North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Carolinian Service

[matthewsaggie]

Starting June 4th NC adds another Piedmont to the schedule from Charlotte to Raleigh. This will make 3 daily Piedmont's plus the Carolinian each way each day. 4th Piedmont in late 2019 or 2020.

[gokeefe]

Very nice touch ...

But not all of the 68-year-old station is headed to a landfill. Two key features — the canopy that sheltered passengers on the platform and some of the wood benches in the waiting room — will be reused. Again.

The canopy and the benches were originally parts of other train stations and are decades older than the Raleigh depot where they found a second life. Now they are considered historic artifacts worth preserving, said Allan Paul, deputy director of the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Rail Division.

[Matt Johnson]

Hydrogen fuel cell powered Piedmont?

[matthewsaggie]

Newspaper writer doesn't know much about trains. This will be one locomotive for testing, not one train.

[orulz]

This thread has been quiet for a while, but a quick note that construction has begun for the Crabtree Creek Bridge replacement in Morrisville. I have not managed to find any documents detailing the design of this bridge. I have heard that, although It will initially contain just one track but it will be built wide enough for two. I am quite glad to see this rickety looking structure finally meeting its end.

Plans are moving forward for the grade separation at McCrimmon Parkway, too. Morrisville Carpenter Road will probably be a bit more tricky although I gather that a grade separation is planned there, too.

[east point]

Rickety ? Any pictures ?

[Arlington]

Crabtree Creek Bridge in Morrisville:
https://goo.gl/maps/cfB1R3v31H22" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Archived past street view (March 2016)
https://goo.gl/maps/UeH4XjQgr3w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good "up and under" photo in the 2015 Announcement:
https://www.ncrr.com/north-carolina-rai ... le-bridge/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
also
https://www.ncrr.com/wp-content/uploads ... -image.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
from
https://www.ncrr.com/investing-in-nc/in ... rovements/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gokeefe]

Very impressive to see the continued high level of capital investment even after the recent project. Smart move. Double up and roll over on recent gains.

[orulz]

Rickety ? Any pictures ?

Arlington posted the pictures. Rickety is exactly what I mean. It has some tem-permanent cribbing under the beams on the north (west) side, although in my observation it may be a few inches short of actually making contact with the beams.

In this picture (linked also by Arlington) you can see this cribbing off to the right. As bad as it looks in this picture, it looks worse in person and worse still up close. I have no idea why it was installed but it has been there for at least as long as I have lived in the area (18 years)

CrabtreeCreekBridge_CI-image.jpg (655.67 KiB) Viewed 4026 times

[gokeefe]

That cribbing definitely looks like a stop-gap measure. Never meant to be permanent.

[orulz]

That cribbing definitely looks like a stop-gap measure. Never meant to be permanent.

I agree, it was probably not meant to be permanent, but as I mentioned before, somewhere along the line "temporary" became "tempermanent". Do you have any idea why a monstrosity such as this should exist?

[gokeefe]

Hard to say without seeing more but I would guess there's a problem with the adjacent abutment.

[mtuandrew]

From the Station Developments thread:

(assuming that they’re not going to do anything with the flag stop for the Crescent in Gastonia).

Gastonia does frequently get mentioned as a possible end point for Piedmont services. The current (very right wing) speaker of the NC House is from the adjacent county to the West and he recently pushed through a feasibility study of the extension of Piedmont trains all the way to Kings Mountain (see link below for a very brief mention of this). Unfortunately I think Charlotte's new passenger equipment service yard (not yet opened) and NS's "parking lot" status South of Charlotte are going to block any easy Piedmont expansions.
https://www.gastongazette.com/news/2018 ... priorities" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Light rail to Belmont (the eastern edge of Gaston county) does look likely if Charlotte can find $$$ for transit expansion

Have the city fathers in Spartanburg ever inquired to NCDOT about the price of an extended Piedmont or two daily? It wouldn’t be a silly thing for NC to investigate either, because it puts them in a decent position to negotiate with NS re: Asheville via Saluda. No, seriously.

[Station Aficionado]

Well, it would be a fun ride for those of us born too late to ride the Carolina Special!

[mtuandrew]

Well, it would be a fun ride for those of us born too late to ride the Carolina Special!

They could pay for the extension with railfan fares & souvenirs alone