(The following story by Sue Stuart appeared on the Daily Southerner website on March 9.)
TARBORO, N.C. — Building a railroad today is a far cry from the methods of a century ago, but the end result looks about the same.
Starting early this week, CSX Transportation brought a crew of workers (once called gandy dancers) and an assortment of modern, heavy equipment to Tarboro to replace ties in the tracks and smooth out the crossings.
A spokesperson at the site on Albemarle Avenue Tuesday said this particular crew will put new ties in 10 miles of track in about two weeks. They started at the trestle over the Tar River at the south end of Main Street.
“On a good day, we’ll put in probably 2,000 ties,” he said. “We’ll then put in new crossings of rubber and new wood.” He said this railroad bed is one of the oldest CSX owns.
The condition of the crossings in town have been a perennial problem.
At the June 2003 Town Council meeting the crossings was discussed. Foy Bradshaw wrote a letter to the town addressing the necessary upgrade and repair of the crossings on Albemarle Avenue in particular.
“Although I am concerned primarily about the crossings at W. Baker Street and Albemarle Avenue and at Battle Avenue/Howard Circle and Albemarle, I have a feeling that all of the crossings probably need some attention and upgrading,” Bradshaw wrote.
In August 2002, public works director David Cashwell wrote a letter to CSX addressing the numerous citizen complaints about the problem and again on May 15 of last year. He asked for repairs of the crossings, including replacing deteriorating wood and protruding spikes and screws.
Cashwell told the council that he spoke to CSX officials and they said they would begin repairs but they gave no definite time they would begin the projects.
“All we can do is hold their feet to the fire,” he said. He added the rights-of-way crossing the tracks and the tracks themselves belong to CSX and there is little the town can do to hurry the process.
Last summer, a CSX crew began pulling spikes and replacing some of the most decrepit ties on Albemarle Avenue near Wilson Street.
The foreman of the crew, Melvin Smith, said the bed was being prepared for a tie crew to come in and replace all the ties.
“You’ll see so much equipment here when they come in,” he said. “It’s a huge crew and they’ll have it all done in just a short time.”