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 #:
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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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 #:
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 #:
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 #:
9124
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On May 21, 1840, the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad ran for the first time from Gaston to the newly completed State Capitol building in Raleigh. This article uses excerpts from two 1840 letters between fifteen-year-old Peter Foster and his father to describe the train and the excitement it stirred in the communities.
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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 #:
10608
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North Carolina's earliest railroads were plagued by mechanical failures that often resulted in wrecks, derailments, and deaths. Even after the introduction of steam engines, many tracks and rails were constructed completely of wood or, later, wooden rails capped with thin strips of metal. The wooden rails would often fail outright, and the metal-capped rails often lost their tops, which would then bend upwards, piercing the floor of the rail car. The grandson of Governor Edward Dudley was seriously injured and his nurse killed by an unfastened rail in 1845.
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Record #:
13899
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Albert Johnson handled the throttle on the first train that operated on the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad more than one hundred years ago.
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Record #:
14459
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The first train to Asheboro came over fifty years ago, and it was a big day in the history of the town, despite the fact that rails had to be laid as the train approached.
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Record #:
14332
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Robert R. Bridgers faced a stupendous task, following the conclusion of the American Civil War, in rebuilding what is now the great Atlantic Coast Line System.
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Record #:
20789
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Seay describes what railroading was like in North Carolina almost a century ago.
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Record #:
14565
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Taylorsville citizens invested in the local Alexander Railroad line when the company, The Southern, threatened to end service. The town, located in Alexander County, depended on the railroad spur, which hauled freight and mail, for economic stability. Freight statistics for the line both before and after the sale are listed.
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Record #:
14628
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Mr. Goerch describes a round-trip ride in 1946 in the cab of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's diesel engines. The ride on \"The Sun Queen\" left Raleigh bound for Richmond and for the author's return trip \"The Silver Meteor.\" Goerch discusses improvement in rail service because of diesel engines which increase speed with less noise. The author also supplements details of his ride with railroad vernacular, operational procedures, and railroad culture.
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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 #:
15148
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Colonel Alexander B. Andrews has served North Carolina not only as a solider during the American Civil War, but helped to build and maintain the railroads that were necessary for the State during the era of Reconstruction. He started his great building career as superintendent of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad and helped to rehabilitate this line as well as the Richmond and Danville and the Asheville-Spartanburg line.
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