I recently heard a rumor that the vaunted old Southern route over Saluda Mt. may be slated for abandonment. Can anyone substantiate this? What is the frequency of trains each day over 'the grade'? I would presume that to get trains into the Spartanburg area, NS would run them east from Ashville to Salisbury, and then southwest to Charlotte and Spartanburg.

-- Greg Hodges (ghodges@smpsfa.com), May 15, 2001

Answers

I understand that NS has just announced that it will discontinue service on the Saluda grade route by the end of this month. If anyone wants photos, they had better make a trip there real soon.

-- Greg Hodges (ghodges@smpsfa.com), December 12, 2001.

A middle portion of this A&S line that includes Saluda Hill will be railbanked indefinitely for future use should traffic conditions warrant its restoration to service. Local traffic will continue on the rest of the line. The Columbia-Asheville traffic goes around the wye at Salisbury.

Ben Lee

-- Ben Lee (Bengineer7@aol.com), December 15, 2001.

Being a signal maintainer the question of Saluda was brought up recently with those who know in the C&S department and its not good. The FRA has given their approval and signals are being removed. The tracks will follow next and there will no longer be a railroad down Saluda.

-- Turner McCarley (temccarley@infoave.net), December 13, 2004.