Does anyone have any information on Yadkin Junction on the ACL just outside of Wilmington. The junction is where the old Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway crossed the Wilmington RR Bridge Co. between Navassa and Hilton, and is where the Wilmington-Fayetteville line of the ACL branched off of the Wilmington-Florence line. At one point it appears there was a crossing at grade where the CF&YV continued south terminating at Point Peter on the Cape Fear River. I'm interested in any structures, signals, interlockings, etc....that would have been there in the 1950's (for modeling purposes). The former CF&YV is probably the route taken by the Wilminton-Fayetteville mixed trains mentioned in Larry's book. Any information would help. Thanks.

-- Mark V. Huband (mhuband@guarantec.com), February 04, 2000

Answers

According to my friend Charles Kernan's book, "Rails To Weeds - Searching Out the Ghost Railroads Around Wilmington", the section of track from Point Peter to the Wilmington and Manchester was abandoned in 1894, when the CF&YV was divided between the ACL and Southern Railway. In 1890, the CF&YV built a new warehouse on Point Peter, and the pilings were still there in the late 1980s. point Peter was the original Wilmington termination for the CF&YV, with goods barged or ferried across the river into the city. The first rail bridge at Hilton was built in 1867, but only used by the W&M and WC&R. Charles book may still be available (it was published in 1988) through the Wilmington Railroad Museum.

-- Larry K. Neal, Jr. (lkneal@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us), February 10, 2000.