Norfolk Southern Denies Rumors About Reopening Saluda Grade Line

[adrianspeeder]

Ahhh yes, the bronco goes through 3foot of snow, only had the diesel in 2foot, and the 97 is only good for 2 foot. I love the snow. Now ice is a different matter, 4x4 can get you goin, but you use four wheels to stop anyway, so no extra stopping power is added with 4x4. That is one thing most people with suvs dont understand.

You want a hard drive? How about 20miles from home, dark, in the 150, WITH A TRAILER, freezing rain, prolly an inch of ice on the road, and i had been up for a day and a half without sleep. I had chains, used 4lowrange, and just feathered the clutch in first gear. Used only the trailer brakes to slow me down. Yep i like the winter.

I dont think i will have the fun of snow drivin in the sticks here at widener.

Adrianspeeder

[Anonymous]

I hope they reopen it soon. I would really like to see their steam engines use that grade again in regular service.

keep asking keep learning

[Modelcar]

...Wasn't the reason to severe the line by removing some rails was for technical and cost reasons while the line lies dormant.....

[Anonymous]

They haven't replaced any rail, it's all sitting there rusted. They cut it so that they wouldn't have to maintain that 20 or so miles of track; no possible way for trains to get through there, no maitenance for the tracks. I've got some pictures of what all they did, need to get them scanned though.

[Modelcar]

...Yes, cutting the rails producing a gap so it's really not a continous rail line hence reducing the amount of cost of maintaining highway crossing signals, etc....and keeping other maintenance costs down. But still having a continous track in place with exception where it is cut...which would take minimum time to reconnect.

[Anonymous]

Exactly. It will also be a dead give-away that they're re-opening the line if they start fixing everything back. The way it was. I'm working on scanning some pictures now...

[Anonymous]

Yes, by severing the line NS avoids some maintenance and STB regulations, and as this is at least a long term situation, the right thing to do. True, a train cannot run the line, but a high-rail car could, so you still need to obey the stop signs at the trackis, even if the crossing signals are out of service. The rust is getting deeper every day..

[espeefoamer]

With all those rumors flying around, the rust isn't the only thing that's getting deeper[8].

[Anonymous]

Here's a few pictures from where they cut the line in Landrum, S.C. that I took yesterday. I'll get more up later on showing the actual crossing gates.

[Anonymous]

Right, espeefoamer.

Glad I have my shorts on. It's too late to save my shoes . . .

Old Timer

[Modelcar]

....BRF.....That sure puts it into reality....to see that severed gap. What is the layer of material {tar paper..?}, for....?? I'm guessing it's so the mound of dirt didn't soak down into the ballast...Really don't know what they would worry about such a minor situation for....Thanks for all the photos on the subject...You're really keeping us informed of what they've done. Really appreciate that. Almost like being there...

[Modelcar]

PS....And the rust tells the full story....

[Anonymous]

I didn't check to see what the material was made out of, wish I had, but I wonder if perhaps the thing is to keep the soil off of the rails and from exposing the iron to any of the minerals in the soil? The soil around here that hasn't been farmed and just sitting typically is acidic with a low pH. Don't know, just searching out in right field on that one.

Side note on the soil here, when they built the county high school in the early '90s and sent soil samples for where they were going to put the football field to NC State University for soil analysis, they wrote back asking if this was real soil! The pH was about bottomed out on the scale and there was next to none of the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphous and potassium in the soil.

[Modelcar]

....What school is that one sees {hope I'm remembering correctly}, I believe it was on the right coming into Saluda from the interstate....?

[Modelcar]

BRF....As you can tell of my interest of the Saluda situation...The equivalent up in my home area {Johnstown, Pa.}, would be a visit to Horseshoe Curve and Gallitzin tunnels just west of Altoona on the Old Pennsylvania RR and of course now NS....It used to be 4 tracks most of the way across Pennsylvania. Now in the area described, 3-tracks. So if you ever get to that area with your trusty camera zero in on those locations. There are more important and famous locations in that area too for the railroad fan.

[Anonymous]

That's Saluda Elementary School, serving grades K-8. I could tell you more on the history, but to be honest I'm not all that sure since I went to Tryon schools. Since the school hasn't served 9-12 since the '91-'92 school year (same with Tryon High and Polk Central High), students either go to the consolidated Polk County High School or East Henderson High, depending on what side of Saluda you live on. The majority go to East. The county is also building a new consolidated middle school (http://www.polk.k12.nc.us/pcms/photos.htm) by merging Tryon Middle and Polk Central Middle (same principle as the high school merging), but the county has decided to let Saluda Middle to stay open for those that want to continue going there since the new middle school will be so much farther away.

I'll have to make my way up to Horseshoe Curve sometime, there are so many other rail destinations I would love to go to but haven't found the time to do so. I'll be sure to keep that one in mind though. And at least I'll be able to see some actual action, have to go a ways now to see any!

[Modelcar]

..10-4 on the Saluda school....And on the pictures of the cut rails near Saluda...That really brings it seriously to mind that the trains really aren't running anymore. Perhaps with some luck some day again in the future.