050232 Exterior view of restored Raleigh freight depot.

Ernest H. Robl stock photos:

North Carolina Railroad Company building rehabilitation
(Click on the images for larger versions)

While many towns have preserved or restored the railroad depots around which they once grew, few preservation efforts have focused on the freight houses through which much of the smaller freight to and from these towns once poured. Essentially railroad-owned warehouses with rail sidings, these buildings served as temporary holding points for inbound and outbound freight for railroad customers who did not have their own railroad access. While changing transportation patterns, including the fact that railroads no longer handle less-than-carload or less-than-container load shipments, have made freight houses obsolete, many of these large structures survive.

The North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) Co., a state owned management company that in turn owns a railroad corridor stretching through the state, has decided on an alternative to either letting these buildings continue to deteriorate or simply demolishing them. Working with communities, the NCRR is investing in the rehabilitation of several of these buildings so that they can be adapted to other uses.

Left: 020544 Sign describing the history of the Raleigh freight depot and its restoration.

Right: 050243 The interior of the building has remained unfinished, waiting to be adapted to the needs of future tenants.

The Raleigh Freight Depot, or sometimes called just "The Depot," is located in downtown Raleigh, just across the tracks from the present Amtrak passenger station in a former industrial district that is beginning to also see other redevelopment.

The building is within walking distance of many downtown Raleigh locations.

Two notable features of the freight depot rehabilitation are the original paving stones used in much of the parking lot of the facility and the remains of a gantry crane that now provides and entry arch at one end of the parking lot.

Though tracks around the former freight house have been removed, its front windows provide a view of the still active tracks of the North Carolina Railroad. That line is under long-term lease to freight railroad Norfolk Southern and also carries Amtrak passenger trains.

 

An unusual aspect of the Kinston freight depot is that its two longest walls are curved, following a curve in the adjoining tracks. The siding that once served the building has been removed and the NCRR main line centered in the remaining space.

These tracks currently see little rail traffic but that may change in the future as operator Norfolk Southern changes its traffic patterns in the area.