitney. This is probably the coolest point on this entire tour. Not just because of what is, but also because of what was. Back in the early 20th Century, the Yadkin Railroad had been built from Salisbury to Albemarle and Norwood, and in the 1910 time frame, another railroad was built from Winston-Salem to Wadesboro (go here for much more detail on the history of these rail lines) and both lines were very interested in tapping the newly a-building aluminum smelter's output. You have to remember that there were no roads or trucks or autos anywhere in the area, so the workers lived in Whitney and got to their job sites by train. There was a lot of construction going on: Constructing the aluminum plant, a railroad to connect to the plant and both the Yadkin and WSSB railroads, and a major dam. Thus was a railroad constructed from Whitney down to the area of the smelter. Back then, Whitney was certainly the busiest rail location in Stanly County, and you can read about it here.
There must have been several hundred persons living in Whitney, but when you get there, you'll not see a trace of civilization from years past. It is my speculation that the site of Whitney is now below the surface of the lake. The roadbed of the WSSB and the Alcoa branch are obviously constructed on raised earthen causeways.
So, to get back to the present: From the Yadkin Brick plant's office building, turn around and head back to Yadkin Brick Road, take a right and continue all the way to a T at the Old Whitney Road. Take a right, and follow it all the way to the Yadkin, Inc., boat launch parking lot (a big parking lot -- like they are expecting a Super Bowl overflow crowd here, maybe?). Drive to the southeast corner of the lot and walk towards the lake. The tracks on the west bank of the lake are those of the WSSB, with the Alcoa branch coming in behind you on the right. At the far southeast corner of the parking lot, there is a crossing, with the Alcoa branch going out over the lake on a causeway to the east. To the south, the Alcoa branch has a connector to the siding track of the WSSB which starts just south of the crossing area.
At the crossing itself, all four quadrants are protected by stop signs. WSSB normally goes thru at 0-dark-30, but if it's late, you have a chance of actually seeing a rare meet as the P91 comes out of the plant area towards the interchange on its way to Halls Ferry Junction.
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Palmerville Views. Here's a site for the serious photographer. Go back out to NC-740 via the Old Whitney and Yadkin Brick roads, and take a left to head towards Badin. There is an overpass of the WSSB south of Barnhardt Road. Just before you get to Badin, take a left onto Palmerville Road. This is near the top of a hill, and you cannot really see on-coming traffic until it's in your lap, so be quick. You will eventually go thru the old community of Palmerville, and then you'll go down to the lake. You will see the lake on your right, and across the water, you'll clearly see the ballast of the Alcoa branch as it heads south towards the plant. Just before you get to the houses near the water, you'll see a sign for Yadkin, Inc (the outfit that maintains the lakes and shores along the Yadkin/Pee Dee River in the area), and a drive down to the water. Take the right, and you have an excellent photo field. You'll probably want to wait for P91 to return, as this is an afternoon photo location.
You can drive to the point where the road ends, and there is another street on your left, but you want to find a place to park and walk out to the water to get another view of the roadbed. This area gives an excellent, and slightly different appearance than did the previous viewpoint.
Some warnings: This is a largely seasonal area, and in the summer it is busy with kids, cars, boat trailers, etc. Do not park on private property or walk across it. Also, be aware that MapQuest is very wrong in this area, as it misspells "Palmeryville" and shows Palmerville Road extending out and eventually crossing the tracks, which it hasn't done for generations, if ever. DeLorme has it correctly depicted.
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Badin Works. Go back out the Palmerville Road to NC-740 and take a left. Again, watch for on-coming traffic carefully. You enter Badin as you cross the tracks. Take your first left past the tracks and park in the city beach/picnic park area. This is a great place to bring the whole family. There is also a boat launch just a little south of this area. The tracks have come in from the north, and just before crossing the road, they split to enter plant and yard trackage. There is a manned yard clerk's office in the southeast quadrant. If you continue south on NC-740, you'll pass the entire east side of the plant, and will find it hard to believe that it was Alcoa's smallest smelter -- it's pretty big. It was not unusual to see 60-100 cars of alumina per week delivered to the facility, all of which came via Salisbury and Halls Ferry Junction.
There is some loose boxcar traffic for ingots, but I cannot see how Alcoa will be able to afford keeping the track over to the junction operational, so I'd get my shots now, rather than later. You cannot enter the plant area.
This is the end of our tour, but I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you some things about Badin. The quintessential company town, it is nothing like the textile mill towns we see in the south. Indeed, I've never seen another town like it anywhere in America. The original builder of the plant was a French company, and the buildings are said to reflect the types of homes they had back "home". This makes sense, as the town definitely has a European look and feel to it, right down to the somewhat bizarre street layout. You'll want to walk around and see a truly unique American small town.
Another interesting thing about Badin is the fact that many thousands of acres are owned by Alcoa. These are primarily in timber today, and offer hunting, fishing, and hiking. The hunting is thru the Tallassee (sp?) Hunt Club, and is strictly controlled, so you'll have to contact them before attempting to hunt in the area.