Looking For Train Tracks on the UNC-Chapel Hill Campus

On Sunday morning, Yours Truly spent a couple hours crossing from east Carrboro into West Chapel Hill, and following the track tracks that end at the power plant.

That’s right, a coal train delivers their fuel, by way of a 10-mile spur from the Norfolk-Southern line that crosses through Orange County. But here’s another fun fact. The train tracks once extended even farther east, through campus!

Wait, what? 

No time for a proper blog post, so here’s a list of links with all the information. Plus photos of Mike’s walking trip, as he tried to find (or at visualize) the old tracks on campus. Click away and the stories shall be revealed… 

2017-06-06-train5

Maps and Diagrams

Click the first three to enlarge:

2017-06-06-train1a
Google aerial map. Green are former tracks. Red are current tracks.

2017-06-06-train4a
Street map of Chapel Hill and suburbs, 1932. See citation below.

2017-06-06-train2
Close view of 1932 street map, showing coal trestle at prior power plant location. See reference below.  

2017-06-06-train3
Railroad map of North Carolina, 1900. See reference below.  

Map References

Chapel Hill and Suburbs, 1934 – Via North Carolina Maps
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ncmaps/id/9735/rec/32

Railroad map of North Carolina, 1900 – Via North Carolina Maps
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/506

Photos

Legeros photo album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/legeros/sets/72157681602398394

Articles

Daily Tar Heel – Rolling through the history of Carrboro’s Train – November 17, 2015
http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2015/11/rolling-through-the-history-of-carrboros-train

Open Durham – University Station
http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/university-station

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