Eastern Railroad Discussion > RJ Corman acquisition of NS Fayetteville, NC line is official

This transaction has been rumored for quite some time now, and there is finally an official announcement--

R. J. Corman Railroad Company, LLC Announces Agreement to Purchase 19th Railroad | R. J. Corman Railroad Group (rjcorman.com)

Mike Derrick
 

So...who's line was this anyway?  I mean originally.    And part of a main line, or originally a branch line?    Single track unsignalled?  Any overhead traffic?
TIA

Built as the Raleigh & Cape Fear, renamed Raleigh & Southport, merged into the Raleigh, Charlotte & Southern, merged into the (original) Norfolk Southern, acquired by Southern Railway. Line is unsignalled, single track, a branch line ever since it was acquired by the original NS. Fayetteville was one of two places where the original NS interchanged with ACL. Also interchange with the Aberdeen & Rockfish at Fayetteville. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/22 12:21 by ctillnc.

Line is the ORIGINAL Norfolk Southern "mainline" that Southern acquired in 1974 (?).  The Raleigh to Fuquay Varina section NS is Leasing to Corman was part of the original mainline to Charlotte, while the Fuquay Varina to Fayetteville portion being sold to Corman was the VF Branch to Fayettevville.  Line was never signaled, the state owned, NS operated North Carolina Railroad offers the superior line between Charlotte and the coast.

Virtually all of the mainline still exists today
Plymouth to Raleigh is Coastal Carolina (CLNA). 
Raleigh to Fuquay-Varina is NS soon to be RJ Corman 
Fuquay-Varina to Brickhaven is still in, belongs to NS, but is long out of service and completely grown over with mature pines in spots
Brickhaven to Cumnock is leased to G&W's Atlantic & Western
Cumnock to Gulf is still NS and in service - tail end of an NS branch out of Greensboro that comes down through Liberty and Siler City - There is a Toyota plant and a Wolfspeed plant under construction on this NS branch
Gulf all the way to Charlotte is Aberdeen Carolina and Western (ACWR)  Gulf to Robbins is out of service with washouts and overgrowth Robbins to Star is primarily used for car storage, Star to Charlotte is ACWR main

Norfolk Southern current operations are based out of the small yard in Fuquay Varinia.  Normal operations are for P41 to operate daylight hours M-F from Fuquay down to Fayetteville and return.  Have several enroute customers and work in Fayetteville including interchange with Aberdeen and Rockfish which include occasional double stack containers.  Operates over several blocks of street trackage in Fayetteville as well.  P46 is opposite side of clock from P41 and works up to Glenwood Yard in Raleigh and back.   Very minimal if any in route work.  Traffic is all stuff that originates and terminates on line or interchanges with A&R in Fayetteville.  Not sure if NS still does any loose car interchange with CSXT in Fayetteville or not - I know they did back in my Nucor/DJJ days (2018 at earlier) as I routed cars to and from Cape Fear Railcar on CSXT there in Fayetteville over NS - Fayetteville - CSXT routing.  Would assume Corman's operations at least initially will be similar.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/22 12:24 by scraphauler.

Thanks for the detailed report, Scraphauler.  

A friend recently stopped by the double-stack loading facility on the A&R in Raeford and found ALL traces of it completely gone.  Dunno what happened but am sorry it didn’t pan out.   He hasn't seen any stack cars on 351 or 350 since last year.