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Peanuts?


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Severn is indeed on the NCVA. The NCVA is composed of segments of Seaboard Air Line and Atlantic Coast Line routes. The Seaboard bit is the 30 mile long part south from Boykins, VA (CSX interchange) down to Kelford, NC...part of the branch that went down to Lewiston NC; the ACL bit is the 15-odd mile bit from Kelford up to Ahoskie NC...actually over to Tunis, NC to serve a Nucor steel mill. The ACL line used to run from Tarboro, NC to Suffolk, VA. In the early 1950s the ACL bought a shortline to access the large papermill at Franklin, VA. The original merger Seaboard Coast Line plan was to use the Tarboro-Suffolk line to access Norfolk and to abandon the old Seaboard route from Weldon NC. That died when it was discovered the ACL bridge over the Chowan River at Tunis was found to be deficient. SCL then did some reworking of the connection at the Weldon end of the Seaboard line and it remains in service today. Off topic aside - the name Chowan is one of the oldest surviving English-given names in North America...given in 1584 by explorers from Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition.

 

With the steel mill the NCVA trains can be fairly substantial for a short line; there's also a Perdue Farms feed mill operation (supports their chicken farms) and of course the peanuts. The trains I've seen out there can were 25-30 cars. Looking at Google there are coal barges at piers for the plant...I'm trying to figure out how they get that far up the Chowan given the two bridges at Edenton NC...but I digress.

 

Some of my photos from my last trip out to the NCVA back in December 2000 - both the 3801 and 3808 are ex Southern Rwy GP38s with chopped noses.

 

At Kelford, NC - note the steel plate in the bulkhead flats

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At Aulander, NC - added some covered hoppers

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And at Boykins having cut off of their train

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Also at Boykins was this ex Santa Fe Geep with a Topeka cab

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In the past they've had other GP7/9 engines before being acquired by Rail America - this photo by Warren Calloway

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