The Wilmington Railroad Museum

The Wilmington Railroad Museum, based in Wilmington, North Carolina highlights the city’s railroading past, which was home to the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) railroad (the railroad most featured).

If any of you from the Southeast and are old enough to remember passenger trains with purple and silver colors (and gold for trim) this was the ACL railroad. Although I am not too familiar with the ACL I always thought that their colors were one the most stunning, just something different about that livery. Trains still travel in and around Wilmington but today they are operated by CSX Transportation (the railroad with blue and yellow colors), a company formed through mergers by the ACL and many other railroads.

For a little more in-depth history on the ACL, it was synonymous with the South and served points from Richmond, Virginia to Florida and east to Birmingham, Alabama. The railroad was also very profitable being that it served direct north-south routes from Florida to Richmond. It also held one of the most unique paint schemes of any Class I of both its day, having a beautiful purple and silver livery with yellow trim. Remembered in the likes of the Southern Railway in later years the ACL was highly respected throughout most of its existence and like the Southern was blessed with excellent management and never faced any serious bankruptcy (and only entered receivership once during the Depression years of the early 1930s) threat up until its merger with the Seaboard Air Line in the late 1960s to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.

The Atlantic Coast Line had a thriving passenger business for years, due to its well-positioned north-south routing. Because the railroad served literally the entirety of Florida the ACL handled a number of trains coming from all different directions as travelers flocked to the state's sunny, tropical beaches. Because of its strategic position of handling so many Florida-bound trains, coupled with its own passenger fleet the railroad enjoyed the very rare privilege of the passenger business being profitable, even into the 1950s and 1960s when many railroads were bowing out of the market. The ACL was so successful that it even continued to build new stations and depots into the 1960s!

The museum is located in the ACL’s old freight office (built around 1900), which has been preserved, and out front on display are an old steam engine (manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Works, and which actually operated in Wilmington when it was used), boxcar, and caboose. It would have been great to see the city’s railroad station also preserved but it was torn down long ago.

The railroad has just been another piece in Wilmington’s long and storied history. Below, is more information about the museum provided by the museum’s executive director, Sadie Ann Hood:

The Wilmington Railroad Museum highlights the history of the ACL Railroad which started as the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad in 1834. Construction of the 161 miles long railroad was completed construction in 1840. Eventually the various lines became the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and it was headquartered in Wilmington since 1900. The Museum has an extensive collection of artifacts and photos about the ACL and other railroads. In addition we have a 1910 Baldwin Steam Locomotive, a Red Caboose and a Boxcar on display. The whole family will be impressed with the 3 operating layouts; one includes Thomas the Tank Engine, a favorite of the younger generation.

I hope you decide to stop by!

For more reading about North Carolina railroading I would highly recommend Railroads of North Carolina from author Alan Coleman. Another great book from Arcadia Publishing it covers in detail the Tarheel State’s railroad history, and as with all Arcadia books features over 200 historic photographs. Including in the book are featured all of the state's most famous railroads which along with the ACL include the Southern, Norfolk & Western, and Seaboard Air Line just to name a few. If you have any interest in North Carolina railroading you are sure to enjoy the book!