All Aboard the NCRR
January 2007
By Renee Wright

In 1848, a traveler making the trip from Raleigh to Charlotte faced a daunting adventure. The best means of transport—a stagecoach—took an average of 80 hours and cost about $23, including tavern bills along the way. More than once, the stage turned over in the Eno River.

Then, Governor John Motley Morehead proposed a North Carolina Railroad to link eastern ports with the farmlands of the Piedmont and the timber-rich mountains. It would be a “Tree of Life” for the state, he said. Morehead convinced the state legislature to charter the NC Railroad in 1849. Service between Goldsboro and Charlotte began in 1856.

Today, the Rail Division of N.C. Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT) cooperates with Amtrak to run daily passenger trains, the Piedmont and the Carolinian, over the old NCRR tracks. The Piedmont leaves Raleigh for Charlotte every morning returning in the early evening. The Carolinian departs from Charlotte in the morning, stopping at Raleigh enroute to New York City.

It costs about the same to travel by train between Raleigh and Charlotte today as it did to take the stagecoach in 1848. Fares range between $21 and $34 each way.

The High Point Railroad Station.

Trips by Train
The Piedmont and Carolinian each make seven regular stops between Charlotte and Raleigh twice a day.

Stops east from Charlotte are Kannapolis, Salisbury, High Point, Greensboro, Burlington, Durham and Cary. In addition, the Carolinian continues on from Raleigh to Selma, Wilson, and Rocky Mount before heading for Virginia and points north. A special bus connector runs from the High Point station to Winston-Salem.

Other trains operated by Amtrak provide passenger service from New York to Florida. The Silver Star stops in Rocky Mount, Raleigh, Cary, Southern Pines and Hamlet on the way to Columbia, SC and Savannah, GA. The renovated 1900 station at Hamlet, the only Victorian Queen Anne station in the state, is the centerpiece of the town’s historic district.

The Crescent, with service from New York to Atlanta and New Orleans, runs through the western Piedmont, while the Silver Meteor and Palmetto run through Fayetteville en route to Charleston and points south.

Riding the Rails
All along the tracks, towns and cities are ready to welcome a new breed of visitor interested in history and railroads.

Several NC stops are of special interest to train buffs. Whistlestop, an exhibit inside Burlington’s recently renovated train station, outlines the role of the NCRR in state history, past, present and future. The town of Burlington evolved around the NCRR’s repair shops and the station is located in the last 1850s building remaining from that era.

Other attractions of special interest to railroad enthusiasts include Selma’s Railroad Days festival every October, and the Spencer Shops, now the NC Transportation Museum, near Salisbury. On Saturdays from April to October, a special trolley runs from historic Salisbury Station out to Spencer where a roundhouse and collection of 25 locomotives impress train fans from around the world.

Train travelers can make daytrips to the downtown antique shops of Selma or the Dale Earnhardt Tribute in Kannapolis center, to the state museums in Raleigh, the American Tobacco campus in Durham, or the frescos of Charlotte. The Lexington Barbecue Festival and the NC State Fair receive special train service every year.

Many family attractions are located within walking distance of the stations, including the Angela Peterson Doll & Miniature Museum in High Point, Imagination Station in Wilson, and the Durham Bulls’ baseball stadium in Durham.

Historic stations all along the line have been rescued and renovated, often sparking downtown revitalization. Self-guided walking tours of historic districts located near the stations are available in many towns. You can also take your bicycle along and explore one of North Carolina’s numerous bike trails. The Piedmont has a special baggage car designed for bikes.

Greensboro’s 1924 station, one of the grandest on the NCRR line, reopened as a multi-modal station for bus and Amtrak traffic in 2005. Visitors can walk to Governor Morehead’s elegant mansion, Blandwood, nearby, or catch a bus to one of Greensboro’s other attractions.

This antique fire truck can be found at the museum in Rocky Mount.

Rocky Mount’s 1893 station is the state’s oldest still in use, and one of the most active with eight trains coming through every day. The grand two-story structure, once the headquarters of the Atlantic Coast Line, is across the street from an antique fire truck museum.

Future Service
Recent NCDOT studies found strong popular support for extending passenger service east to Wilmington and west to Asheville. Salisbury will serve as the eastern terminus of passenger service to Asheville that will begin as soon as funds are available for track upgrades. Historic stations along the Western NC line, including those in Statesville, Hickory, Morganton, Marion, Black Mountain and Old Fort, are already being restored. Asheville and Valdese will get new stations.

North Carolina’s volunteer train hosts who ride the Piedmont and the Carolinian can’t wait. Their job is to help the regular Amtrak conductors and answer questions about the trains and the stops along the way. But most of them have an ulterior motive.

Leon DeBaer volunteers aboard the trains about once a month. He’s a long-time train buff and admits he has a secret reason for riding the rails: “It’s like having a really big toy.”

Go to www.ncrr.com for more NCRR history. NCDOT’s Web site www.by train.org details daytrips, station renovations and plans for future service. Visit www.amtrak.com for tickets and schedules.

Renee Wright is a freelance writer living in North Carolina.

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