Did Amtrak ever have a stop here?
- Thread starter mercedeslove
- Start date
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
- Status
Elm City, NC is between Wilson and Rocky Mount so I don't think Amtrak ever stopped there as they have historically stopped at larger towns. Atlantic Coast Line Local trains likely stopped there back in the 1950s. I don't have my Official Guides handy, but will check later.
Yes, this is correct.
Too small of a town for Amtrak to stop..
Atlantic Coast line operated (fall 1957)
1.nameless local from Rocky Mount to Wilmington with a through sleeper from NYC
2.same as above with a through sleeper from WAS
3.a local called the Florida Mail which went from WAS to Florence.
Notelvis
Conductor
There are a number of sizeable towns along the original ACL through North Carolina that are not quite large enough for Amtrak to stop at. Elm City is one of them. Some others include Weldon (near the VA state line), Battleboro (north of Rocky Mount), Lucama (south of Wilson near Selma), Benson, and Dunn (both between Selma and Fayetteville).
While stopping at some of these places might generate ridership among people that are unwilling or unable to drive 20-30 miles to an existing Amtrak station, it would slow the schedules of the current trains significantly.
FWIW - In most cases Amtrak did not make the hard decision about where or where not to stop. Most, if not all, of these towns had already had their passenger service withdrawn with the discontinuance of the all-stop local trains in the mid-1960's. Amtrak merely began serving the larger towns which still had SCL passenger service in place May 1, 1971.
I'll add that when I lived in Fayetteville, NC (1994-98), there was a mon-n-pop ice cream shop in downtown Dunn that was a great destination on a summer evening....... go in and have some ice cream and then linger around to watch the southbound Auto-Train race through around 9pm ish.
While stopping at some of these places might generate ridership among people that are unwilling or unable to drive 20-30 miles to an existing Amtrak station, it would slow the schedules of the current trains significantly.
FWIW - In most cases Amtrak did not make the hard decision about where or where not to stop. Most, if not all, of these towns had already had their passenger service withdrawn with the discontinuance of the all-stop local trains in the mid-1960's. Amtrak merely began serving the larger towns which still had SCL passenger service in place May 1, 1971.
I'll add that when I lived in Fayetteville, NC (1994-98), there was a mon-n-pop ice cream shop in downtown Dunn that was a great destination on a summer evening....... go in and have some ice cream and then linger around to watch the southbound Auto-Train race through around 9pm ish.
Last edited by a moderator:
Most of the local stops were discontinued when the Railway Post Office cars were curtailed in the mid 1960s. I worked at the Post Office in Jeffersonville, in 1966-68 while going to college. We still received and dispatched mail to RPOs. We picked up mail at Jeffersonville Pennsylvannia RR Station from the Chicago, Logansport and Louisville RPO which connected with a number of other RPOs. The RPOs actually had a mail slot where you could mail a letter while the train was stopped. It would have the RPO postmark on it. The Post Office discountinued the RPO in 1967 and the train came off not too long after.
When you think of the reasns for the demise of passenger trains, people usually think of the interstate highway system and the new airports. True enough.
But two things are often forgotten. One, the new highway benefited the bus as well as the auto in being often faster than the train. The other factor is the loss of the mail contract.
When I was little you had to write"air mail' on the lower left corner of the envelope if that is what you needed. I think my earleist memoryis that it was three cents stamps for all mail. Later, you needed a 5 cent stamp for air mail, 3 cent otherwise.
People continued to write "air mail" long after it ceased to be necesary just like some people still do not turn right on red unless otherwise directed.
But two things are often forgotten. One, the new highway benefited the bus as well as the auto in being often faster than the train. The other factor is the loss of the mail contract.
When I was little you had to write"air mail' on the lower left corner of the envelope if that is what you needed. I think my earleist memoryis that it was three cents stamps for all mail. Later, you needed a 5 cent stamp for air mail, 3 cent otherwise.
People continued to write "air mail" long after it ceased to be necesary just like some people still do not turn right on red unless otherwise directed.
Last edited by a moderator:
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
Staff member
Administator
Moderator
AU Supporting Member
Gathering Team Member
Interesting. In India we had to write it along the top edge of the envelope.
BTW, in the sticks where there was no air service, the fastest way to get mail out was to go over to the train station and put the letter in the mail slot of the RMS (Railway Mail Service) van, which was bright red in color, attached to the daily Mail train. When I lived in the sticks in a place called Bhilai whenever we wrote a letter and wanted it to get out fast, we would go over to Durg, the closest station where the Bombay Mail stopped, and mailed it into the postal slot of the RMS van. That was 53 years back. The extra bonus was to get to see the beautiful WP Class Pacific, built by Baldwin, come in with the Bombay Mail in tow!
And you wonder why I am a railfan? I just discovered that there are a few RMS's running around in India even today!
Last edited by a moderator:
My January 1961 Official Guide shows it being served southbound by trains 75, Havana Special and a flag stop for 49, a Rocky Mount-Wilmington local. Northbound, it was a stop for train 376, Everglades, and a flag stop for 42, Wilmington - Rocky Mount local.
There was a through Wilmington-New York Pullman on that local.
The Washington-Florence "Florida Mail" was gone by the 1961 Official Guide, as was the Washington sleeper.
None of these ever made it even close to AmDay (5/1/1971), so no, Amtrak never served Elm City.
Bet ACL was rethinking that "Havana Special" name in 1961!
There was a through Wilmington-New York Pullman on that local.
The Washington-Florence "Florida Mail" was gone by the 1961 Official Guide, as was the Washington sleeper.
None of these ever made it even close to AmDay (5/1/1971), so no, Amtrak never served Elm City.
Bet ACL was rethinking that "Havana Special" name in 1961!
Last edited by a moderator:
It was renamed Gulf Coast Special.
Ispolkom
Engineer
In the 1951 Great Northern timetable there is a mention of mailboxes at railroad stations that would be emptied by passing mail trains, so that you didn't have to catch the RPO in the station. The larger stations even have west and eastbound boxes.
- Status
