I,m trying to find any information about Charlotte, NC railroading history. Except for an article on the SAL train station on N. Tryon, I'm finding dead ends. I'm a beginner so any information or helpful hints on where to look would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-- Robert Sexton (rsexton1@carolina.rr.com), November 07, 2000

Answers

Charlotte was served by the original Norfolk Southern. The Prince book has some maps showing the route, and Charlotte is shown as the most westerly point served. I don't recall whether any photos in Prince's Norfolk Southern book were taken in Charlotte.

Charlotte was also served by the Piedmont and Northern. Try to get access to a copy of Piedmont and Northern, The Great Electric System of the South, by Thomas T. Fetters and Peter W. Swanson, Jr. (Golden West, 1974). This book has some photos of P & N in Charlotte and surrounding suburbs such as Pinoca and Hoskins where P & N had facilities, as well as maps showing trackage in and around Charlotte.

Hope this helps.

Sandy

-- Sandy Bridges (smb@bridgeslaw.com), November 16, 2000.

Before it became a part of the SAL system, the east/west railroad that passes thru Charlotte was named the Central Carolina Railroad, but I believe it had another name before that (I'll check into that). The CCRR started in the western part of NC around Rutherfordton (Bostic) and ran along the NC/SC state line all the way to Wilmington. It passed thru Hamlet, NC where it interchanged with the Raleigh & Augusta Air Line another predecessor to the SAL. The CCRR started construction before the Civil War, so it's a really old line! Sorry I don't know much about the Southern RR(now Norfolk Soutern) that runs thru there as well. Richard E. Prince wrote some really good books on Southeastern railroads, you may want to get hold of some of those. You can find info on the Southern RR at the NC RR Museum at Spencer near Salisbury. Hope some of this helps point you in the right direction!

-- Bryan Payne (bpayne@littlearch.com), November 10, 2000.