January '04 Calender Picture

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The January '04 Picture in the Calender by the late great Wiley Bryan is not of the Henderson Local...The Line did not welded rail,and,judging by the photo,was no where near northern NC. I DO NOT proclaim to be a Seaboard expert but it looks like to me it was shot somewhere around the Southern Pines/Hamlet area if I had to guess..Maybe someone could give more insight as to the area.

-- Vic Lewis (TrkInsp5F33@aol.com), January 20, 2004

Answers

In the late 50's, the Durham-Henderson local (nos. 282-285) originated at Durham and returned to Durham the same day, six days a week. Durham, therefore, must have been home terminal for the turn. By 1963, No. 282 originated at Durham on Mon., Wed., Fri., returned to Durham on Tues., Thurs., Sat. I'm not sure the unions accepted Henderson as an away-from-home terminal. The SAL had to make provisions during the layover for the crew to take rest and have access to a beanery, where usually you could sign now and pay later. Was the away-from-home terminal Norlina ? Or maybe it was Roanoke Rapids ? I seem to recall seeing a pair of the RSC3's lumbering off the Portsmouth Sub with mty wood racks in tow.

-- Harry Bundy (Y6B@aol.com), January 21, 2004.

Vic, you may be right - we did say in the caption that it was "likely" for the Henderson branch since that type of power was often run on it, but we had no caption information to go on. And yes the train is actually on the mainline at the moment of this shot, it is a local "for" the Henderson branch or whatever may be correct. The Hamlet area could well be right, the topography would fit that. If anyone does have more info, please post it.

-- Larry Goolsby (lgoolsby@aphsa.org), January 20, 2004.

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