News

What's happening with passenger rail service?

By Bill Moss, Published: July 19, 2019

SALUDA — If you want to know what’s really going on with passenger rail connections in Western North Carolina, check out Saluda Train Tales at 7 p.m. Friday, July 19.

Ray Rapp will be reviewing efforts to restore a passenger rail connection to Western North Carolina over the past 20 years. The presentation will include the latest initiative being pursued by the Western North Carolina Rail Committee Inc. to persuade the North Carolina Legislature to fund AMTRAK Thruway Bus Service between Asheville and Salisbury. This is to be the first step toward full restoration of passenger train service to Western North Carolina.
 
Rapp currently serves as chair of the Western North Carolina Rail Committee Inc. The Committee was launched in 1999 but recently reorganized with a mission to improve and increase freight rail service, expand excursions and tourist trains and re-establish a passenger rail connection between Asheville and the North Carolina Railroad’s mainline in Salisbury. Rapp retired in 2009 after 32 years of service as dean of the Adult ACCESS Program at Mars Hill University, where he continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member and a contributor to the Rural Heritage Museum.
 
A historian by background and training, he curated the 2015 rail exhibition at the Rural Heritage Museum, “How the West Was Won: Trains and the Transformation of Western North Carolina.”
Saluda Train Tales is a free monthly event to educate the community in the importance of Saluda’s railroad history and the Saluda Grade. It’s held at the Saluda Historic Depot, 32 W Main Street, Saluda, NC 28773. Doors open at 6:30.