Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
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31 results
for Railroads--History
Record #:
5950
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Railroads across eastern North Carolina were a vital supply link for Confederate forces during the Civil War. Price describes the adventures and challenges of riding the trains during the turmoil of war.
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Record #:
9229
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The first railroad lines were laid in North Carolina in 1833. By the 1880s, a line ran across the state but a business depression hit in 1893 and the railroads were sold in 1899. Despite financial troubles, trains ran the lines until 1949. Parts of the tracks remain, but are covered by the lines of modern diesel trains.
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2002
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The National Railroad Museum in Hamlet features a Victorian train station, a locomotive, period cars, and other memorabilia that give visitors the feel of the railroading era.
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32608
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The late Grover C. Robbins, Jr. renovated the Tweetsie locomotive and railroad in 1957, turning it into Blowing Rock’s most popular tourist attraction. The route of what came to be known as Tweetsie was the Linville River Railway division of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. The train now operates along a closed circuit and is maintained by Frank Coffey.
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Record #:
9175
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In the 1920s and 1930s with the introduction of automobiles and buses, the railroad industry came up with the doodlebug to help spur passenger business. Cheap and energy-efficient, travelers and railroad companies embraced the new car. The base of the doodlebug was actually a Model-T Ford on railroad wheels. Streetcars and highway trucks with railroad wheels also functioned as doodlebugs. Several businesses set up in North Carolina to manufacture the cars, including the Edwards Company, which supplied cars to Fort Bragg's railway. By 1950, bigger, sleeker railroad cars were introduced, ending the doodlebug era.
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Record #:
6562
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Many people think theme park when they hear the words Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, but there actually was a Tweetsie Railroad. Johnson discusses the line that linked Eastern Tennessee with Western North Carolina in the 19th- and 20th-centuries and what lead to its demise.
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Record #:
24453
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This article presents the history of the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the tracks upon which the Carolinian travels. The tracks were built in the decade before the Civil War in order to promote and facilitate economic development in the Piedmont.
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Record #:
9097
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Commonly called Tweetsie, the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad was the narrow-gauge common-carrier railroad that once ran from Boone into Tennessee. It was one of the last steam rails in the country, and was almost the last narrow-gauge freight road when its last track was taken out of North Carolina in 1950 due to annual operating losses.
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Record #:
15031
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When construction gangs were attempting to complete the pass for the first train tracks on both sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the western side had more difficulty due to lack of locomotives to help the work progress. It took eight yoke of oxen to get a locomotive to the western side of the divide. The job was done in two weeks and the railroad complete shortly after.
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Record #:
21456
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Before the 1870s there was a preference in the United States that the federal and state governments would subsidize private corporations but did not attempt to control them. This was the case when North Carolina held a three-quarters interest in the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR). The NCRR was built to help enable trade and travel to and within the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Chartered in 1849, the NCRR was the center of some controversy as to the style and amount of state control until it was leased out by the state in 1871.
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North Carolina Historical Review
(NoCar F251 .N892), Vol. 61 Issue 2, Apr 1984,
p174-204 , il, por, map, f
Periodical Website
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Record #:
24532
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One section of the historic East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad is being saved and put to recreational use by taking tourists on rides through some of the most dramatic and beautiful sections of the track.
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Record #:
7741
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For the Norfolk and Southern Railroad to cross the Albemarle Sound in the 1880s, it was more efficient to float the entire train instead of unloading the freight onto the barge. In 1910, a five and a half mile bridge was built, making it the longest in the world. This allowed trains to cross the Albemarle in eighteen minutes rather than two and a half hours. By 1986, the seventy-six year old bridge was reaching its limits. Because it cost $19 million to strengthen the supports, the state considered floating the train across the water as it did in the past.
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Record #:
3085
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For over thirty years, Floyd McEachern has collected material from the era of steam engines. Today his more than 3,000 items, including hand lanterns, train uniforms, and a caboose, are on display at the Historical Train Museum in Dillsboro.
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Record #:
7471
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Reevy recounts the history of one of the shortest rail lines in the country. The short-run Carrboro Branch line between Chapel Hill and Carrboro has served its unique purpose for more than a century. Incorporated in 1873 as the Chapel Hill Iron Mountain Railroad Company, the ten-mile railroad was to serve an iron mine. Construction of the road began in 1879, but the company soon ran out of money. The mine was never a success, and ownership passed through several large railroad companies. Today, the line carries coal to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Cogeneration Facility three times a week as well as other freight for the area. About the mid-20th-century, Carrboro native and folksinger, Elizabeth “Libba†Cotton wrote a famous song, called “Freight Train,†about the Carrboro train as she knew it.
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Record #:
9586
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The Wilmington Railroad Museum, which focuses on the history of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, recently opened. When the line began operation in 1835, it was the world's longest railroad. The line has changed names several times, finally becoming the Atlantic Coast Line in 1900. The museum is located in a warehouse built by the railroad in 1876. Exhibits include a train caboose, a model train set, and the Wilmington and Weldon arrival bell.
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