Raleigh Planes, Trains & Automobiles: Part One

150
05/12 09:33 AM

I’ll bet the reason this train isn’t still running is that it didn’t go to RDU!

ncmyk
05/12 12:32 PM

quite funny 150!

and the trains will never run to the airport if the airport has its way.  there is serious $ to be made in letting people park their cars at the airport - that’s why none of the transit proposals have trains going to rdu.

ct
05/12 02:14 PM

I lived in Atlanta 1972-1986. This was before, during, and after construction of the “new” ATL airport terminal as well as MARTA. MARTA at ATL is a great convenience—especially for airport employees and inbound business travelers—but it has had little effect on parking near the airport. I’d say there are probably 3X the number of parking spaces within 5 miles of ATL today that there were in 1988 when MARTA finally got that far south.

Whatever glitch Triangle Transit would cause RDU parking, it would be short-lived.

Jimmy
05/12 04:51 PM

The Union station building (in the 1928 photo) looks like some nice architecture. Too bad it has been demolished.

ct
05/12 04:57 PM

It hasn’t been demolished completely—the head house of the 1898 Union Station is still standing at the corner of Dawson and Martin. All tracks were removed after 1950, and so was the distinctive tower. Looking at the front of the building, it’s impossible to tell that it was formerly a train station. Unfortunately, the 1898 station was a “stub end” design where trains had to back in or out, instead of running straight through. That’s a pain in the neck to a busy railroad. The main railroad in town (the Seaboard) built its own run-through station in 1942; it’s now the Logan Trading Company. Southern Railway built its own run-through station in 1950; that’s the station used by Amtrak today.

Jimmy
05/12 05:30 PM

Oh, yeah, after reading the Union Station Public Review Draft, I see it wasn’t entirely demolished. I just never guessed that boring-looking office building at Dawson & Martin was once a train station.

ct
05/12 06:39 PM

An architectural crime, I’d say.

Joe Seale
05/13 09:48 AM

Ladye Jane,

Any chance Raleigh City Museum has reprints of these and other images available for purchase?

pBeez
05/13 10:30 AM

The photos are great, I just wish there was more narrative.

Ladye Jane
05/13 12:35 PM

Joe-
Yep! Some are available through the museum, some would most likely be available through the State Archives, but I would have to check. Send me an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we’ll chat about which specific ones you are interested in.

binks
06/03 02:02 PM

You ought to provide more information on how to view the photos. I couldn’t make the system work.

AM
06/04 01:23 PM

Pics not working

Margaret Jones
10/25 04:03 PM

My Great Grandfather(James H Clements) worked on the Raleigh Gaston R.R. after the War Between the States and met my Great Grandmother in doing so by stopping to get water for the train from a well on their farm land which was about 3 miles west of the town of Littleton,NC.. They were married in 1868…Are there any pictures of the trains used during that time period? I would surely like to be able to get a copy of them. Also, is there a map that shows the route the train took from Raleigh to Gaston and then on to Weldon, N.C.?  Thanks

ct
10/25 04:20 PM

Most of the Raleigh & Gaston tracks can be seen on any map that shows railroads, like the NCDOT public highway map. Downtown Raleigh to Wake Forest, Youngsville, Franklinton, Kittrell, Henderson, Middleburg, and Norlina—parallel to US 1, but not always alongside US 1. The route has not changed appreciably in 150 years.

From Norlina, the tracks have been abandoned. The route went to Warren Plains, Macon, Vaughan, Littleton, Thelma, and Roanoke Rapids. The tracks start again at Roanoke Rapids. Much of this route is parallel to US 158.

Margaret Jones
10/28 01:32 PM

Thanks, that was a great help…Even found a map site from that link that showed the railroad company also built a small railroad building near the well and where my g-g-grandfathers house was marked also.