Saluda Grade was the steepest

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

mainline

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.. Owned by the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

as part of its W Line, Saluda Grade in

Polk County, North Carolina Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,328. Its county seat is Columbus. History The county was formed in 1855 from parts of Henderson and Rutherford counties. It w ...

, gained in elevation in fewer than between Melrose and Saluda, North Carolina. Average grade was 4.24 percent for and maximum was 4.9% for about . In December 2001, Norfolk Southern took the line containing the grade out of service for economic reasons. In a contract signed August 5, 2024, Saluda Grade was sold to the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy, with plans to convert to a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

History

Captain Charles W. Pearson was assigned to select a route for the

Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad The Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad was a Southern United States railroad that served South Carolina and North Carolina in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The line was chartered as the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad in 1873 ...

(A&SRR) to ascend the Blue Ridge front; the area where the rolling hills of the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

end at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Despite numerous surveys, no route was found for a railroad to traverse the mountains at a tolerable grade; the best route followed the

Pacolet River The Pacolet River is a tributary of the Broad River, about 50 miles (80 km) long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States.Tryon is today, at , and continued on the south side of the Pacolet valley. At Melrose, the Saluda Grade began and climbed to the town of Saluda, cresting in the center of town at an elevation of . Saluda Grade Pearson West

Because of accidents involving downgrade runaway trains in the late 1880s, A&SRR's successor, the Southern Railway built two runaway safety

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

tracks, which were covered with piles of earth that could stop downgrade runaway trains. These were originally staffed junctions that were always

switched Switched may refer to: * Switched (band) Switched (previously depicted as Sw1tched) was an American nu metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. History Forming in 1999 as Sw1tch, the band played shows around Ohio and released a demo entitled ''Fu ...

to the spurs; only upon hearing a whistle signal from a downgrade train would the signaller staffing a spur junction throw the switch to keep the train on the main line. In later years, CTC signaling was installed along with automated switches and timer circuits for the one remaining runaway safety track at the bottom of the grade at Melrose. Trains running downgrade were required to travel no faster than when approaching the runaway track switch. This would allow a timer circuit to determine if the train was under control, in which case the switch from the runaway track at Melrose would be aligned to the mainline. But for speeds greater than the switch would remain aligned for the runaway track. Saluda Grade was one of the few grades in the country where uphill trains could travel faster than their downhill counterparts. However, most uphill trains had to double or triple the grade, splitting the train into sections to be taken up to Saluda one at a time and reassembled there for the rest of the trip to Asheville. Norfolk Southern suspended freight traffic between East Flat Rock, North Carolina and

Landrum, South Carolina Landrum is a city in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,376 at the 2010 census. Landrum was founded in 1880 and incorporated in 1912. It is located just west of Interstate 26 between Spartanburg and Ashevill ...

in December 2001, thus ceasing operations on the Saluda Grade. In April 2003, Norfolk Southern severed the line from the rest of its system by placing mounds of dirt over the tracks and disconnecting the rails at mile posts 26 and 45. The signal system was not in use, and

grade crossings Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

had their arms removed and signals covered. Norfolk Southern continued to inspect and maintain the right-of-way after placing the segment out of service, removing fallen trees and spraying herbicide on encroaching vegetation, but multiple washouts of the roadbed have occurred between Zirconia and the South Carolina border, rendering the line impassable. Talks in recent years of a

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

excursion and a rail-to-trail conversion made no headway. Norfolk Southern stated it did not intend to abandon the line. However, in 2014 Norfolk Southern sold a portion of the W Line south of Asheville between mileposts 1 and 26 to

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) Watco is an American transportation and logistics company based in Pittsburg, Kansas. The company’s core services are freight transportation, material handling and storage, logistics, railcar repair and maintena ...

, a Class III

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

operator. Watco operates this segment as the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad. Norfolk Southern still retained ownership of the out-of-service segment over the Saluda Grade. On July 20, 2022, Upstate Forever announced its desire to turn the portions of the abandoned Saluda Grade into a rail trail. In February 2023, Norfolk Southern agreed to sell 31 miles of the Saluda Grade to another group planning a trail, The Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy. Terms were not disclosed. As of August 2023, "a coalition of three nonprofits is spearheading the Saluda Grade Trail
Conserving Carolina
is leading efforts in North Carolina, whil
PAL: Play. Advocate. Live Well.
an
Upstate Forever
are leading efforts in South Carolina." On October 3, 2023, the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

passed a law funding the acquisition of the corridor from the state line to

Zirconia Zirconium dioxide (), sometimes known as zirconia (not to be confused with zirconium silicate or zircon), is a white crystalline oxide of zirconium. Its most naturally occurring form, with a monoclinic crystalline structure, is the mineral ba ...

, and it authorized the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to add the corridor to the State Trail System. The contract was signed August 7, 2024.

References

Bibliography

External links

Saluda Grade Trail - Official website

Saluda Historic Depot - Official website
{{Protected areas of North Carolina Southern Railway (U.S.) Norfolk Southern Railway Rail infrastructure in North Carolina Railway inclines in the United States

History

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links