Train Station

Seaboard Air Line / Norfolk Southern Railroad Station

Looking northwest, 1950s. (Courtesy Herald-Sun) Prior to the construction of Union Station, all of the railroads has separate passenger depots along the railroad tracks. One of these was the Durham and Northern, formed in 1887, which became the Seaboard Railroad. While Union Station consolidated these, the Seaboard continued to have a separate passenger depot at the foot of Dillard St. (at the railroad tracks.)

Durham Station / Freight & Car Train Depot

Original 1854 NC railroad survey, showing the future location of Durham's Station (Courtesy David Southern/Steve Rankin)

Rbt. Morris Tobacco Co / Sal Freight Dep.

RF Morris Tobacco Factory at the NC railroad tracks ~300 feet west of present-day Corcoran St., 1890 (Courtesy Digital Durham. The history of Robert Morris and his endeavors in the tobacco trade are an interesting, if patchwork, story about the earliest days of Durham. Per Jean Anderson: "Morris first appeared on Orange County scene .... in...

Norfolk Southern Railway Depot

The Norfolk Southern Railway depot in 1966. It was located within the wye tracks of the Norfolk & Western connecting Duke Belt Line at Seaboard Air Line Railroad's Durham Yard.

Norfolk Southern Depot - East Durham

Southern Railway Freight Depot

Looking northwest. Looking southwest from E. Pettigrew and Pine (S. Roxboro) (Courtesy Duke Archives) While we think of a relatively small number of early tobacco companies in Durham these days, there were many early companies, most of which fell by the wayside, one by one, as Blackwell and Duke became the predominant players. The Lyon Tobacco...

Rougemont Depot

Rougemont Depot, 1917 (Courtesy Virgina Tech / Norfolk and Western Archives) Rougemont Depot, 02.07.09. In November 2010, the remaining chunk of the Rougemont Depot was moved across and down the road a bit.

Bahama Depot

Bahama train depot, 1950s. (Courtesy Robby Delius)

University Station

---- Map of Orange County as it was late 19th Century - University Station and the rail line are visible to the southeast of Hillsborough. I've done an Orange County post or two before - given that most of Durham County was once Orange County, and the European settlement of Orange around the county seat of Hillsborough predated that of parts east...

Union Station

The gateway to Durham via its raison d'etre - the railroad line - for 60 years; this proud piece of architecture, symbolizing Durham's aspirations as a city of the new south when built in 1905, was demolished to extend a street and build a parking deck in September 1968.