Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Goodevening Ladies & Gents, I would like to know if both CSX & Norfolk Southern share the same rail lines in the town of Cary, or do they both have separate rail lines that runs through the town???
I *think* so, but I'm not positive. I believe CSX joins up with the NC Railroad (leased to Norfolk Southern) just east of the Cary Amtrak station, and they run concurrently until they split near downtown Raleigh.
Yes, "carolinadawg2" is correct: CSX and NS operate parallel lines through downtown Cary. The line that NS runs on is actually owned by the NC Railroad Company (a private company wholly owned by State of NC). The 2 lines come along each other in downtown Cary at "Fetner" control point, and then run literally side by side along East Chatham St/Hillsborough St into downtown Raleigh where they diverge again. New bidirectional cross-over switches allow trains from either railroad to run on either company's line between Cary and Raleigh, to make room for passenger trains. These two RR tracks have been parallel for nearly 100 years, but some reason every map I've ever seen (even the detailed USGS topo maps) usually only indicate 1 single track between Raleigh and Cary....weird.
The former Seaboard Air Line (now part of CSX) and the Southern Railway System (now part of Norfolk Southern) operated what was called a "paired track" arrangement between a junction in Cary (but referred to a FETNER in the Employees' Timetables), and an interlocking tower in Raleigh, known as BOYLAN where, interestingly enough, the original Norfolk Southern, a modest-sized railroad operating between Norfolk and Raleigh, crossed it at grade. The tower was closed sometime after 1970 as more and more dispatching responsibilities were consolidated at CSX' headquarters in Jacksonville, and much of the lightly-trafficked "original" NS no longer served a purpose.
Under this arrangement, which was a practice in some other areas, each company retained ownership of one track, but all movements operated in one direction on each side of the paired trackage, unless overruled by train order due to maintenance requirements, etc. Traffic has probably increased substantially, but refinements in Centralized Traffic Control systems have made the rules formerly required for such an arrangement redundant.
As an aside, USGS maps don't always accurately depict local track configurations, but they usually come close. If you can find a copy (or obtain the entire collection -- available on CD) Trains magazine published a long feature article on Seaboard operations between Richmond, Raleigh and Hamlet, NC back in the early Sixties
Simplification:
Downtown Cary headed towards downtown Raleigh -> corridor is shared between Norfolk Southern and CSX but dispatched by CSX.
Downtown Cary headed towards Apex -> corridor is CSX only
Downtown Cary headed towards Durham -> corridor is Norfolk Southern only
Apex<->Durham through Western Cary -> corridor is CSX only
And prior to the late 1990s, there was a significant distinction between the westbound CSX track and the eastbound NS track. The CSX track had jointed rail with a 65 mph speed limit that would rattle your skull at high speed. The NS track had welded rail that was smooth at 70 mph. Eventually the CSX track was rebuilt with welded rail and, as the other posts have said, the signaling system was replaced so that trains now run on either direction on either track.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
