Formerly the North Carolina Economic Development Intelligence System (NCEDIS), Access NC is a database put together by the NC Department of Commerce under the new Thrive NC initiative. It contains detailed information and maps about various industrial sites and buildings along with key utility, environmental permitting, demographic, and pricing information. Please contact Russ Smitley if you need assistance with a project that needs rail service.
Please click here for the Access NC site.
A unit train is a freight train carrying the same type of commodity, from origin to destination. Depending on the railroad and location, they can be between 65 cars in length and 200 cars (or more). The locomotives pulling the train will usually stay connected from origin to destination, which is why you will find a locomotive from one railroad on another railroad. This keeps the train running efficiently, which is why unit trains are the most efficient form of land transportation.
Frontier Logistics, LP, provides diverse and complete supply chain management services and solutions including packaging and warehousing services, U.S. interstate bulk trucking transportation, logistics consultation, and border crossing services. They are a top-tier domestic distribution services supplier for the plastics industry.
McDonald Brothers supplies lumber in the Central Carolina market, and has access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX railways.
Jordan Lumber manufactures woodchips at its cotton creek facility. It is a rail served facility with access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX with close proximity to the port of Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Norfolk, and Morehead City.
Jordan Lumber manufactures and supplies lumber at its location in Mt. Gilead, North Carolina. Jordan is one of the largest prvately owned lumber companies in the country, and It’s state of the art facility is rail served with access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX with close proximity to the port of Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Norfolk, and Morehead City.
Perdue Farms produces chickens at its farm houses in Central North Carolina. It receives its feed ingredients from the Aberdeen Carolina & Western railway, which connects to both Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads.
Mountaire Farms produces chickens at it’s Candor location in Central North Carolina. Mountaire’s feed mill is the largest in America. It receives its feed ingredients from the Aberdeen Carolina & Western railway, which connects to both Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads.
Locust Lumber supplies the Charlotte market with a variety of forest products. They receive rail service from the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, which provides access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX origins.
Carolina Stalite manufactures a specialized aggregate that is high quality, high strength, low absorption, and light weight. They receive rail service from the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, which provides access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX destinations.
Boral Brick, distributes brick and other masonry products to markets in North Carolina. They are the largest manufacturer of brick in the nation. They receive inbound products from the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway in Charlotte, which provides access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX origins.
Unilin manufactures wood chipboards, flax board, MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard), and HDF (High Density Fibreboard). They are rail served by the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, which provides access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX destinations.
There are many databases that can assist you in finding a rail served industrial site. Generally each state has its own database of sites with the various acreage, utility, environmental permitting, and pricing information. Additionally, railroads keep a list of their own properties. Please contact Russ Smitley if you need assistance with a project that involves rail.
| Carload Capacity | 100 cars |
|---|---|
| Days of Service | Daily (7 day) service if needed, normally 3 day service |
| Connecting Railroads | CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern |
| 286,000 pound limit? | Yes |
| Unit Trains? | Yes |
| Carload Capacity | 300 cars |
|---|---|
| Days of Service | 7 day service if needed normally 6 day service |
| Connecting Railroads | CSX Transportation Aberdeen & Rockfish |
| 286,000 pound limit? | Yes |
| Unit Trains? | Yes |
| Carload Capacity | 150 cars |
|---|---|
| Days of Service | Daily (7 day) service if needed, normally 3 day service |
| Connecting Railroads | Norfolk Southern |
| 286,000 pound limit? | |
| Unit Trains? | Yes |
Download: Application for Pipelines Occupying the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway
Download: Specifications for Pipeline Occupations of Railroad Property
Download: Application For Wire Or Cable Lines Occupying The Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway
Download: Specifications for Wire, Conduit and Cable Occupations of Railroad Property
Download the Lease Form: Application for Lease of Lands of the Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway
Contact us to discuss your repair needs.
We help potential customers find the right rail served industrial site that meets their requirement. Whether they are looking to be in the Charlotte region or the center part of North Carolina, we can help you develop your site. Many of our sites are shovel ready. Contact Carl Hollowell for more information.
We have the ability to construct and maintain a rail siding for our customers.
For industrial customers who do not have the personnel or equipment to move railcars at their plant operations, we will provide the service of pulling and spotting the railcars. This involves using our employees and our locomotives to get a train loaded or unloaded at a facility. For customers with their own locomotive and personnel, we do provide regular locomotive maintenance.
If you are needing a place to store railcars, we have storage locations along our railroad
The Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway Company offers railcar transloading services for those looking to set up a rail distribution center in North Carolina. We have strategic partnerships with trucking companies for transloading from rail to truck/truck to rail and getting your freight where it needs to be. Transloading involves moving liquid and dry bulk commodities from one mode to the other, yielding the efficiency of rail for the long-haul and truck for the short-haul.
Depending on how much and how far away the freight needs to be moved, the transportation costs can be dramatically less than using truck direct for the shipment. Since rail is more efficient over long distances, freight rates are often be lower. The Class I railroads have dozens of facilities across the country designed to move goods from rail to truck. In North Carolina, for example, CSX has TRANSFLOⓇ locations along its network, and Norfolk Southern has various terminals along the east coast. In addition, many shortlines have places capable of transloading from rail to truck. On our railroad, the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, we have moved ethanol, butane, lumber, and other commodities from rail to truck at our established transloading sites in Star, Oakboro, or Midland, NC. We also have sidings where spot transloading can be accommodated. Shippers like using our shortline for transloading because they can source from either Norfolk Southern or CSX. In addition, they like the savings that we bring with less labor and facility costs.
rule of thumb for new track construction is between $1 Million – $2 Million per mile, depending on who is constructing the track. Some rail clients need alot of track space to handle unit trains over a mile long. Below is a basic cost estimate for a mile long siding.
| Price per Unit [-] | # Units [-] | Total Cost [-] | |
| No.10 Degree Switches | $25,000 per switch | 2 switches | $50,000 |
| No.10 Switch Timbers | $6,200 per timber | 2 timbers | $12,400 |
| No.2 Relay 132/136 lb rail | $700 per ton | 245 tons | $171,500 |
| 7″x9′ Ties on 21″ Centers | $55.22 per tie | 3,017 ties | $166,598.74 |
| Ballast (Rock) | $27.00 per ton | 6,000 tons | $162,000.00 |
| Spikes 68 Kegs | $65.00 per keg | 68 kegs | $4,000 |
| Labor |  | | Varies by Contractor |
| Grading | | | Varies by Contractor/Topography/Soil |
| Drainage Pipes | | | Varies by Amt of Water Runoff |
| Road Crossings | | | Varies |
Paying for the siding is driven by a combination of state and local funding options, which are in turn a function of jobs, investment, and future taxes. In rare cases, with enough volume (2,000 or more railcars annually), railroads can pay for a portion of the siding construction costs.
You can always put a non-rail industry on a rail-served site, but you can’t put an industry that needs rail service on a non-rail site. What are the requirements for a site to be rail served?
[dropcap cap=”1″]Slope: A rail site must be able to overcome the elevation changes between the mainline and unloading pad. The siding must meet the following requirements: [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Single Car Service: siding must have less than a 2.5% slope for single railcar service[/li][li]Unit Train Service: siding must have less than a 1.5% slope for Unit Train Service[/li][/list][/dropcap]{boxfolder 117378336}
[dropcap cap=”2″]Siding Curvature: Trains cannot turn as sharply as trucks. Therefore, the turning radius can be as much as 600 feet for a train compared to 60 feet for a truck. I like to use the ballpark analogy where trucks only need the infield to make a complete turn around while trains need the entire ballpark.[/dropcap] [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Recommended Curvature: less than 10 Degrees[/li][li]Maximum Curvature: curvature over 12 Degrees requires written approval of the Chief Engineer[/li][/list]{boxfolder 109070744}
[dropcap cap=”3″]Track Layouts: Track configuration is driven by freight volume requirements and are also driven by the slope and curvature requirements. Here are the most basic types of configurations: [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Basic Stub-In: this configuration allows cars to be placed and pulled out in one direction only. {boxfolder 108985928}[/li][li]Runaround: Usually parallels the mainline and can accomodate traffic from either direction. {boxfolder 108985912}[/li][li]Loop Track: designed to support continuous movement for faster unloading or large trains.{boxfolder 109056236}[/li][/list] [div class=”doc” class2=”typo-icon”] Costs of a Rail Siding[/div][/dropcap]
[dropcap cap=”4″]Nearby Obstacles: turnouts for rail sidings also cannot be located near:[/dropcap] [list class=”bullet-check”][li]Rail Curves: Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of a curve[/li][li]Road Crossings: Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of a road crossing[/li][li]Bridges & Tunnels Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of a bridge or tunnel.[/li][li]Another Turnout: Siding turnouts cannot be located within 200 feet of another turnout.[/li][/list]
This is an interactive map of the major freight railroads, also known as class I railroads in the United States. They include CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS), Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF), Union Pacific (UP), Canadian Pacific (CP), Canadian National Railway (CN), and the Kansas City Southern (KCS).
This is an interactive system map of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, a class I rail carrier along the western half of the United States. It shows transportation routes spanning over 32,000 miles.
This is an interactive map of North Carolina railroads, including the Aberdeen Carolina & Western in magenta, CSX in blue, and Norfolk Southern in gray. It shows a radius of 250 miles, which encompasses almost 6 million people. Read more about NC as a rail distribution center.
Ed is Vice President of Transportation/Maintenance of Way at the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway Company.
He began his railroad career in 1990 at the North Carolina & Virginia Railroad as an Engineer/Conductor for RailTex. In 1994, Ed attended the University of Tennessee and received his certification as a FRA Certified Track Inspector. In 1995, Ed accepted the position as Train Master at the Virginia Southern Railroad in Keysville, Virginia, for RailTex. Also, in 1995, Ed received his certificate for DSLE training and in 1998 received his certificate of completion for Hazardous Material Operations in Pueblo, Colorado.
In 2005, Ed accepted the position as President of the Kettle Falls International Railway in Kettle Falls, Washington, with OmniTrax of Denver, Colorado. As President of the Kettle Falls International Railway, Ed communicated with Canadian and U.S. Customs, U.S. Border Patrol, Transport Canada, and facilitated Canadian Operating Rules. In 2009, Ed was offered the opportunity to move closer to home and accepted the position of Superintendent of Operations with the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway. During this time, he has maintained his skills as a Track Inspector, Engineer/Conductor, and DSLE.
