I spent my lunch hour the other day looking up more train history. This time the destination was Logan’s Trading Company near Peace College in downtown. Logan’s occupies an unusual property for a nursery: Raleigh’s old Seaboard Train Station.
I’ve always heard about the station but for one reason or another never bothered to track it down until the other day. I wasn’t disappointed: aside from a few changes to support the nursery, the building looks much like it did when the last passenger train rumbled through it in 1986. Its dominating feature is the covered platforms which spread like wings to either side. These roofs which once shielded thousands of pasengers now shield plants from the rain and sun. Those plant-covered carts once pushed luggage. Walking on the middle walkway, you can imagine yourself as a train on the tracks.
The station building itself is a grand old building, brick and columns. Some accounts say its a 1940’s era building, but I found plates in the ground nearby which date to 1927. Inside, it appears crowded, even for a train station. There are of course plants and gardening tools everywhere, which are quite out of character for the usual look of the building. Still, its easy to squint and see it filled with travelers, not trowels.
Theres an addition on the track side which is obviously newer than the others, likely dating from the Amtrak days: its a big covered room tacked right on to the original building. Skylights provide light to the space.
Amtrak moved its service from the Seaboard station to the current Southern station in 1986. I can’t understand why they left this beautiful building for the smaller Southern one, especially considering the Seaboard station has two tracks to Southern’s one. Then again, I don’t know why Amtrak does a lot of the things it does. I suppose it comes down to the government not knowing how to run a railroad. Anyhow, the station was more or less dormant until 1991, when Logan’s opened. Thankfully, Logan’s has taken good care of it.
I also spotted a rare sight: a Pullman sleeper parked nearby! It is a privately-owned car being restored by some local residents. It apparently dates back to 1911, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at it: its in great shape!
I hope to get back to take pictures at some point.
World War II killed the railroads, starving them of much-needed equipment and supplies. Steel, especially. Kind of ironic that today’s “war on terror” will kill off today’s equivalent, the airlines, by driving its passengers away.
But what does that leave us? Will we once again travel through stations like this one?
I live in the community of Carpenter in western Wake County. By the way I enjoyed your posting about the history of NC55 North of Apex.
With all the noise in the news lately about the Light Rail Connector being planned between Durham and Raleigh and its enormous cost and duration to complete…
I remember a number of old folks in our community talking about a passenger service that used to run between Apex and Durham as best I remember in the mid-30’s.
I’d love to see you post something about this service, it’s success so long ago, and why our planners are so poor at they’re educated to do…plan. I mean the old Durham and Southern Railway line still exist and is run daily by CSX. If there weren’t such bureaucracy in government and the railroad common since planners could run this and other local lines again and be a big and successful hit.
By the way, our rural farm community of Carpenter is fastly being overrun by Cary, so if you plan a Sunday drive, you better do it soon.
George Rimmer
Carpenter, NC
gmrimmer at msn.com
Hi George,
I’m just getting into the train hobby, so I need to get better at locating good sources. Most of what I learned about the Seaboard line came from things I culled from the search engines.
Perhaps I can get lucky and discover more about the passenger train you mentioned. Do you have a name for it?
Passenger trains may one day make a comeback. To make it meet travelers’ expectations will require major overhauls of the tracks. Projects like the Southeast High Speed Rail are needed to drive these changes – making the rails suitable for high-speed travel.
While the government has the means to make these rail changes, I think its involvement should end there. I would love to see the track rights leased out to private companies to run.
Nothing motivates a company to provide a useful service than the promise of profit. That’s why Amtrak is so slow and so far in the red.
Thanks for saying hello, George. I’m glad you stopped by.