|
In 1848, a business traveler
making the trip from Raleigh to Charlotte faced a daunting adventure. The
stagecoach took an average of 80 hours and cost about $23. More than once,
the stage turned over in the Eno River.
Then, Gov. John Motley Morehead
proposed a North Carolina Railroad to link eastern ports with the farmlands
of the Piedmont and the timber-rich mountains. It would be a “Tree of Life”
for the state, he said. Morehead convinced the state legislature to charter
the NC Railroad in 1849. Service between Goldsboro and Charlotte began in
1856.
Today “rail tourism,” has helped
inspire a resurgence of interest in renovating downtown train stations and
spurs economic development around them.
NCRR survives as a unique
state-owned railroad, organized as a private real estate investment trust (REIT)
with all common stock held by the state. It owns and manages the 317-mile
rail corridor between Charlotte and the port of Morehead City.
With more than $11 million in
annual revenue derived mostly from leasing use of its tracks to Norfolk
Southern, NCRR remains a good investment for the state. Scott M. Saylor,
current president of NCRR, notes, “the North Carolina Railroad has had no
debt for a century. Its revenues and income are still growing. You can’t say
that about many 155-year-old companies.” Revenues are reinvested in
improvements to tracks, bridges and signaling that cut an average of 30
minutes from the Raleigh-Charlotte trip in recent years.
Although freight makes up 95
percent of traffic riding NCRR rails, NCDOT’s Rail Division cooperates with
Amtrak to run daily passenger trains, the Piedmont and the Carolinian, with
schedules set to facilitate business commuting. The Piedmont makes the trip
south in the morning, north in the evening, while the Carolinian follows an
opposite schedule.
Today, it costs about the same
to travel by train between Raleigh and Charlotte as it did to take the
stagecoach in 1848. Fares range between $21 and $34 each way.
NCRR situated its repair shops
near the center of the line in Alamance County, where they evolved into the
town of Burlington. Just one of the original 1850s-era brick buildings
survives today. NCRR, which still owns the building, renovated it recently
as a mixed-use facility housing Burlington’s Amtrak station, rental space
and a museum.
Whistlestop, a new permanent
exhibit at the museum, outlines the role of NCRR in state history, past,
present and future.
All along the tracks, towns and
cities are ready to welcome a new breed of visitor interested in history and
railroads. Besides Burlington’s Whistlestop, attractions that appeal to
railroad buffs include Selma’s Railroad Days festival every October, and
Spencer Shops, now the N.C. Transportation Museum, near Salisbury. On
Saturdays from April to October, a special trolley runs from historic
Salisbury Station out to Spencer where a roundhouse and collection of 25
locomotives impress train fans from around the world.
Train travelers can make daytrips
to the antique shops of Selma or the Dale Earnhardt Tribute in Kannapolis,
to the state museums in Raleigh, the American Tobacco campus in Durham, or
the frescos of Charlotte. The Lexington Barbecue Festival and the N.C. State
Fair receive special train service every year.
During summer months, children
ride free on the Piedmont and Carolinian. Many family attractions are
located within walking distance of the stations, including the Angela
Peterson Doll & Miniature Museum in High Point, Imagination Station in
Wilson, and the Durham Bulls’ baseball stadium. In December, Santa rides
trains between Charlotte and Raleigh.
Many historic stations along the
line have been rescued and renovated. Greensboro’s 1924 station, one of the
grandest on the NCRR line, reopens as a multi-modal station for bus and
Amtrak traffic in mid-2005. Visitors can tour Governor Morehead’s elegant
mansion, Blandwood, nearby. Other renovated stations with Amtrak stops
include Salisbury, High Point, Selma, Wilson, Southern Pines, Hamlet and
Rocky Mount, whose 1893 station is the state’s oldest still in use.
Raleigh and Charlotte are both
well on the way to new downtown train stations, designed to accommodate the
estimated 500,000 annual riders arriving aboard both Amtrak and regional
rapid light rail commuter lines by 2015.
All the stations, new and old,
are located in downtowns, often spurring revitalization. Most railroad towns
offer self-guided walking tours of historic sites located near their
stations. Amtrak reports a steady increase in tourist travel to these
destinations.
Susan Kluttz, four-term mayor of
Salisbury and a member of Amtrak’s Mayors Advisory Council, is bullish on
train tourism with good reason. “Salisbury,” Mayor Kluttz says, “has seen
$20 million in new private investment in downtown since we renovated our
station. That’s $20 of private money to every $1 of public money spent.”
Salisbury’s station will serve as
the eastern terminus of passenger service to Asheville being planned now by
NCDOT. Historic stations along the Western N.C. line, including those in
Statesville, Hickory, Morganton, Marion, Black Mountain and Old Fort, are
already being restored. Asheville and Valdese will get new stations. NCDOT
studies found strong popular support for passenger service east to
Wilmington as well.
Recently, former governors Jim
Martin and Jim Hunt made a bipartisan appeal to the state legislature in
support of restoring passenger service across North Carolina. With trains
running from the mountains to the sea, they believe, Morehead’s 19th century
“Tree of Life” will spur economic growth — and a surge in tourism — in the
21st century.
Go
to
www.ncrr.com for more NCRR
history.
DOT’s web site
www.bytrain.org
details daytrips and plans for future service.
Visit
www.amtrak.com
for tickets and schedules.
|
