This diesel engine on (he Alexander R.R. looks rather small, hut she
steps right along with eight freight cars behind her.
Alexander K. R.
When I he Southern Itniluay an¬
nounced its intention of discontinu¬
ing rail service to Taylorsville, the
people hou^lit out the line and are
now operating it themselves.
WHEN you visit Taylorsville,
Alexander County, drive
around to the railroad station
and take a look at the equipment
of the Alexander Railroad.
Some mention of this road has
appeared in the newspapers re¬
cently. As you probably know,
the Southern used to operate the
road between Statesville and
Taylorsville. The Southern, how¬
ever, decided to give up the line
and obtained permission to do so
from the Utilities Commission.
That left Taylorsville without a
railroad, which was something that
the progressive citizens of the town
did not want to see happen.
Conway Sharpe was president
of the Rotary Club at the time. He
and several others decided that
there was only one thing to do
in order to retain rail service, and
that was to buy the road.
That’s exactly what they did.
A stock company was formed and
something like $75,000 was raised;
enough money to make the pur¬
chase. Today the railroad is run¬
ning again and. not only that, but
it's running at a profit. About
4.000,000 pounds of freight was
hauled during the month of May,
which gives you some idea of the
volume of business being done.
The Southern Railway used a big
steam engine. The new operators
decided that this was too expensive,
so they bought a small diesel from
the North Carolina Shipbuilding
Corporation at Wilmington. It
works fine and can haul eight
freight-cars at a time. Other equip¬
ment consists of a combination
mail and express car. and a motor
car and push car for maintenance
purposes. The regular freight cars
are rented, the cost being $1.15
per day.
Secretary. Treasurer and Gen¬
eral Manager of the road is L. P.
Zachary. Altogether ten men are
on the pay-doll, and all of them
are keenly interested in making
the operation of the road a success.
No passengers are hauled — only
freight, express and mail. The
train makes a round trip daily.
Stops are made at Hiddcnite and
Stony Point on the run between
Taylorsville and Statesville.
A main difference in the opera¬
tion of the Alexander Railroad,
as compared with the operation of
other roads, lies in the fact that
the ten men on the pay-roll do
several jobs instead of holding
down merely one. Operating costs
are held down to a minimum, and
there's no waste in any department
of work.
And so. as a result of the progres¬
sive spirit of its citizenship. Alex¬
ander County continues to have
its railroad. Coal, building supplies
and other heavy material can be
shipped into the county at costs
much lower than if they had to be
shipped by truck. Not only that,
but the several mills in the county
also can ship out their products
by rail.
“We didn’t have a bit of difficulty
in raising the money," Mr. Sharpe
told us when we were up there
recently. "People realized that the
road was a necessity and that it
would help us save a lot of money.
Now- everything is moving along
smoothly, and we certainly hope
it will continue doing so.”
All of which goes to show what
a community can accomplish when
the folks cooperate and make up
their minds that a certain project
has to be carried out. But then,
that’s nothing unusual for the
people of Taylorsville and outlying
sections: they have manifested that
same kind of spirit for a long, long
time.
Condition of Hoods
Many of North Carolina's 16,000
county road bridges have reached
a "critical” condition with little
chance of early repair because of
material, labor and equipment
shortages. State Highway Engineer
W. Vance Baise reported last week.
Natural deterioration and heavy
war-time traffic loads during the
past four years, he said, placed a
heavy strain on these vital spans
which link together the state’s 50,-
000 miles of county roads.
War-time restrictions permitted
no construction and only limited
maintenance of the dirt and sur¬
face-treated roads used daily by
the rural population as farm-to-
market, school bus and mail routes,
the highway engineer explained.
"We are not trying to make ex¬
cuses." he said, "but the people
should be informed of our difficul¬
ties in getting materials to do the
work on these bridges. Despite the
amount of money available, there
is a limit to what we can accom¬
plish due to lack of material, labor
and equipment.”
THE STATE. July 13. 1946
