About 35°13’20.50” N, 82°20’50.37” W
Is there a GPS coodordinate we can use to find it?
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
If they can restore a Big Boy they can reopen Saluda Grade.
DUBCH87 wrote:
"...If NS even offered to sell the section over Saluda to WATCO. I'm not sure they did, and NS still retains ownership. When NS sold the northern section of the W Line to WATCO, they knew they would never run another train on the line, so they have no reason to continue maintaining the section to Landrum. I doubt they will ever give up the line either, and will let the line continue to rust in place.
Tryon averages 62 inches of rain annually (92 inches fell last year). The line will be overrun with vegetation very fast. I just find it sad to see it disappear like this..."
Why do that? The cost is low, and as we’ve seen with Bakken oil and frac sand, the next wave of freight traffic could come from almost anywhere. Technology can change the game, mergers can change the game, and developments around the world can change the game. If anything changes in the next few years, it will be East Coast shipping thanks to the widened Panama Canal; does the thought of intermodal trains on Saluda intrigue you?
Argument against it: It just gets more expensive by the day to rebuild the line. If traffic does materialize, there are other, easier ways to go that could benefit from laying double track.
Odds of it happening: 6 in 10.
2. Abandon it and make it a rail trail.
Why do that? Nobody is going to want to run mainline trains on a 4.7 percent grade any more. Nobody is desperate enough to move freight on such a difficult line to run. Saluda’s time has passed.
Argument against it: When it’s gone, it’s gone. The route won’t return and the opportunity is extinct. Also, my good friend, railroad book author Matt Bumgarner, tells me the line through Polk County, N.C. is a mixture of easements and purchased land, so that makes it difficult to piece together a through trail. If it’s abandoned, the easements revert to the land owners.
Odds of it happening: 4 in 10. [snipped]
Seems that Jim Wrinn make a very reasonable argument as to why the NS has held on to the W Line....If in the future circumstances find it a meaningful routing it is there and could be rebuilt/reengineered to suit a need. It would seem to make good sense not to do away with an ROW that is still in one piece, even if it is in dire need of help.
At any rate it is still "Fan" speculation as to what the Official Line of thought is in the NS HQ. Mergers and International Shipping can play a big part in this scenario.
GP-9_Man11786 I drive through Campobello on my way home sometimes. The rails on the W Line are rusted over, so absolutely nothing has been using these tracks. However, the line is virtually weed-free and well-maintained. The last train I know of to use the line was the NS exhibit train, which stopped at the Inman Harvest Festival last fall.
I drive through Campobello on my way home sometimes. The rails on the W Line are rusted over, so absolutely nothing has been using these tracks. However, the line is virtually weed-free and well-maintained. The last train I know of to use the line was the NS exhibit train, which stopped at the Inman Harvest Festival last fall.
Even though no trains use the line through Campobello, it is still an active rail line and is maintained as such. Even the out-of-service segment had been maintained relatively well to have not had any traffic for more than a decade.
I noticed at the start of July all the vegetation growing on the line through Landrum, Tryon, and Saluda. I saw even taller vegetation this weekend and decided to check out Melrose. Again, it has never been in this condition since trains stopped in 2001. You can check out my pictures a few pages back from June 2013 of the washout at the Vaughn Creek fill to see what I mean.
samfp1943 You can take this to the bank...IF WATCO thought they could make the embargoed segment of the W Line worthwhile, it would be seeing traffic...
You can take this to the bank...IF WATCO thought they could make the embargoed segment of the W Line worthwhile, it would be seeing traffic...
If NS even offered to sell the section over Saluda to WATCO. I'm not sure they did, and NS still retains ownership. When NS sold the northern section of the W Line to WATCO, they knew they would never run another train on the line, so they have no reason to continue maintaining the section to Landrum. I doubt they will ever give up the line either, and will let the line continue to rust in place.
Tryon averages 62 inches of rain annually (92 inches fell last year). The line will be overrun with vegetation very fast. I just find it sad to see it disappear like this.
The 'mountain to climb' is the two slide areas.. I'd leave that to the MOW Engineers around here ,but from the pictures posted on this THREAD, and others concerning The Grade, you can bet it would be in the multiples of six to seven figures to restore and re-engineer the ROW.
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Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
It appears after twelve-and-a-half years of no trains that NS has stopped maintaining Saluda. No doubt this coincides with the sale of the line between Asheville and East Flat Rock to WATCO. NS has applied herbicide to the ROW up until this year. I have never seen it in this condition before, and this is after only one summer. Five years from now and you won't be able to tell a railroad was ever here.
Let's hypothesize for a minute. IF WATCO were to acquire the section between East Flat Rock and Landrum (let's ignore the cost of restoration for a moment), they would likely regain Capps Brothers as a customer and be able to transport woodchips directly to Evergreen Packaging in Canton in less than a week.
It wouldn't be that difficult to operate over the grade; empty hoppers down and a dozen, give or take, loaded hoppers that could be pulled up the grade in one haul on the return trip. So, the idea that trains could operate on the grade again is feasible. The problem is the cost of restoring the line to operable condition.
I'm curious to know if NS doesn't want to sell, WATCO doesn't want to buy, or neither. There may be more to this in the future.Or maybe WATCO will allow through-traffic by NS, and NS will take the income from the purchase to restore Saluda and begin routing intermodal via Asheville. Maybe NS wasn't crazy for performing the track work south of Landrum after all...
NS just announce the sale of the line from East Flat Rock to Asheville to WATCO. That pretty much puts the nail in Saluda's coffin.
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/short_lines_regionals/news/Watco-to-purchase-three-North-Carolina-branch-lines-from-NS--40879
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
beechdriver My dad lives halfway between Campobello and Landrum. Yesterday (Sat 5/31) I went up to visit him. When I crossed the tracks on Landrum Mill Rd (State S-42-936) there was a NS truck at the tracks and a worker was doing something on the tracks with a piece of equipment connected to the rails. From the looks of the rails there has not been any traffic here in a while?? The only business this far north is the wood-chip plant about 2000' past the crossing. On the way back I snapped a few pics. These two on each side of the crossing show some new(?) wires attached to the tracks The last one shows some ties about 400' north of the crossing. Maybe they have been doing some track work here?
My dad lives halfway between Campobello and Landrum. Yesterday (Sat 5/31) I went up to visit him. When I crossed the tracks on Landrum Mill Rd (State S-42-936) there was a NS truck at the tracks and a worker was doing something on the tracks with a piece of equipment connected to the rails. From the looks of the rails there has not been any traffic here in a while?? The only business this far north is the wood-chip plant about 2000' past the crossing.
On the way back I snapped a few pics.
These two on each side of the crossing show some new(?) wires attached to the tracks
The last one shows some ties about 400' north of the crossing. Maybe they have been doing some track work here?
Working on a Saturday, I'd say the crossing signal was malfunctioning and had been reported. Someone else in the know might can say, but perhaps one of the wires had become broken and the circuit was open/closed(?), causing the signals to activate and remain activated.
They did track work a little over two years ago from Hayne to Landrum, and nobody can figure out why. The word on here is that Capps Brothers hasn't been shipping woodchips by rail for several years now, and the rust on the rails backs that up. Trains had been slow-ordered due to the tracks' poor condition, so perhaps NS thought they could get Capps back as a customer if they rehabilitated the line. It didn't work.
You can see those same ties from May 2013 at this link: http://goo.gl/maps/QXcqt and even more ties in May 2012 here: http://goo.gl/maps/1G2yw . I'm not sure why they left those.
It looks like the same blue paint has been there since 2012 as well http://goo.gl/maps/Vd1nv
See this article from TRAINS "NewsWire"
http://trn.trains.com/en/Railroad%20News/News%20Wire/2014/05/Watco%20wins%20bid%20for%20North%20Carolina%20branches.aspx
I Think this might be the final nail in the coffin for the famous Saluda Grade. This indicates, if nothing else, that Norfolk Southern will never again use Saluda as a through route. (just my opinion)
Woodchips to paper mills in Sylva and Canton
Out-of-service
Unit coal to Duke Energy plant, locals
So, is this bad news or good news for Saluda? NCDOT has a history of preserving rail corridors and providing funding. Could a short line get public funding to restore the line and get woodchips up the grade again when NS is too cheap to do it? Doubtful because of the cost/benefit, but who knows. This is assuming NS gives it up. They may continue sitting on it and let it to turn into a forest.
http://www.ncbytrain.org/projects/preservation.html
Heavy accent in the reporters speech, but I think he said Saluda? So possible sale or lease to a shortline. How about a tourist line in the Saluda section? Someone would need some $$ to fix the washouts. Are there any newer videos of it on Youtube?
Well, that certainly is big news. To summarize for those that don't want to watch the video:
Norfolk Southern confirmed an effort to sell or lease 93-miles of rail line in Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania counties.
No mention of the "out-of-service" section over the grade.
TRDevlDoghttp://www.wlos.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wlos_railroad-jobs-jeopardy-15904.shtml ....... Interesting news out of Asheville. If I read it and interpreted the video correctly that move would totally cut off Saluda on the north end.
Made the link work (just highlight it after you paste, and then click on the icon that looks like a chain link).
.....Quite sad for rail fans, especially this piece of very "different" ROW that by reading what info appears, and "between the lines", I'd say Saluda, as we who were at it when the structure of it was still intact....Will not see anymore scheduled action on this famous "Hill".
Perhaps the next action, sadly...will be the taking up of the rails, etc...When, who knows.
Quentin
TRDevlDogFrom the pictures in the article it appears there is another washout that is forming at Slaughter Pen Cut.
There is, but it's on the grade between Sand Cut and the timing section before Melrose. I believe someone mentioned this one a few pages back, but I hadn't found pictures until recently. That brings the total number of washouts to four: Vaughn's Creek, Horshoe Curve, big one near the trestle, and on the grade.
Here is a link to a set of photos on flickr from October 2013 that really highlights the degradation of the line (not my pictures).
No. It has been two years since the T&S work south of Landrum was completed, with nothing happening on the Flat Rock side since then. Signals on the active portions each side of the cuts between Hendersonville and Flat Rock and Landrum and Inman are turned sideways and dark. The South Carolina Inland Port has had no affect on this route, and likely never will.
Short article and recent pictures
Has there been anything new on this subject? Saluda has always been one of my most favorite places for railfanning, even though it's a 6 hour drive for me to get there.
Carey
Keep it between the Rails
Alabama Central Homepage
Nara member #128
NMRA &SER Life member
I meant to post this last week and never got around to it...but NS sent an FRA test car down the W-Line from Asheville last week...figured of would be relevant to the topic
Lionel could do a commercial with several miles of track and run a Lionel train up and down the Saluda grade. Make is a N&W J.
There was a MOW/work train in the Asheville yard east today. I have no idea if it was on the saluda line or not, but figured it would be relevant
Maybe one day. The inland port will open soon, so maybe we will have a clearer picture after that happens
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