Some Elkin residents have noticed the train has been traveling through downtown more often.
“In the past five or six weeks I’ve noticed the train doing more work downtown,” said Martha Smith of the Elkin Library.
A few years ago the DOT funded and built a new switching yard in the Weyerhaeuser area east of downtown, moving train activity there rather than the downtown Elkin switch yard.
This project was an agreement made with the DOT when the Hugh Chatham Bridge was torn down, said Town Manager Lloyd Payne.
The downtown Elkin switch yard is bigger, quicker and more convenient, he said.
“Activity has picked up for the railroad, because of increased business so they have started utilizing the Elkin switch yard more,” Payne said. “However, there is no real rhythm or reason why the downtown switch yard is used more. It’s sort of an ebb and flow. It depends on how much business they have and how tight their deadlines are.”
Reach Jessica Pickens at 835-1513 ext. 18 or jpickens@heartlandpublications.com
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