I spent a couple of hours yesterday hiking the Saluda grade to check out the condition of the tracks there. I’m happy to report that the track is in good shape. I found a couple of places where it appears that washouts had been repaired. Lots of rip-rap and new ballast had been dumped in a couple of places. Rails and ties are in good condition. I came upon one spot where kudzu had overgrown the track from both sides. Where the kudzu was on the rails was smashed flat, so it has seen a hi-rail just in the last week or two. I also saw where several trees had been cleared from the track. NS is definetly keeping the track up. I’m not a track expert but I would say the it is easily capable of handling train traffic. I took several pictures and will post them here as soon as the film is developed (not all of us have those fancy digital cameras).
…Derrick…Thanks a lot for your effort checking out the Saluda grade…{I am the one that posted the question re: a major washout of ROW back some posts…}.
I wonder if anyone might still have the very excellent photos that were posted on here {of that washout}, perhaps about a year ago…It appeared to be a major one. A very large wash out had carried the ground and ballast down a major embankment and really opened up a “gash” under the ROW to the extent the track was suspended with nothing under it for some length…
But anyway…I’m glad you found the track to be in good condition…Reading the article in the new issue of TRAINS {The Loops}, I saw the word “Kudzu” and wondered what that was and now realize it is the winding vine like plant that tends to cover anything in sight in that area…
I remember on my last stop at Saluda {on way back from Florida}, just before NS had closed the line, I positioned my self {near the old filling station at beginning of grade}, to take some pictures looking down the grade…I remember seeing the Kudzu vines in that area across the tracks on that embankment.
I stopped there 3 or 4 times {each time returning home from a Winter in Florida}, trying to catch a train moving up or down the grade but never was successful. Stayed as long as 4 hours {having lunch, etc…walking around}, but no luck. Even stopped in and talked to Mr. Pace there at the General Store and ask him about the traffic, etc…A nice gentleman…He would tell me “oh there still is train action but one never knows when they might be coming by…”. But we simply never lucked out. I have been fasinated by the location for years and when we finally were traveling by on the interstate so close by it was my opportunity to check it out…
So thanks for the info you posted re: check out of possible washout.
Would be great for railfans if NS would open for use the route in the near future.
Kudzu is a plant hybred developed by a state highway department down south (not sure which one). It’s a rampant spreading plant so much so that it’s become a weed-like pest.
…Yes, I saw that stuff in various locations in the south but didn’t know it’s name at the time…Saw it covering vast areas climbing up lines of trees just looking like it would take over everything in sight if not stopped…! Almost scary.
Your quite welcome. I’m pretty fortunate in that where I live I’m only about a 40 minute drive from Saluda, the NS loops at Old Fort, and the Clinchfield loops. In the last few years Saluda was in service it only saw about 4 trains a day. It was very hard to catch one there. You also had to be absolutely sure you were not on railroad property because a road foreman of engineers rode on every train down the mountain. They would not hesitate to report you and they sure weren’t friendly.
I saw the spot where the big washout you are talking about occurred. From the right-of-way you couldn’t really tell it, but you could see it from Pearson Falls Rd, It turns off Hwy 176 in Saluda and pretty much parallels the tracks down the hill. About halfway down the grade you can see where ballast and riprap has slid about 250 ft down the hillside from the tracks.
Next time you are passing through, if you have some time, you should take the drive down Pearson Falls Rd. You can’t see much of the tracks as they are way above the road but there are some interesting sights to see. Pearson Falls Rd passes through a tunnel that goes under the hill the tracks are on. The creek that runs beside the road also goes under the hill there. The roadway through the tunnel is also the bridge over the creek. Once you get almost to the bottom of the grade, the drive for Pearson Falls Park turns to the right. You can hike out to Pearson Falls which is about a 60 to 70 ft waterfall. Very nice place.
If they do start running trains there again, there is a place called Sandy Ridge Cabins off Pearson Falls Rd that sits up on the hillside above Sandy Cut about a mile or so from the top of the grade. The cabins are rented out to vacationers for a week or weekends. It would be a great place to stay and be within easy walking distance of the tracks.
…I would think Saluda benefitted quite a bit from rail fans stopping by {just as we did off the interstate…several times}, and now that fans know the traffic has stopped I wonder if they still come…It sure is a pretty little town especially in the Springtime when we would stop…seeing the fresh blossoms and the new leaves come out it sure was pretty that time of the year.
That old general store {Pace’s}, was like walking back into a time warp…The wife purchased something from Mr. Pace that he didn’t have at the moment and he said I’ll send it to you when we get more and you bet, he did…Just a bit different for the era we’re living in now…
Had lunch several times there in several of the main st. restaurants…Especially good hot dogs in one of them one year…
Looking down that Saluda 4.7 % grade was hard to believe one was looking down a working mainline RR grade…Hard to believe one’s eyes. Still can’t imagine how it was possible to pull much tonnage up that grade. And of course the run a way tracks down the grade a ways…believe only one was still in place. Have seen pictures of a steam locomotive almost buried in the ground at the end of one of them after a run a way from many years ago.
Maybe they should have planted the Kudzu stuff at near the end of the run a way track…That should have stopped them…
Only one runaway track exists now. It is at the bottom of the hill in Melrose. In the winter when the foilage is down you can see where the other one used to be. There is actually one short section of track on the hill that is over 5% grade. It’s either 5.1% or 5.3%, I can’t remember which one. The 4.7% is the overall grade.
Modelcar, you are right about looking down the grade. From the top it looks like a drop you would see on a rollercoaster. Have you ever been to the bottom at Melrose and looked up the hill? It’s just as impressive as looking down.
…Dale: That stuff…{Kudzu}, is something unbelievable…I believe Georga is where we have seen the most wild scenes of the stuff…Just covering everything in it’s path…I believe one could cut it off at the stem at ground level and it would pay no attention to such a minor thing…Too bad we can’t extract oil out of it…If so, we’d have the mother lode.
Derrick: No, have not been to any other location in that area except right around Saluda. Have seen lots of photos of the other areas such as the Melrose area…Did take that road that turns left coming into Saluda {from the interstate}, sometime in the past but it turned into a dirt road and didn’t want to do that so turned around and came back.
Now, that I’ve learned of The Loops area a bit more that would be an interesting section to see too. But Jim Wrinn’s mention of Copperheads would keep me out of any paths in that area…
I took a pic of the metal sign along the railroad there in Saluda at the summit and it mentions info and data of the grades, etc…I believe the short steeper part is 5.1 %
Some years ago when they moved the depot up into town that used to be beyond the overhead bridge in Saluda and down the other side a bit…that must have been a challenging job to do that. Little place sure is a fascinating spot…Just too bad the railroad quit running…At least it’s still there and looks like it will continue to be there for foreseeable future.
I don’t blame you on that. I wouldn’t venture out on the trails around the loops until it gets colder. There are also rattlesnakes in that area as well. I encountered one of them last year when I was poking around on the loops during warm weather. Being three feet from a rattlesnake can really ruin your enthusiasm for railfanning.
…Derrick: Our original home area is southwestern Pennsylvania and there in the mountainous areas one can find those two snakes…Years ago, many, many years ago while fishing and climbing up an embankment I came almost face to face to a Copperhead and that just about ended my fishing career.
So as you suggested the colder season would be the time to look at the areas we’re discussing. Wonder how the fellows stood such stuff that built the lines through such places…Many of them would have stayed right in the job area day and night in tents, etc…Wow, not for me…don’t know how they did it. And I realize they didn’t have a choice back in the building era…
That Kudzu crap sure would give all the creeping and crawing stuff a bunch of cover…
Guess what we need is *trains and train horns…*to keep that kind of stuff a little distant.
Here is a web site for you on Kudzu, Even jelly may be made from it, like that evergreen tip jelly made in the Northwest. http://home.att.net/~ejlinton/kudzu.html
Derrick: My wife and I were returning from a trip through the Smokies (Gatlinburg for her bridge tournament), Lynchburg, TN, and Huntsville, AL in May, 1995. We were staying in Ashville, and she let me off the leash one afternoon after we finished touring the Biltmore estate so I high tailed it for Saluda. I went into the station which is in the middle of the town, and I asked a man if any trains had passed recently; he may have been the Mr Pace that others have mentioned. He told me none had passed since he was there at 9:00 AM that morning. Shortly after that my scanner came to life with the chirp of an end of train transmitter. Sure enough an uphill train showed up about 5 minutes later, and I recall its symbol was W 77.Could that have been a symbol for the cut of cars being brought up the grade?
…Boy, you sure lucked out Rudy…Your lucky day. By the way, the station you mention of stepping into in the center of town originally was located about a half mile {west}, beyond the overhead bridge looking that way on the line it was on the right hand side of the ROW.
If they were to open up saluda i sure would see alot more trains i live 10 feet from that line and the only 2 trains that run it is the coal train to the power plant and the 6 o clock train which does local switching for the concrete companies in arden and hendersonville, if i here anything here from the asheville yard ill let you guys know