Does anyone know the track speed beween Wilmington and Pembroke NC? I’m going to be photographing along there.
Also, how many trains/day? (I’m guessing two each way, but obviously hoping for more.)
Balt?
BTW, this stretch is part of a 79-mile tangent that’s the longest straight stretch of railroad in the US.
The 2005 Florence Division Timetable, which is the latest I have on my computer indicates that the territory is ‘Dark’ and the maximum speed for trains is 49 MPH with freight being the only type of operation.
Never having worked the Florence Division, I have no idea of the level of traffic that is handled.
Thanks, Balt.
The FRA crossing database shows only 4 trains per week on this line as of 2019, when the count was recorded. Slim pickings! The records also show 40-49 mph speed limits.
Some information on TO from about 7 years ago:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,3282283,nodelay=1
I find it a little hard to believe it’s still just four trains per week, because I went out this morning, and within about an hour and a half photographed a meet between two trains. Now, that could be blind luck, but …
We are staying in Wilmington at the moment. Almost every night, and about every other day (maybe more) I hear a train go through town. This is between Davis Yard to the NW and the Port of Wilmington to the south. The port is a pretty major enterprise, from what I can tell. Nothing gets to and from Wilmington other than on the line in question, which goes through Pembroke to Hamlet.
OM, thanks for that link.
I’m going to try to find out how busy the line is. But my guess is at least 10 trains a week, maybe as many as 20. Of course, I really have no idea.
As far as it being dark territory, I can only say this: there are signals at the switches for the siding where I was, and the switches are remotely controlled. Could this be the case, but the line is still considered dark?
This article might shed some light on how busy the line might be, or might become.
Over the years CSX has undertaken a program of making switches ‘Radio Controlled’. Crews use the AAR Radio on their engine to tone a DTMF signal to operate the switches. This eliminated the in
This is former Seaboard Air Line track. If you drive I-95, you cross this stretch of track at Lumberton.
Seaboard had another straight stretch of track long enough to be one of the 10 longest straight stretches of track in the U.S., on the Miami extension in South Florida. Don’t know the length of that straight stretch, but obviously less than 79 miles.
ACL also had a straight stretch of track in the top 10 - just over 60 miles, between Waycross and Valdosta, GA. It is part of the “Bow Line”, from Savannah, GA to either Montgomery or Birmingham, AL.
The FRA numbers show 2 local “switching trains” east of about Riegelwood, one “switching train” between East Arcadia and Riegelwood, and four trains per week west of East Arcadia. Rail traffic is ever-changing, so it is possible that numbers have changed since the FRA counts were made, etc.
To CSX, is that line E-W or N-S?
On Florence Division everything is N-S … even when the tracks are geographically E - W.
Thanks!
On related subject: on average, how many trains pass through Fayetteville NC in 24 hours?
Before 1995 probably 12 each way. four passengwe and eight freight. Total 24. Today?
Thanks, Dave. What happened in 1995?
FRA has it at 18 “thru trains”, which I believe would include 6 Amtraks, and 3 “switching trains”, in 2021 numbers, on the north/south mainline north of Pembroke and south of Wilson. So maybe 15 freights and 6 Amtrak trains a day, give or take.
Thanks, Ed.
My last ride on the old ACL main line was to and from a relatve’s wedding in Palm Beach, Florida, December, 1995. July 11, 1996, moved to Jerusalem, Israel.
I did recently log trains a bit further north on this CSX mainline, on the Rocky Mount web cam over a 24 hour period. On November 22, I saw 21 CSX freights and 10 Amtrak trains. I suspect that a number of these freights were off of the lines to Plymouth, Norfolk, etc., into the yard there, which would bump up the local freight count a bit.
There is a nightly intermodal train, the “Queen City Express” from the Port of Wilmington to Charlotte, and an opposing counterpart. So that gets us to 14 trains a week. If the two trains I shot meeting around 11:00 in Bladenton are additional trains (they were not primarily intermodal trains), I suppose we could be looking at 20-28 trains a week.
Could someone look at the Queen City Express’s schedule and explain it to me? It’s unclear to me how much time it takes to move these cars to Charlotte. It appears it’s a 29-hour service. Yes? No? And what is an “import milestone.”
I have tried calling Wilmington’s (actually Leland NC) Davis Yard to get more info, but the phone seems to be permanently busy. Even if someone answered, it’s anyone’s guess whether they’d tell me anything. Probably doubtful.