Bridging the Neuse

Company Shops Station, Burlington

Charlotte's History Tied to the Tracks

New Bern Mural Restoration

One of the last trains to cross the old bridge passes over the Neuse and on eastward
to serve grain, wood product and port customers in Eastern North Carolina

Until this month, if you followed a certain winding gravel road into the steamy woods that form a natural barrier around the Neuse River in Kinston, NC you would come to a rather majestic bridge that has soared above the river’s unpredictable waters for a century. Time and wear had finally caught up with the old bridge, known in engineering circles as a trestle-style structure. A steady stream of hurricanes, especially Hurricane Floyd, had stressed its abutments and weakened them. Its old wooden ties were wearing and rotting. Even its impressive trestle structure was showing signs of heavy rust and weathering. Most importantly, the old bridge was too narrow, too height-restrictive and too outdated to carry today’s faster, heavier railcars. In June, after a stop order was issued for trains that travel this part of the NCRR corridor, the old bridge will come down in pieces, carefully dismantled by a skilled team of bridge and rigging experts headed by Project Foreman Bud Carlson.

A railroad bridge has spanned this section of the Neuse since before the Civil War. Trains have played an integral part in the development and growth of eastern North Carolina, and today, rail services are seeing an increase in demand. While the original railroad bridge that spanned the Neuse was burned down during the Civil War, artifacts and oral histories remain to preserve its memory. A bridge was rebuilt after the war, and it is believed that it, too, burned or was washed away during one of the Neuse’s particularly violent floods. The Trestle Bridge, built in 1905, was a state of the art structure in its day—it featured safety rails and specially poured abutments that did, after all, stand the test of time.

Today, the North Carolina Railroad Company is building a new “through plate girder” structure that will allow the heaviest railcars, those weighing up to 315,000 pounds, to cross the Neuse safely and more quickly. Continuously welded rail—long ribbons of premium steel that have almost no seams—will border the track bed and allow trains to travel faster and more smoothly than ever before on this stretch of eastern North Carolina track. Top speed on the old bridge was 10 mph; the new bridge can handle trains traveling up to 40 mph.

Increased speed and larger car capacity matters to businesses that need to get products to market or supplies in-house quickly and reliably. One hundred years ago products such as tobacco, cotton, grain and even passengers traveled the NCRR route from the Port at Morehead City into the larger metropolitan areas of Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte and beyond. Today, although there currently aren’t any passengers, there is still a strong demand for transportation for agricultural products and wood products and chips. Added to these are transport needs from North Carolina’s military bases that include jet fuel, military equipment and vehicles and even food and troop supplies. Chemicals and phosphate, auto parts and lumber are among other items that arrive or depart from the port. The NCRR track extends from the Port at Morehead City to Charlotte, and the Neuse Bridge is a key part of the corridor.

Depending on the antics of the river and the hurricane season we are now entering, construction on the new bridge will take another three or four months. Carlson hopes to have it open by the end of August 2004. Meanwhile, trains will be re-routed. Carl Wilson, manager of Norfolk Southern’s East Carolina Business Unit, does not anticipate any interruption of service for industries along this segment of the railroad. Once completed, the new bridge will serve as a part of the economic improvements that could help attract new industries to the eastern part of the state. In the last year, a large airline manufacturer considered the bridge a key part of its decision to put North Carolina near the top of its final site list. For industries already served by rail, and for those considering relocating here, the new Neuse River span is a bridge to progress.

The NCRR is replacing another bridge on its corridor as a part of a long-term capital improvement program to improve access to Research Triangle Park. Read about that under Highway 54 Bridge improvements.

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