I am looking for information and/or pictures of any thing related to the Statesville Airline Railroad which was chartered to build north of Statesville, NC at the turn of the 20th century. I have a short piece of rail that was used during its construction phase.
Statesville, welcome to the forums. Here’s a link to a 1907 newspaper article posted by members of N&W Historical Society and a few other ancient items. – Mike
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/Week-of-Mon-20070702/006635.html;
The Railway Age (1907)
Statesville Air Line.-Subscriptions are being obtained for a preliminary survey for a line from Lincolnton, N. C, northeast to Statesville, and thence to Mt. Airy, N.C, with projected extension to Radford and Salem, Va., and thence to connection with the Baltimore & Ohio. The project covers 213 miles, but the first effort will be to build the section from Statesville to Mt. Airy, 65 miles. W. D. Turner, president, Statesville, N. C. [W.D. Turner had served 4 terms as lieutenant governor of North Carolina.]
Press Bulletin by North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey (1912)
The Statesville Air Line Railroad, from Statesville to Mt. Airy, has been surveyed to pass north through the center of [Yadkin] county. Statesville and the township through which the road is to pass have voted $500,000 of bonds for the road. It is expected that the construction of the road may begin soon. With the building of a railroad the rapid industrial and agricultural development of the county is certain.
Railway Age Gazette (1915)
Statesville Air Line. - Financial arrangements are now being made, it is said, to carry out work on this line. The plans call for building from Statesville, N.C, north via Harmony to Houstonville, about 25 miles. Grading has been finished on about 20 miles, and track laying may be started soon. W. D. Turner, president; W. Wallace, vice-president; D. M. Ausley, treasurer and general manager.
Thanks, Mike, for that information. Since some of the notices are dated in the early teens of the twentieth century, I thought there might be some mention of the road in the June, 1916, issue of the Guide. There is none, and the map of North Carolina in that issue shows nothing of a road even starting from Statesville towards Mt. Airy. Apparently, this road died an early death after construction was started despite great hopes for its success.
We cannot absolutely depend upon SPV for some of the early roads, but the SPV atlas for Appalachia and Piedmont shows nothing (not even an abandoned line) in that direction.
Statesville, as Mike has said, welcome to the forums[#welcome]. I am sorry that I cannot help you more, but I would say hang on to that section of rail.
Thanks to both of you for your information and replies. Here is what I have found and know about the railroad.
The grading was started in 1910 and done by prison labor. By June 1915, sixteen miles of roadbed had been completed, with 60% of two more miles finished. At the outbreak of World War I, the prison convicts were taken away from their work and sent to Badin, NC to construct an aluminum plant. Some of the convicts came back but with the pressure from the war the work was eventually halted. (This information is from a book by Homer M. Keever copyright 1976 entitled “Iredell - Piedmont County”.)
In the northern section of Iredell County there are several deep cuts which were never finished and some high fills that are still quite visible if you know where to look for them. The short section of rail was apparently used in the construction of these cuts and fills. A long time resident of this section from whom I received the rail section said that he and his brother used to play with the empty powder cans (kegs?) when they were small boys growing up on their family farm where the abandoned grade crossed their fathers property.
I am not certain that there was ever any motive power purchased or rail laid other than what was used in the process of grading.
Thanks again, I look forward to the forums. - - Todd
The following link will take you to a “Map of Iredell County, NC (N. R. Kinney)” from 1917 showing the route of the “Proposed Statesville Air Line Rail Road” from what is now the Alexander Railroad all the way to the Yadkin County line.
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ncmaps&CISOPTR=413&CISOBOX=1&REC=11
There are two remaining cast concrete bridge piers where the proposed road would have crossed Fourth Creek in what is now the northwest quadrant of the I-40/US 21 intersection. My grandfather (born 1895) pointed them out to me in the mid-1960s. You can access them from near the end of Pump Station Road. (They will likely soon be demolished with the upcoming realignment of Gaither Road as part of the rework of the I-40/US 21 intersection.)
As a resident of Mooresville on Lake Norman, it was very interesting to see the area prior to all of today’s roads and the the creation of Lake Norman. Thank you for the map.
I stumbled acrodd this when I was searching for info on what became of the Statesville Ait Line RR. I know it is an old post, but we wanted to share that we live beside one of the “gullies” dug & never completed. Our nieces & nephews love to slide down on leaves in spring, summer & fall, and on paper bags when there’s been snow!