Atlantic & East Carolina Railway was a 96 mile short-line that ran from Goldsboro to the state port in Morehead City, NC from 1937 to 1958 when it was merged into the Southern Railway System. It was known as The Tobacco Belt Route, and the Atlantic & East Carolina name is still used as a sub-division of The Piedmont Subdivision of Norfolk Southern. Trains run daily over this route that has actually been expanded to run from Raleigh to Morehead City. I need operational, and any other information anyone may have on this railroad, including modeling information, as well as photographs. Please reply if you think you can provide any help.
a&ecman,
Don’t know if this will help but I grew up in Havelock–18 miles from Morehead City about 50 yards from the rail line. I lived there between 1955 and 1966 as a child. The line was in pretty rough shape for the most part. The main commodity as I recall was fuel for Cherry Point Marine Air Base in Havelock. They would run a train late in the afternoon from Morehead usually around 5:00 p.m. and run one back around 2:00 a.m. in the morning. Because of the condition of the track I don’t think the trains ever exceeded much over 25 or 30 mph.
I am serious when I say the track was neglected. The ties were rotting, spikes were pulling up, and the rails looked like thy just kind of snaked back and forth. They kept the weeds sparyed down so everything close to the line was a dead brown. The ballast was thin and a rusty brown color. Isn’t it amazing what you can remember from your childhood? The main motive power were Geeps but I don’t know which ones (I’m new to model railroading and still learning). Southern was running the line when I lived there. Most of the tank cars, and there were a ton of them, were silver. The remaining cars were box cars and condolas in the ususal colors.
The area has developed alot since I moved. I go back ocassionaly as I still have family there. The line is in much better shape now. As I understand it, the revenue picked up and they overhauled everything some years back. When I lived there, things were pretty slow. Watching the train come through each afternoon was the highlight of the day. The engineers would waive and blow the horn for us–pretty big deal back then! Once in a while we would put pennies on the rails–don’t tell anyone though.
Although I am from Indiana, I am interested in the line.
I vacation in that part of the world and we often drive to Beaufort for dinner. The railroad seems to be a fascinating operation. The track appears to be in great shape…cwr. In Morehead City the tracks run between the lanes of the main street, not exactly street running, but interesting. The port area seems to be active. There are usually quite a few cars in the yard, often covered hoppers.
In my opinion, that part of the railroad would be interesting to model, particularly if you can have a port in your layout.
Unfortunately, I have no pictures. I have only seen one train running, coming thru Morehead.
I would suggest you go out that way and take lots of pictures, then head across the causeway to Beaufort and eat at Claytons.
ed