The End Of The Line For The Southern Railway: Maiden, NC
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- čas přidán 23. 11. 2022
- The Carolina & Northwestern Railway (Ca&NW) was a railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina from 1897 until January 1, 1974. The original line was operated by the CA&NW as a separate railroad controlled by the Southern Railway until 1974 when the name was changed to the Norfolk Southern Railway. On June 1, 1982, Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railroad merged to form Norfolk Southern Railway. Choosing to use the name 'Norfolk Southern Railway' for the merger, in 1981, the original Ca&NW line along with original Norfolk Southern Railway was renamed Carolina and Northwestern once again. In the early 1950s several shortline subsidiaries of the Southern Railway were leased to the Ca&NW for operation, with these lines remaining a part of the Ca&NW into the 1980s.
Filmed And Edited: January 2nd 2022
It is so sad that many of the Short Line rails when down during recessions, and mostly when all the industry moved overseas. North Carolina is a prime example of that. when I was a young boy remember seeing steam locos pulling freight thru High Point, NC under the Southern Railroad. Also remember the stream liners pulling through High Point at the train station that went just under Main Street in High Point. My Daddy use to carry me to watch trains on Saturdays in High Point, NC and also in Norfolk, VA. But we my Dad got transferred by the Military to Jacksonville, NC, he would carry me to the rail yard that ran along US 17, the old Atlantic Coastline Railroad, in 1956. I remember one Saturday morning watching 2 different engines, one from Wilmington and the other from New Bern. but while waiting for the train to return back to Jacksonville from Camp Lejuene, Engine number 138 of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the engineer ask me and my Dad to come aboard this engine, I got to run the engine up and down the track a short distance, I was only 10 years old, It was the thrill of my lifetime. Now at 71 years old, I still love watching trains, It is a passtime and relaxation of my life from the ministry.
Thank you for your time and comment, I enjoyed reading. Very interesting! Thanks for watching!
@@blueridgerails Thank you for you kindness, I hope one day in the future, you become and engineer to a train and when you do, be sure and write me back, Many blessings to you.
@@revharrycwigmoreiii5787 same to you and hope you had a happy "late" Thanksgiving!
Back around 1998 I moved into Hickory and first learned of the C&NW back when the Cauldwell County Railroad had a CF7 in C&NW colors. Getting to know the owner and several people I was able to do several ride along and did some switching and track labor for them for a while. Learning about the C&NW was fun and tricky. Riding the line was always fun.Excellent video.
Cool! Thanks!
Thank you for covering this so well! We own property just a few hundred yards downstream from the fatal explosion, and you would not believe how much coal we still find in the creek on an almost daily basis. Sad in many ways, but proof that the past still lives on in the present!
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed.
I love the subject matter and many railfans, including friends and I, survey old lines like this but you took the time to record it…thank you. One critique: the data panels at the end of the video indexed too quickly and it would’ve been nice if the background photos were shown for several seconds without the comments obscuring the image. Good luck on your next adventure.
Thank you! I love documenting old lines such as this one. I will definitely add a few more seconds next time!
Great video. I often times research abandoned and out-of-service lines; they have always interested me. I've spent many idle hours looking on Google Maps at where railroads used to be, but there's no better way to find out a lot about a line really quickly than to watch a video about it. Thanks for going out there and creating this and posting it!
Back in the '70s and '80s, when many lines were ripped up, Norfolk Southern and its predecessor Southern seemed to have a different philosophy on eliminating their routes than Seaboard and CSX. NS/SOU seemed to rip up parts of its lines, and leave in place short remnant segments that had the potential to be useful in the future, or perhaps served only a customer or two at the time. Those segments met a variety of fates in the forty years since: some are productive, and others have deteriorated, like this one.
This line, along with the SB line from Marion on into South Carolina, were like many of the lines NS/SOU disposed of, in that they seemed to slowly fade into history, one piece at a time. That approach is a little better than the alternative; if this had belonged to the Seaboard System, the entire remaining Ca&NW line from York to Lenoir would have been ripped up all at once back in the early '80s and there'd be no evidence it ever existed. These rails may have seen their last train just as those Seaboard corridors have, but at least that practice gave these lines, and the communities they passed through, a chance to attract new industries.
So pretty much, at least here in North Carolina anyway, if anyone ever finds an overgrown or deteriorated old rail line, it was most likely a Southern Railway line. Almost anything abandoned by the Seaboard System became a path or a meadow long ago.
I also love to look at old lines on Google earth. It fascinates me also. Thanks for your time and comment, it was very interesting! Also Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed!
I have wanted to do a before/after photo book of my home state of Iowa's lost or abandoned railroads. It's sad, but interesting, to see the raised roadbeds and parallel lines of old trees standing in the middle of nowhere. Passersby might wonder about it, but railfans know what was once there. Now that I'm retired, maybe I can find time to attempt it.
That is sad. Once it is gone it will never come back.
It sure is. We hope for the best. But only time will tell.
Very Cool Video1 Thanks for posting and keep up the great work!!
Thanks!
Awesome video!
Thanks Jaw Tooth! This Comment means a lot, thanks for watching!
im from morganton.i saw a piece of that old rail while buying a car down that way...great vid
Cool! Thank you!
Nice job on the video I enjoyed it ,new to your channel. Keep up the job.
Thank you!
This is one item we don't have too much of in Wisconsin that being a rail banked line. Very thorough and well done and creative angles with the tracks in the trees. I'm in the other C&NW area and very little Northwestern ever made it to short line status. Well we do have some regionals but anything marginal is ripped up but I still like following those
Very cool! I'm glad we have this stuff here.
Ca&NW - I learn something new every day. I had heard of the C&NW, but that's a bit bigger and somewhere else.
If only we'd been able to record this sort of thing back in the 1960s in the way you have here . . .
Yes! I would have loved to see trains run this line back in the 60s and documented it, especially since there is hardly no info available.
@@blueridgerails A few enlightened individuals recorded some offbeat items, but the class1 roads had the glamorous stuff, received the attention.
@@EllieMaes-Grandad there's some footage of the HG line north of Hickory also, that is worth a watch.
C&NW was the new name given to the original Norfolk Southern Railway so the name could be freed up and used for the modern NS.
@@93greenstrat yep!
Great video and channel just subscribed
Thanks! I hope you enjoy!
I know a few people who were trying to get this line opened back up to service the "Lincolnton" ( ;) ) industrial park however the town of Maiden didnt want anything to do with them coming back through so the idea was abandoned. I grew up about 4 miles away from the end of the line and have often throught of doing a full line video showing as many areas as possible of where the line went through Lincolnton and down into Gastonia.
I wish they would come back, the industrial park would really benefit from it. I don't see why the town of Maiden won't let them, that is just stupid. But I would definitely watch the video if you did one!!
@blueridgerails Norfolk southern also said oyama couldn't handle the cars but every time I go by the yard the yard is empty
Had 3 sou. rs3 in g scale m.u. with smoke generators going pulling 100 + frieght up 7% grade on friends outdoor layout with sou. critter pushing! Impressive!! 😎
Cool! Thanks!
My buddy died '04, aristocraft went belly up. Exspensive hobby, gave all away to my best friend's son. Going back into 3ft narrow ga. Next spring. With Crown live steamer been reconditioned. 🙋 Meet up with our trainmaster this Thursday after v.a. med. appt. 😬
😢 I wish we would get to see railroad traffic again rather than going to places by car or bus.
We do too!
Love this footage, thank you! Especially enjoy the second bridge details, really nice trestle work. Not sure the sound track adds anything to the presentation.
Thanks for watching!
I love the soundtrack! Great choice.
Very informative 👍
Thank you!
Loved the video! Was originally the Chester and Lenoir Railroad.
Thanks! Yep
This line if connect to the Lincolnton, it can be another Amtrak line from Asheville direct to Charlotte !
Possibly!!
Loved going up the line out of Gastonia up past Dallas to Webb metals. Only gotnto go a handful of times before it was abandoned now only the south end of the hg line exists and they are wanting it gone also
Very cool!
Very nice video !!!!!!
Thank you!
The railroad will pull up the railroad and abandon it and guess who will be the first to complain? The businesses with spurs going into their property that they didn’t use but kept as a hedge against truckers who would fleece them. Now they’re going to pay for that practice.
Yep, we are hoping they resume rail service here.
Happened here in Indiana. When CSX put up the old Monon Indy branch for abandonment, the elevator in Sheridan put up a fight. When IHRC took over, they never shipped one hopper by rail.
It breaks my heart to see abandoned railroads. Progress may have eliminated the need for them. But I would rather see these lines turned into tourist or scenic operations than simply abandoned and forgotten.
This great country was literally built by the railroads. It's a part of our history that needs to be preserved, not allowed to simply rust away.
Same, it's hurts me to see things like this
Great video Gastonia to the state line can get three trains a week chemicals and scrap.
Thanks! yep they do.
@@blueridgerails one day I hope Floss recycling to use rail back when it was Bruce iron metal they used rail a lot the spur is still their but covered up.
You certainly are an unusual commodity amongst Railroaders . There is another lady way up North , one in England and Australia shooting RR Videos also .
I am curious about how you are getting some of your shots . Are they hand held or are you using a mount ?
I enjoyed your video and primarily communicated with you because I saw effects similar to my own video and I enjoy seeing the information but am disappointed our that another RR looks to Bite the Dust !
I use handheld, and a tripod. Thanks for your time and comment. Glad you enjoyed
@@blueridgerails Smartphone or actual DSLR ?
@@ScottMiller-le4hb I use a cannon t7, smartphone (s22 ultra), Drone, gopros.
NS is doing this to all of Southern railway lines unless it is a mainline to a major city.
Yep, it's sad.
What is NCDOT's plan for the out-of-service line?
Don't know, hopefully reactivation.
The NCDOT has a corridor preservation program that basically gives them ownership of any rail corridor that's placed out of service, so that the corridor can be maintained for potential future use. This program has been in place since 1998. All that being said, the Southeastern Narrow Gauge & Shortline Museum right there in Newton is working to acquire the NS portion to continue freight operations and start tourist operations, at which point the NCDOT would give them their portion. Unfortunately, Class 1's are a pain to negotiate with and these things take a LOT of time and patience.
@@jamesglennmusic For some reason, Class I railroads thumb their noses up at Class III short lines, as if they can't be bothered with local switching operations. UP and CN might be the sole exceptions; and Class II's, such as FEC, do both through-running AND local switching. Yet they (the Class I's) are reluctant to sell or give away abandoned lines for which they don't ever intend to reuse.
Local switching is a Class III's bread and butter. There are a lot of them all across the US and Canada. New ones are starting up every month on abandoned lines that have been rebuilt and brought back into service. Some may have only a few miles of trackage, while others may run 50 miles or more. The most successful Class III's are those which run freight during the week and tourist excursions on the weekends.
So sad 😢
Yep...
Nice day
Yes
Small trestles... not bridges.
Same thing. It's a bridge...
Before it’s too late, you need to get hold of the Rails to Trails Conservancy and get that converted over into a bike trail. As a bike/hike/rollerblade trail, it would not only be a great place for locals to exercise, it would add to property values in the area and help any restaurant businesses in those towns.
I guess there are industries in that area that went out of business, due to their products now being made over in China, with the full blessing of our government.
No, this is a historical piece of railroad and should be turned back into a tourist rail line, rail biking, or motorcar tours. Not a bike trail. That's just my opinion, not trying to turn your opinion or anything like that. Thanks for watching anyways!
This corridor of track is being saved for future use by NS and the NCDOT... Tourist (and freight) trains will benefit the area much better than a trail, as nice as some of them are.
@@jamesglennmusic yep