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Carolina & N-W the Legacy of the Carolina and North-Western Railway Bumgarner DJ
Carolina & N-W the Legacy of the Carolina and North-Western Railway by Matthew Bumgarner
Hard Cover with dust jacket
Copyright 1996
190 pages
CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Introduction ix
The Kings Mountain Rail Road and the War of Northern Aggression 1
Opposition to the Railroad 9
Back on Track 13
Up to Lenoir 17
Life of the Narrow Gauge21
The "Pole Road"25
George Harper Returns 27
The People's Own Line 31
Standard Gauge and Expansion 37
The Flood of 1916 57
The Southern Tightens Its Grip61
The Line in World War I65
The Roaring Twenties 69
The Great Depression75
The Dawning of a New Era 79
The Decade of Turbulence 87
The Age of Decadence 95
The Last Hurrah 109
Fading into Oblivion 111
Cain't and Never Will Die 115
Motive Power Survey 119
Paint Schemes of the Railroad 131
Rolling Stock Survey 133
Maintenance Equipment Survey 143
Structures of the Railroad 147
Tales of the Rails 155
Closing Thoughts 179
Acknowledgments 183
Bibliography 185
Introduction
In the heart of Hickory, North Carolina, sits a proud old structure that is instantly recognizable as a railroad passenger depot. As a sign of the times, it is an increasingly rare piece of architecture that was once common along the Norfolk Southern main line that stretches from Salisbury to Asheville. People along this stretch of rail are familiar with the black and white diesels of the railroad, along with the black, white, and gold colors of the predecessor road, the Southern Railway.
A quarter mile west of the Hickory depot, the main line has a rusty spur that takes a northerly turn and travels over 20 miles to Lenoir. This little-known branch, now operated as a short line, is one of the last remaining vestiges of the old Carolina & North-Western Railway, which once boasted of having nearly 150 miles of track.
Construction of the original portion of the line began well before the Civil War, and during Reconstruction the railroad was reconceived, overhauled, and designed as one of the premiere narrow gauge railroads in the American South. As the folly of narrow gauge descended upon the country, the line was again remolded, expanded, and turned into a fine standard gauge railway.
During its heyday of the early 1900s, the railway's southern terminus was Chester, South Carolina, and the northern terminus was a few miles north of Lenoir in Edgemont, North Carolina. The line performed admirably in both world wars, suffered like its people through the Depression, and eventually was absorbed bit by bit into what was the Southern Railway.
The legacy left behind by the C&N-W-the Cain't and Never Willis one of determination, of pride, and of service. Disdaining major population centers such as Charlotte, North Carolina, may have been part of its downfall, but wonderful small towns such as Chester, Clover, Maiden, Newton, and Sawmills weave the magic of small-town America into the already powerful nostalgia that permeates railroading to this day.
The Cain't and Never Will was a small railroad, run by big men, and in a big way. It clothed them, it fed them, and sometimes it killed them, but most of all it was loved by them. The memory of this hallowed line shall not be forgotten, and neither shall the men who ran her.
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