Cary-Raleigh Track Ownership

[brianpmcdonnell17]

What railroad owns the tracks between Cary and Raleigh, NC? On the Silver Service page, it is listed as NS owning only Raleigh to Selma. On the Carolinian page, it lists NS as the entire segment Charlotte-Selma. These two routes merge at Cary and share routing into Raleigh.

 

[Seaboard92]

The North Carolina Railroad owns one track which is leased currently by Norfolk Southern. And the other track is owned by CSX EX Seaboard Airline. It's actually double track between both cities. With each owning one. And both companies trains can run on each other's track from what I'm led to believe.

 

[CREW-DORM#2524]

#1 track is CSX, #2 is NS(NCRR) between Boylan and Fetner. CSX timetable and operating rules govern and the segment is under the control of the CSX FD dispatcher in Florence.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Cary is a pretty cool Amtrak station, it sits in the middle of the NS and CSX lines. Reminiscent of the old "junctions" that used to be common. It's pretty cool to ride a Peidmont train and transfer here to a silver train... Getting off the "local" 4 car train and getting on the long distance silver.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Cary is a pretty cool Amtrak station, it sits in the middle of the NS and CSX lines. Reminiscent of the old "junctions" that used to be common. It's pretty cool to ride a Peidmont train and transfer here to a silver train... Getting off the "local" 4 car train and getting on the long distance silver.

I changed twice in Cary when I traveled from Jacksonville,FL to Charlotte, NC and vv. You used to change in Raleigh, but Cary is a much nicer station with more room. They have a nice snack bar which sells a variety of food. It is also a hub for the local transit, but is a separate building just adjacent to the Amtrak station. We need more of those type of junctions at other location. Effingham, IL used to be a great junction between the National Limited and the City of New Orleans, Illini trains until 1979 when the National Limited was discontinued.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Cary is a pretty cool Amtrak station, it sits in the middle of the NS and CSX lines. Reminiscent of the old "junctions" that used to be common. It's pretty cool to ride a Peidmont train and transfer here to a silver train... Getting off the "local" 4 car train and getting on the long distance silver.

I changed twice in Cary when I traveled from Jacksonville,FL to Charlotte, NC and vv. You used to change in Raleigh, but Cary is a much nicer station with more room. They have a nice snack bar which sells a variety of food. It is also a hub for the local transit, but is a separate building just adjacent to the Amtrak station. We need more of those type of junctions at other location. Effingham, IL used to be a great junction between the National Limited and the City of New Orleans, Illini trains until 1979 when the National Limited was discontinued.

And perhaps most importantly, Cary has much more parking than Raleigh.

jb

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Cary is a pretty cool Amtrak station, it sits in the middle of the NS and CSX lines. Reminiscent of the old "junctions" that used to be common. It's pretty cool to ride a Peidmont train and transfer here to a silver train... Getting off the "local" 4 car train and getting on the long distance silver.

I changed twice in Cary when I traveled from Jacksonville,FL to Charlotte, NC and vv. You used to change in Raleigh, but Cary is a much nicer station with more room. They have a nice snack bar which sells a variety of food. It is also a hub for the local transit, but is a separate building just adjacent to the Amtrak station. We need more of those type of junctions at other location. Effingham, IL used to be a great junction between the National Limited and the City of New Orleans, Illini trains until 1979 when the National Limited was discontinued.

And perhaps most importantly, Cary has much more parking than Raleigh.
jb

What other active stations have that setup with separate platforms for diverging tracks? The only examples I can think of are all in North Carolina: Greensboro, Cary, and Selma.

 

[CCC1007]

Cary is a pretty cool Amtrak station, it sits in the middle of the NS and CSX lines. Reminiscent of the old "junctions" that used to be common. It's pretty cool to ride a Peidmont train and transfer here to a silver train... Getting off the "local" 4 car train and getting on the long distance silver.

I changed twice in Cary when I traveled from Jacksonville,FL to Charlotte, NC and vv. You used to change in Raleigh, but Cary is a much nicer station with more room. They have a nice snack bar which sells a variety of food. It is also a hub for the local transit, but is a separate building just adjacent to the Amtrak station. We need more of those type of junctions at other location. Effingham, IL used to be a great junction between the National Limited and the City of New Orleans, Illini trains until 1979 when the National Limited was discontinued.

And perhaps most importantly, Cary has much more parking than Raleigh.
jb

What other active stations have that setup with separate platforms for diverging tracks? The only examples I can think of are all in North Carolina: Greensboro, Cary, and Selma.

Vancouver WA has the station in a wye and the builder uses a different leg than the starlight and cascades use.

 

[SouthernServesTheSouth]

Charlottesville,VA has two platforms. Cardinal uses the East/West platform (CSX) and the Crescent & NER uses the North/South platform (NS). Station is in Northeast corner of diamond.

 

[CREW-DORM#2524]

Eventually, Main Street Station, Richmond, VA will have the platform put back in on the Seaboard side for the Florida trains. The Newport News trains already use the C&O side.

 

[jis]

Charlottesville,VA has two platforms. Cardinal uses the East/West platform (CSX) and the Crescent & NER uses the North/South platform (NS). Station is in Northeast corner of diamond.

Isn't it BBRR and not CSX at Charlottesville?

 

[Carolina Special]

I think the Buckingham Branch leases and operates the line from CSX that runs through Charlottesville. Technically CSX would still be the underlying owner.

 

[xyzzy]

Until about 15 years ago, the NS and CSX lines between Cary (Fetner) and Raleigh (Boylan) were signaled for directional running only. All westbounds ran on CSX and all eastbounds ran on NS. It had been that way for several decades. The NS track was welded rail but the CSX track was jointed rail -- quite rough at 60-65 mph.

Eventually NCDOT installed bidirectional CTC on both tracks and also installed welded rail on the CSX track. The junction at Fetner was redesigned, too.

At one time a universal crossover was planned between Fetner and Boylan at the state fairgrounds, but I believe it was deleted in order to cover cost overruns at the new Raleigh station.

The original Cary depot was torn down in the late 1960s or early 1970s. NCDOT opened a DMV office in Cary near the site of the former depot in the 1990s and then later expanded it as the Cary passenger station.

 

[west point]

Richmond Main street station (RVM) almost unique as it has the platform for Newport News, Will have the RVR to Petersburg "S" lines for HrSR, But a third track and platform as this poster understands was the C&O line to Lynchburg ? That route joined the Newport news track east of RVM. + of course the stub end platforms for RF&P.

 

[Seaboard92]

To my knowledge there were never trains down the C&O to Lynchburg for passengers. And if there were they probably backed in

 

[CREW-DORM#2524]

Richmond Main street station (RVM) almost unique as it has the platform for Newport News, Will have the RVR to Petersburg "S" lines for HrSR, But a third track and platform as this poster understands was the C&O line to Lynchburg ? That route joined the Newport news track east of RVM. + of course the stub end platforms for RF&P.

No. Two platforms at Main Street. The Seaboard on the west side and the C&O on the east. The C&O route that served Main Street went west via Doswell, Gordonsville and Charlottesville. There was no platform on the river side. The RF&P stopped at Broad Street Station and did not serve Main Street.

 

[xyzzy]

By July 1948 the only C&O passenger service Richmond-Lynchburg-Clifton Forge was doodlebugs. Specifically there were trains 9/10 between Richmond and Clifton Forge, trains 11/12 between Richmond and Lynchburg, and trains 33/34 between Lynchburg and Clifton Forge. I assume 9/10 and 11/12 pulled in and out of Main Street Station on the C&O side with a backup move. I don't know how long the doodlebugs ran.

 

[ToniCounter]

And perhaps most importantly, Cary has much more parking than Raleigh.

jb

how do they know which cars belong to Amtrak passengers? I plan to drive to Cary just because of the ample parking lot. However, I will get there early and walk to a nearby restaurant(a couple blocks away, according to Google Maps)... then come back to catch my Amtrak train. I'll be gone for about a week. Will I risk having my car towed like that?

 

[me_little_me]

And perhaps most importantly, Cary has much more parking than Raleigh.

jb

how do they know which cars belong to Amtrak passengers? I plan to drive to Cary just because of the ample parking lot. However, I will get there early and walk to a nearby restaurant(a couple blocks away, according to Google Maps)... then come back to catch my Amtrak train. I'll be gone for about a week. Will I risk having my car towed like that?

We've left our car at Cary a number of times. No problems.

 

[xyzzy]

North Raleigh and North Wake residents riding to NEC points often drive to Rocky Mount and catch the train there. Free parking and plenty of it, as in Cary, and the drive to Rocky Mount saves time compared to the jog through Selma on Amtrak.

FWIW, the new Raleigh station will have less onsite parking than the current station. However, a new parking garage will be built down the street. What we don't know yet are how many places in that garage will be available to the public (the garage will also serve the building's tenants), prices, operating hours, etc. My guess is that Cary and Rocky Mount will remain popular stations for years to come.