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Harrison, Fred W., Jr.

In the late 19th century tugboat-pulled barges carried train cars two-at-time across the Albemarle Sound. This was a slow, all-day process that improved in 1899 when John W. Garrett steamer came into service. This train ferry could carry twenty-three loaded freight cars at a time. However, by 1906, railroad officials concluded that building a second railroad ferry was not practical. The solution--build a bridge. Built at a cost of $1 million and completed in 1910, the Norfolk & Southern Railroad Bridge stretched five miles over the sound and was the longest one of its kind in the world. It would last seventy-six years.

Carolina Country (NoCar HD 9688 N8 C38x), Vol. 43 Issue 0, Mar 2011, p30-31, il Periodical Website

Railroads--History--Albemarle Sound; Bridges, railroad--Albemarle Sound; Norfolk & Southern Railroad