Late this morning I was at the W line railroad crossing at the asphalt plant about 2 miles east of Inman, S.C. There were NS security police and safety personnel stopping cars at the railroad crossing. They were handing out safety brochures warning motorist that train speeds would soon be increasing up to 50mph at the crossing. The safety guys said the rumor was the line is fixing to be re-opened to Asheville but they had not received any official word from NS. Of course, there is no reason for trains to speed through that crossing at 50mph since nothing is being switched at Inman except a small siding west of town, and then nothing west of there (Mascot, S.C) to Landrum, S.C. (Capps Lumber at Landrum quit shipping wood chips by rail about a year ago). 50mph is fast for any freight train in this region. Of course, as always, I’ll believe the line is re-opened when I see it! However, it does raise the level of speculation up a notch!
I got an e-mail from some of the other volunteers at my museum. I was also told NS high rail trucks were at the grade crossing in East Flat Rock, NC.