The State University Railroad is a 10.2 mile
railroad
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 ...
spur of the
North Carolina Railroad
The North Carolina Railroad is a state-owned rail corridor extending from Morehead City, North Carolina, to Charlotte. The railroad carries over 70 freight trains operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway and eight passenger trains (Amtrak's ...
that began offering service from
Glenn, North Carolina, near
Hillsborough to a point west of
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...
on January 1, 1882.
History
As railroads developed in North Carolina during the eighteenth century, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
's relatively isolated location meant that it did not lie along any rail lines initially. A major east-west rail corridor between
Greensboro
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...
in the west and
Goldsboro in the east passed eight miles to the north.
Robert F. Hoke
Robert Frederick Hoke (May 27, 1837 – July 3, 1912) was a Confederate major general during the American Civil War. He was present at one of the earliest battles, the Battle of Big Bethel, where he was commended for coolness and judgment. ...
, a former Confederate general and the owner of an iron mine just north of Chapel Hill, obtained a charter in February 1873 for the Chapel Hill Iron Mountain Railroad Company,
but the railroad was not organized until after the name was changed to the State University Railroad in March 1879,
[
] with the support of UNC president
Kemp Battle.
In order that the students at the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...
not be tempted from their studies, a state statute decreed that the end of the spur be located at least a mile from the school's campus.
The rail line began service in 1881,
and the first train, known as "The Whooper,"
was a locomotive and two passenger cars that made the run from University Station to Chapel Hill Station twice daily. The trip from university station to Chapel Hill Station took an hour traveling southbound and seventy minutes northbound. The current town of
Carrboro
Carrboro is a town in Orange County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 21,295 at the 2020 census. , then known as West End, started to grow as a result of the railroad.
wrote the famous song "
Freight Train
A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad ...
" as a young teenager, inspired mainly by the train that for years passed behind her house on Lloyd Street in Carrboro.
In the 1920s, the line was extended into the UNC campus for a time, where it was used to transport construction materials for campus buildings, including
Wilson Library
The Louis Round Wilson Library is a library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Completed in 1929, it served as the university's main library until 1984. Today, it houses several special collections. The dome rises 85 feet over the ...
.
The company still exists as a subsidiary of 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 passenger service ended by 1940, UNC's new power plant was built to take advantage of the rail line. The primary traffic on the rail line currently comes from freight deliveries of coal to this power plant.
See also
*
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 ...
References
External links
Norfolk Southern Official website
Companies based in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina
North Carolina railroads
Predecessors of the Southern Railway (U.S.)
Railway companies established in 1879
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