The famous Saluda grade in western North Carolina has seen its last train. Railbanked in December 2001, nature has slowly but ever so surely reclaimed the right of way. Now, in 2023, an agreement has been reached to sell the railroad to become a hiking trail. Let’s take a look back to the years when Norfolk Southern operated the nation’s steepest mainline railroad grade.
Norfolk Southern’s Saluda Grade
Retrospective of a humbling 4.7% mainline climb