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| Title: | Train, Train |
| Author(s): | Reevy, Tony |
| Source: | Our State (NoCar F251 S77), Nov 2005, Vol. 73 Issue 6, p148-150, 152-153, il |
| Abstract: | Reevy recounts the history of one of the shortest rail lines in the country. The short-run Carrboro Branch line between Chapel Hill and Carrboro has served its unique purpose for more than a century. Incorporated in 1873 as the Chapel Hill Iron Mountain Railroad Company, the ten-mile railroad was to serve an iron mine. Construction of the road began in 1879, but the company soon ran out of money. The mine was never a success, and ownership passed through several large railroad companies. Today, the line carries coal to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Cogeneration Facility three times a week as well as other freight for the area. About the mid-twentieth century, Carrboro native and folksinger, Elizabeth “Libba” Cotton wrote a famous song, called “Freight Train,” about the Carrboro train as she knew it. |
| Subject(s): | Railroads--History |
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