Classic Southern Shortlines 2: Aberdeen, Carolina & Western

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Star, N.C.; December 9, 2014

In December 2014 I drove from New Jersey to Florida with my brother Bruce and along the way we spent the better part of a day each on three shortlines. We've already looked at the Sandersville Railroad in an earlier post. This time around, we're going to visit the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western, which is based in the town of Candor, N.C., just west of Aberdeen.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Biscoe, N.C.; December 9, 2014

In a previous post, we looked at the early days of the AC&W, when it ran with a hodgepodge of locomotives in the colors of Chessie System and the Chesapeake & Ohio, among others. The AC&W was formed in 1987 to operate a former Norfolk Southern branch between Aberdeen and Star. The original shop was next to the old Southern freight house in the latter town. Since then, the railroad has leased trackage from NS from Charlotte through Star to Gulf, N.C., making a giant "T" (the original line from Star to Aberdeen forming the base) totaling 140 miles of track. AC&W interchanges with CSX in Aberdeen and NS in Charlotte and Gulf. It also interchanges with both railroads at Norwood. Motive power is attractively painted, such as the pair of SD40-3 locomotives we had on our chase.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Candor, N.C.; December 9, 2014

On the day we chased the railroad, December 9, we first stopped in at the modern shop and headquarters building in Candor. A friendly receptionist checked on operations and told us there was a train being made up at Star that would head for Aberdeen. She also said if we were back in the area in a week or two to stop by and pick up a calendar. We headed for Star and after some poking around finally found the train being readied. Our first shot was as the train left Star (top photo of this post) and again approaching Biscoe (second photo).

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Candor, N.C.; December 9, 2014

The train paused at the large feed mill in Candor to do some work before continuing on its way southeast. A crewman followed in a truck to facilitate switching along the way. Once done at the mill, the train continued on its way.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Eagle Springs, N.C.; December 9, 2014

The train made fairly good time across the somewhat rolling Carolina countryside. It did not stop to work again on the way to Aberdeen. After getting a shot near Eagle Springs, we again got ahead of the train at West End.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; West End, N.C.; December 9, 2014

After West End, the train entered golf country. Pinehurst has hosted the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup and three U.S. Opens. In 2014 it became the first venue to host both the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open in the same year.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Pinehurst, N.C.; December 9, 2014

The train enters Aberdeen and the CSX interchange through a narrow opening between buildings. Once at Aberdeen, the locomotives dropped the outbound cars and picked up cars to return north. Since the train would be against the sun going back, we said our goodbyes to the AC&W at this point.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Aberdeen, N.C.; December 9, 2014

You can find more photos from this chase here.

Cool Chromes -- A Quintessential Short Line of the South

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; Star, N.C.; May 1992

The short line railroads of the south have their own charm. They have a reputation of being laid back and friendly, and many have a storied history. Some are prosperous, some just hang on.

One prosperous short line that has (or at least had) the appearance of "just hanging on" is the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western. Today's AC&W has sharply painted locomotives operating over 150 miles east of Charlotte. But when I first visited the railroad in 1992 it was only five years old and scratching out a living between the towns of Aberdeen and Star. The line's shop was in Star, and on my first visit it showed a lot of hardscrabble southern charm. The freight house showed its Southern Railway heritage thanks to the distinctive green sign on the building, and a former Chesapeake & Ohio EMD GP9 sat outside. Definitely a hand-me-down railroad.

My next visit to Star was five years later on May 6, 1997. This time I was there at night and wanted to do some night photos. The shop was wide open on the warm spring night, the lights were on, but no one was around. Not finding anyone, I took a few night shots and left. Once again the hand-me-down life of the railroad was evident by the locomotive in the shop -- ex-Chessie System GP38 No. 2077.

Aberdeen, Carolina & Western; May 6, 1997

It looks like this year I'll be making a couple of trips southward during the winter, and the short lines of North Carolina are high on the list of places to visit. The Aberdeen, Carolina & Western will certainly be one of those.

Along The Former Southern Main in North Carolina

Amtrak; Thomasville, N.C.; June 1, 2014

In the last post we visited Streamliners at Spencer at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Spencer is located just north of Salisbury along the former main line of the Southern Railway (now a part of Norfolk Southern). This afforded a few opportunities to get out and shoot NS and Amtrak action in the Tarheel State along the railroad that claimed "Southern Serves the South." We'll start north of Salisbury at Thomasville where we find a southbound Amtrak Piedmont train passing under a classic Southern Railway signal bridge. The train is paid for by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which provides the state-painted passenger equipment including F59PH No. 1810 (above).

Moving just a little bit south, we find a northbound Piedmont train passing through downtown Thomasville behind F59PH No. 1869. Thomasville is well-known as a furniture manufacturing city, and the giant chair at the main grade crossing in town is a landmark.

Amtrak; Thomasville, N.C.; June 1, 2014

Moving down to Salisbury, we find a visitor coming off the wye on the line to Asheville and entering the Southern main. Juniata Terminal's E8 No. 5809, proudly wearing the pinstripes of the Pennsylvania Railroad, ran a couple of Charlotte-Spencer round trips and turned on the wye each day for the trip back to Charlotte.

Pennsylvania 5809; Salisbury, N.C.; May 31, 2014

The Salisbury depot has been nicely restored. Many tracks have been removed over the years, especially those close in to the station, but a new walkway leads out to refurbished platforms at the main line. A Norfolk Southern freight behind SD70M-2 No. 2776 heads through the station.

Norfolk Southern; Salisbury, N.C.; May 31, 2014

Just south of the station are two overhead bridges. From the northernmost of the two bridges we see a southbound Piedmont train accelerating away from its station stop.

Amtrak; Salisbury, N.C.; May 29, 2014

Just south of the second bridge is an old ice house dating from the early 20th century. A freight led by BNSF Railway C44-9W No. 4183 heads south past the brick building.

BNSF Railway on NS; Salisbury, N.C.; May 31, 2014

Continuing south the next town is China Grove. We see a northbound NS freight with a BNSF locomotive tucked between two NS locomotives.

Norfolk Southern; China Grove, N.C.; May 29, 2014

At the same location we see a southbound Amtrak Piedmont train. Surprisingly, this train has two locomotives leading.

Amtrak; China Grove, N.C.; May 29, 2014

Moving from the fields between Salisbury and China Grove to the north end of China Grove, we once again encounter Pennsylvania Railroad E8 No. 5809. The train is heading north from Charlotte with NS dignitaries and others onboard bound for Streamliners at Spencer.

Pennsylvania Railroad 5809; China Grove, N.C.; May 30, 2014

Continuing south, we arrive at Landis. We see a southbound Amtrak Piedmont train rolling through the wide plaza that hosts the former Southern Railway main line.

Amtrak; Landis, N.C.; May 30, 2014

We now arrive in Kannapolis. The former Southern Railway freight house is still standing here, complete with its green SR sign. About a quarter mile south is the town's Amtrak station. C40-9W leads a southbound NS freight past the ex-Southern building.

Norfolk Southern; Kannapolis, N.C.; May 30, 2014

Turning around the other direction we see a northbound freight. This time we have power from Union Pacific on the point in the form of ES44AC No. 7491.

Union Pacific (on NS); Kannapolis, N.C.; May 30, 2014

Finally we wind up almost into the town of Concord. We see a Norfolk Southern work train heading south with empty rail cars trailing SD40-2 No. 3216.

Norfolk Southern; Concord, N.C.; May 30, 2014

And finally we turn around to see a northbound NS intermodal train at the same spot. C40-9W No. 9093 leads a double-stack train of J.B. Hunt containers.

Norfolk Southern; Concord, N.C.; May 30, 2014

More photos from along the former Southern Railway main line can be found scattered about in the various photo albums here.

Streamliners At Spencer

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 29, 2014

At the end of May one the biggest rail enthusiast events of the year took place; Streamliners At Spencer brought together one of the largest gathering of 1940s-1960s "cab units" built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) and the American Locomotive Company (Alco) for one colorful show. We'll take a day-by-day look at the event, starting with Thursday, May 29, as the locomotives began to gather around the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer. Reading F7 No. 284 came from the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey (above). Iowa Pacific E8 No. 515 was briefly disguised as Illinois Central No. 4035 on the first day (below).

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 29, 2014

Also in attendance was Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611, a streamlined steam locomotive. The J-Class locomotive had just arrived in Spencer where it will be restored to operation as part of the "Fire Up 611" campaign. It was given the position of honor on the turntable for the first night photo session.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 29, 2014

Highlighting the second day was a freight train powered by an A-B-A set of F3 locomotives representing the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. The two A units came from the Bangor & Aroostook, while the B unit is a converted F7B from the Boston & Maine. One A unit is owned by the Tri-State Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, while the other A and the B come from the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society. The F3s were the oldest operating units at Spencer.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 30, 2014

The three-unit set was used for the night photo session, and made a fine sight as they passed under the museum's restored signal bridge.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 30, 2014

Also a part of the night photo session was a multi-unit set-up in the field south of the roundhouse, highlighted by "Baltimore & Ohio" F7 No. 722 (former Bessemer & Lake Erie) and "Chesapeake & Ohio" F3 No. 8016 (former Clinchfield). Both are now owned by the Potomac Eagle Scenic in West Virginia.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 30, 2014

Day Three found Canadian National FPA4 No. 6789 on the photo freight. Like all the other locomotives in attendance, movement to Spencer was provided free of charge by Norfolk Southern. No. 6789 came from the Monticello Railway Museum in Illinois.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 31, 2014

An antique car show was part of the festivities at Spencer, and the car owners didn't need much encouragement to bring a car over to pose with the trains. New Haven FL9 No. 2019 from the Railroad Museum of New England in Thomaston, Conn., passed at Studebaker. Both were built in the same year -- 1960.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 31, 2014

Locomotives came from all across the country and from not only museums but also Class I railroads. The roundhouse tracks included privately-owned "Nickel Plate Road" (former Santa Fe) No. 190 from Portland, Ore., Southern Railway No. 6900 (which lives at Spencer), Erie No. 833 from the New York & Greenwood Lake in Port Jervis, N.Y., Union Pacific No. 949 which is used by UP on its business trains and Norfolk Southern F9 No. 4271 which is used in business train service for NS.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 31, 2014

In attendance was Electro-Motive Corporation (a predecessor of EMD) FT No. 103, the very first streamliner built in 1939. It shared the roundhouse tracks with Southern FP7 No. 6133 (which resides at Spencer), Pan Am business train FP9 No. PAR-1, and Chicago & North Western F7 No. 411 from the Illinois Railway Museum in Union.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 31, 2014

Perhaps the most surprising attendee was "Nickel Plate Road" No. 190, one of only two surviving Alco PA locomotives in the United States. Privately owned by Doyle McCormack, the PA made a cross-country trip from Portland, Ore., (with BNSF Railway donating the move across the west) to be one of two Alcos at the Streamliner event (joining Canadian National FPA4 No. 6789 from Monticello, Ill.) No. 190 was used during the final night photo event.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; May 31, 2014

All good things must end, and Sunday, June 1, marked the end of Streamliners at Spencer. There were still a few photos to be had, however. North Carolina Transportation Museum's own Atlantic Coast Line E3 No. 503 took a morning spin on the turntable.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; June 1, 2014

Chicago & North Western F7 No. 411 from the Illinois Railway Museum was making morning passenger runs. IRM also sent Chicago, Burlington & Quincy E5 No. 9811 to the Streamliners event.

North Carolina Transportation Museum; Spencer, N.C.; June 1, 2014

All in all, it was a well-run event. Thanks to the staff of the North Carolina Transportation Museum for all their hospitality. Also thanks to the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association for providing the lights at the night photo sessions. And thanks to all the railroads and museums who sent crews and equipment to Spencer. You can see more photos of Streamliners At Spencer here.