ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Watco is the winning bidder for a cluster of Norfolk Southern lines in western North Carolina. The short line holding company has filed a “Certificate Of Compliance” with the Surface Transportation Board.
The name of the new operation will be Blue Ridge Southern Railroad LLC.
According to the filing, the new railroad will consist of three line segments between:
- Milepost T0.0 at Murphy Junction and Milepost T47.0 at Dillsboro
- Milepost W1.0 at Asheville and Milepost W26.0 at East Flat Rock
- Milepost TR0.0 at Hendersonville and Milepost TR19.8 at Pisgah Forest
The three line segments, totaling 91.8 miles, will make up two disconnected operations, one west and one south of Asheville. The transaction includes the remaining NS-operated portion of the famed Saluda Mountain route between Spartanburg, S.C., and Asheville. The line has not hosted through traffic in more than a decade; the sale of its northern portion makes reactivation even less likely.
Watco says it will hire about 32 positions in Canton, Arden, and Hendersonville to operate the lines.
Watco spokeswoman Tracie Van Becelaere tells Trains News Wire that the company has not set a date to begin operations and that further details will be available soon.
I Erred in my comment.
I was confusing PAINT ROCK, NC, a community near the Tennessee State line, with FLAT ROCK which seems to be part of EAST FLAT ROCK, a town just south of Hendersonville.
I have been to both, but where Paint Rock is well designated, I did not notice Flat Rock signs and thought I was in Hendersonville.
Shifting operations to Wabco for the Asheville to Flat Rock
track would indeed eliminate the currently active Asheville to Hendersonville track plus give Wabco a direct connection to the Transylvania RR running from Hendersonville to Pisgah Forest which was included in the agreement.
Maps indicate that Flat Rock is a significant municipality but overshadowed by adjacent Hendersonville.
This shift in management may be significant for the rail service in the Henderson County-Transylvania County economic area.
Tom Fetters
Asheville to Flat Rock is southward, which would continue to Saluda. Don't know if the line is (will be) actually severed below Flat Rock.
Murphy to Dillsboro is the far western end of the Asheville to Murphy Branch.
Asheville to Flat Rock is the north line out of Asheville along the French Broad to reach Tennessee.
Hendersonville to Pisgah Forest is all that remains of the Hendersonville- Brevard- Lake Toxaway line that WAS the Transylvania Railroad.
NONE of this severs the Asheville to Spartanburg via Saluda out of service mainline.
Someone does not know the local area well.
I am sorry to see NS leave. My inlaws live in Waynesville and I like seeing four GP38s (I think that is what they are) tackling the grades west of Waynesville up Balsam Mountain. I wonder what power Watco will use. The demise of Saluda is truly sad.
The will be WATCO's return to the Carolinas. They used to have a contract switching operation in Eastover, SC in the 90's. It was taken over by Rail Link, then Rail Switching Service. So, welcome back WATCO.
I would like to see a study made to see if it would be feasible to open the heart of the Saluda grade as a Steam powered tourist operation. Although operations would have to be strictly watched as far as public safety is concerned, wouldn't the stack talk sound great?
Not surprised to see NS spin off lines they want to deal with anymore. They just turned over operation of the Peavine here in Cincy to a new short line known as the Cincinnati East Terminal railroad. They are only allowed to go to milepost 32 right now and the line is closed East of there. I Haven't seen anything about this on the Trains website, but the transfer occurred on April 27th.
Having been down that !@#$%^&*J() Saluda grade at least
144 times (once a month for 12 years) I seriously doubt any shortline woiuld ever operate it. Would make a great hiking trail though.
NS has quite a bit of branch line trackage in the Carolinas that could either be sold or leased to short line operators. I am kind of surprised that NS has waited this long to sell off this trackage. I say probably a good move. Short line railroads often provide better service to shippers compared to the larger railroads.
I wonder as coal declines if this ends up happening on the NS and CSX all over southern Appalachia. I could see CSX doing this with the CV Line, and NS with the old Appalachian Division. The times they are changing.
Saluda as a through route would appear to to beneficial for a railroad making its living from short, local trains. Sure would like to see this in operation again.