Eastern Railroad Discussion > A/B set of Fs and Dome Car running in North Carolina

Aberdeen Carolina & Western broke out their A/B set of F (ex NS executive units), a heavy weight baggage car and coach, and the new pride of the fleet, The Menzies Vista today, seen here running southbound toward Aberdeen NC on the ACWR Sandhills Sub, passing though my backyard in Pinehurst NC at 106PM today.  An hour and 26 minutes earlier saw a short northbound causing a brief pause in a golfers game in the background.  

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Darn. I stayed in Southern Pines both Friday and Saturday nights. Saw a couple of AC&W trains but no F’s those days. Now two plus hours away on the beach. Any idea about their next move?

Posted from iPhone

srman Wrote:
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> Darn. I stayed in Southern Pines both Friday and
> Saturday nights. Saw a couple of AC&W trains but
> no F’s those days. Now two plus hours away on
> the beach. Any idea about their next move?
>
> Posted from iPhone

PURE GUESS on my part - since the train was unoccupied, my guess is it's headed to the house track in Pinehurst there by The Cradle and Pinehurst Clubhouse for some sort of upcoming event - possibly linked to new track construction.  Question is will they take it down to Aberdeen and turn it on the wye first, or will it nose in on top of ACWR's ex PRR Twin Diner that is currently tied down there,    ACWR has a stub end track there in Pinehurst that holds about 8 cars - track has "hotel" power so visiting passenger cars can "camp" there with ground utility hook ups.  Immediately adjacent to this, The USGA recently broke ground on Golf House Pinehurst  USGA Breaks Ground on Golf House Pinehurst .  In conjunction with this USGA development, the upcoming US Opens (Pinehurst #2 is one of 3 "anchor sites" for the US Open, slated to hold 5 of them over the next coupe decades), and various other major tournaments and events, ACWR is expanding their track footprint in this area for increased passenger car capacity - steel for a second turnout and several dozen sticks of new 136lb rail have recently been unloading in preparation for this track work.  ACWR reportedly plans on hosting a number of Class 1 OCS cars and other PVs during the 2024 US Open and other events.  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/22 12:11 by scraphauler.

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Thank you Scraphauler for the video and photos.  I love seeing those F units running and I also am so thankful to see that Pullman Diner Lounge Car now called the "Pinehurst."  This car originally was known as the "Defender" and for many years back in the late 1970's and early 1980's operated with many excursion trains on the former B&O Railroad with the Chessie System.  The car was privately owned and never was any part of either the Chessie Steam Special or the Chessie Steam Safety Express Trains; but operated in the consists of many other excursion trains on the Chessie System.  Here is a photo of the car from back then.

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The F unit video was oh so nice to see. Thanks for sharing. 

Freight loads must have been soybeans in the grain cars, as the Incrobrasa car was present.

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Freight loads must have been soybeans in the grain
> cars, as the Incrobrasa car was present.

Yes - beans or various bean meals - all headed to Perdue or Montaire to feed the chickens.  Open top hoppers and gos where aggregate cars, and the little 2 bay bringing up the markers was foundry sand.

Here are a shots down in Pinehurst from around 5PM.  First shot is train holding on main along NC Hwy 5 between Pinehurst #3 to the right and Pinehurst #2, The Cradle, and the Clubhouse to the left.  Caterers where working it and ACWR has their "PRIVATE TRAIN PARKING" signs up in one of the auxiliary resort parking lots, so there obviously some sort of event happening this evening.  Second shot shows the house track mentioned in original post and the ex PRR twin diner currently stationed there. Golf House Pinehurst site and pile of new track material is just out of view to the right.  Notice the magnetic blue flag on main line rail for the caterers.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/22 15:22 by scraphauler.

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Low the throttling down sound of the SD's at the start of the 2nd video.  Envious of the golfers too!

Train operated down to Aberdeen, turned on the wye, and returned to Pinehurst. Apparently this was for a local Economc Development Agency.  Video of return trip around 7 can be found on my YouTube channel PAST THE OFFICE WINDOW.  Train just returned past house a couple minutes ago. Looked awesome in the dark with the interior lights on. 

Thanks for posting the excellent videos.  Railroading in that part of NC has really changed, for the better, from what it was when I lived in Winston Salem 1972 - 1976.
ALLEN

Nice shots!

The ex PRR Twin Unit diners appear to be off the 1952 era "Congressional" train.  Nice!

The former UPRR 9011 Dome Lounge is always terrific to see.