Passenger Trains > Trains and Stations: Rocky Mount, NC

 Officially the Helen P. Gay Rocky Mount Historic Train Station, is an intermodal transit station in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  Its main building serves as an Amtrak train station, while an adjacent building serves as the bus terminal for the Tar River Transit and as a Greyhound stop. Originally built in 1893, it was rebuilt in 1911 and 1916.

B&OBIll



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/20 06:09 by bandob.

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The original building was expanded twice, first with new wings and later with a third floor. If you look closely at the brick, you'll notice. Helen Gay was the first African-American woman on the City Council. She served for 20 years and was very involved in revitalization of a city that has had more than its share of difficulties. Commercial office space is now upstairs, along with archives of the ACL/SAL Historical Society. Unfortunately, no operator of a restaurant, snack bar, or coffee shop has been able to last in either the bus station or the train station. However, a coffee shop about 200 yards away is open M-F during working hours and Saturday mornings. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/20 07:03 by ctillnc.

I stopped there many years ago and found a couple of pieces of former Atlantic Coast Line equipment on display at the south end of the station platform area.  A heavyweight business car and also an experimental car which I think was called a Whopper Hopper.  Are they still there?

The interior of the station is very well restored.

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I have passed through RMT a few times on Amtrak in the past six years and am very pleased about how nicely the station has been restored. It's great to see that ACL coach restored! I know that the city itself is trying very hard and there is progress.

Based on a recent drive-through, the town of Rocky Mount looks to be in a sad state compared to former times.  Lots of nice old houses falling apart.
Also saw a monster CSX freight blocking every crossing in town for almost 2 hours before it started to move.

RRTom Wrote:
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> Based on a recent drive-through, the town of Rocky
> Mount looks to be in a sad state compared to
> former times.  Lots of nice old houses falling
> apart.(SNIP)

Rocky Mount was an old time cotton and cotton milling town. Prospered when the mills escaped unions in New England in the early 1900s.  Lot of wealth created there.

The collapse of share cropping and textile mills hit the city hard.  The area to the south, Smithfield etc, was very oriented to Brightleaf tobacco. Similar story.

The City of Rocky Mount donated the orange and silver ACL "Whopper Hopper" to the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, where it was moved two years ago. At that time, there was talk of relocating the ACL 303 business car about a mile to the Imperial Center museum site. Hasn't happened. 303 has had some vandalism over the years and has also experienced some water intrusion. 

Rocky Mount and the two counties in which it's located (one on the west side of the ACL, the other on the east side) are slowly losing population. A lot of money was spent to improve the appearance of downtown Rocky Mount. Hasn't been much benefit to commerce. But there are some positive developments in the local economy, and hope springs eternal.... 

For people who live in north and east Raleigh, it actually makes more sense to drive to RMT and catch a northbound train there than using the downtown Raleigh station. And RMT has free parking and a short walk between car and train, whereas it's a hike at Raleigh. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/20 04:31 by ctillnc.